Please visit the NEW SITE for Flatbush Gardener
Magicicada is the genus of the 13- and 17- year periodical cicadas of eastern North America. These insects display a unique combination of long life cycles, periodicity, and mass emergences. They are sometimes called "seventeen-year locust"s, but they are not locusts.13 and 17 are prime numbers. Evolution "discovered" prime numbers.
- Magicicada, Wikipedia
In any given area, adult periodical cicadas emerge only once every 13 or 17 years, they are consistent in their life cycles, and populations (or "broods") in different regions are not synchronized. Currently there are 7 recognized species, 12 distinct 17-year broods, and 3 distinct 13-year broods, along with 2 known extinct broods, found east of the Great Plains and south of the Great Lakes, to the Florida Panhandle.Brooklyn is part of Brood XIV (Brood 14), one of the 17-year broods. We can expect to see (and hear) any or all of the three 17-year species in Brood XIV:
- Magicicada Mapping Project
Three 17-year cicada species exist, each with distinctive morphology (shape and color), behavior, and calling signals:All three species are on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as low risk, but near threatened, ie: close to being "promoted" to vulnerable species. Because they spend most of their lives underground, periodical cicadas are at risk from development which covers their routes to emergence at the surface. When they emerge, without sufficient woody plants - trees and shrubs - upon which to feed and lay their eggs, that generation will be irreversibly reduced for at least another 17 (or 13) years. Some broods are already extinct. Consider, for example, this observation from an unidentified entomologist:
- Magicicada species, Magicicada Mapping Project
- Magicicada septendecim (L. 1758)
- Magicicada cassini (Fisher 1851)
- Magicicada septendecula Alexander and Moore 1962
Have you an ideal of the absolute in hopelessness? Well, let it be said that the house in which you live is comparatively new - built within 17 years. The ground on which ti stands was originally woodland. In the Summer of 1902 all the tree thereabouts were full of seventeen-year locusts. Eggs were deposited in the branches, the larvae came out, dropped lightly to the ground, and dug in. The long period of subterranean existence is almost ended. In the summer of this year the insects will start toward the light and air - and will come in contact with the concrete floor of your cellar! There may be another situation as hopeless, but certainly none more so.
- New York Times, June 23, 1919
High prices at the pump and the produce aisle have sent home gardeners into their yards with a mission: Grow-it-yourself dining. Sales of vegetable seeds, tomato transplants and fruit trees are soaring as enterprising planters grow their own food.One of Brooklyn's own gets a quote:
- As economy stumbles, gardeners turn to yard-grown produce, Ellen Simon, AP
GRDN, a shop in the New York City borough of Brooklyn [specifically, Boerum Hill], is getting a lot of questions about which edible plants can be grown on a fire escape, said staffer Cindy Birkhead. "There's lots of interest in herbs, blueberry bushes, tomato plants, any transplants or shrubs that bear edible fruit."
There is now no sign of what was once a ceramic pagoda, a bridge, and a swimming dragon. The sparkling stream (created with glass beads) still exists, but many of the beads have been extracted. Apparently, some person (or persons) who dislike all things Asian-inspired felt it necessary to use a large boulder within the Chinese Garden to smash the decorations to pieces over two or three days. The items had been bought with a grant given to the Club.
Other difficulties the garden, which sits close to the 6th Avenue and 44th Street entrance, has experienced include plants stolen, a wonderful tree forcibly removed, and parents allowing children to romp about within the confines of the garden.
- Sunset Park Garden Club is looking for members, Best View in Brooklyn
On Saturday, members of the SPGC weeded, cleaned up, and replanted many plants. On Sunday, another member was continuing with the planting and spoke about replacing some of the glass beads in the stream. The lovely garden at the 7th Avenue and 41st Street entrance looks wild and wonderful, and it will also be tended to for weeding and cleaning. Eager and willing hands are always needed to continue the efforts. There are several areas of the park that are nurtured and cared for by the Club. No experience is necessary!
More than 45,000 bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica 'Excelsior') are planted under a mature stand of oak, birch, and beech trees just south of Cherry Esplanade. In May, the bluebells burst into flower and create an enchanting woodland display.I'd also like to know how much area they cover. It feels like an acre, but it's probably "only" a quarter-acre. City gardeners don't get much sense of garden space measured in acres. We're usually dealing with space on the order of square feet.
No one ever accused www.flatbushlife.com of being the most regularly updated website in the world. Coming from me, that doesn't mean much these days. But gone? Say it ain't so.At first, the Flatbush Life Web site was responding with "404 - Not Found." Shortly after, it was redirecting to an unfamiliar Web site: YourNabe.com. I contacted the Webmaster for courierlife.net and got this response:
www.flatbushlife.com [is] redirecting to the newly-designed www.yournabe.com. www.YourNabe.com combines the newspapers of the Courier Life publications, Times Ledger publications, and Bronx Times/ Times Reporter.The YourNabe.com domain is owned by Courier-Life's parent company, News Community Newspapers Holdings, Inc. Within YourNabe, there are sections for different neighborhoods. For example, the new URL for Flatbush Life is http://www.yournabe.com/flatbush/front/.
