tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147311452009-07-11T18:54:18.766-04:00Adventures in Neo-Victorian, Wild, Shade, Organic and Native Plant Gardening, Garden Design, and Garden Restoration.Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.comBlogger830125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-14379468769461240232009-07-01T17:46:00.005-04:002009-07-02T18:03:22.871-04:00

Design cross-section of BBG's planned Visitor Center (courtesy Weiss/Manfredi)The Public Design Commission of the City of New York (formerly the Art Commission) awarded Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Weiss/Manfredi design firm, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation its 2008 Award for Excellence in Design, conferred on July 1 at a ceremony at the New Museum

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Yesterday, June 17, 2009, the City Planning Commission approved the Flatbush Rezoning Proposal. It now goes to the City Council, the final step in the ULURP process, for final review and disposition. The Council Public Review hearing is tentatively scheduled for July 27.[bit.ly]Related ContentFlickr photo setFlatbush Rezoning Hearing at Borough Hall 5/7, 2009-05-05Flatbush Rezoning Proposal CB14

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At the Chicago Botanic Garden, our first garden stop for Chicago Spring Fling 2009, I made a pilgrimage to the Native Plant Garden. I was surprised that most of the plants were familiar to me as Northeastern natives. However, I had never before encountered Geum triflorum, Prairie Smoke. I saw a lot more of over that weekend, but I saw it here first.Even close up, it reminds me of trails of smoke

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-83779509491337692622009-06-07T22:55:00.005-04:002009-06-08T15:43:31.081-04:00

The Baltic Street Community Garden and the century-old gothic P.S. 133 school building in Park Slope are threatened by School Construction Authority (SCA) plans to raze both for a new school building.More details on the issues and what's at stake are below the fold.What you can do:Call or write to Councilman David Yassky's office, and urge him to support the preservation of the existing garden

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The first garden visited by Chicago Spring Fling 2009 was the Chicago Botanic Garden. Spread out over nine islands, the Garden is huge: 385 acres. One could spend an entire day there and not see all of it.The Fruit and Vegetable Garden occupies one of the islands of the Chicago Botanic Garden. There are several areas within this garden, showcasing orchards, vine fruits, vegetables, and other

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The Great Pollinator Project, a joint effort of the Greenbelt Native Plant Center and the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, is recruiting volunteers for 2009 to record and report observations of native bee species in New York City. They are conducting orientations over the next week from 6-8pm at the following locations:Brooklyn: Monday, June 8th at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-73786265075500811372009-06-04T20:24:00.003-04:002009-06-04T23:54:51.921-04:00

I was excited to hear that periodical cicadas are emerging on Staten Island. Knowing my interest in such things, Blog Widow alerted me that he had just read about it on one of his favorite blogs, Joe My God, reporting on an article in the Staten Island Advance:Batches of cicadas, those giant, singing insects that emerge in a massive swarm every 17 years, have begun to poke their heads out of the

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-88708229279772173352009-06-04T14:36:00.008-04:002009-06-12T14:49:44.115-04:00

I got to Chicago early last week, ahead of the Chicago Spring Fling 2009 (CSF) weekend meetup of garden bloggers from across the country, so I could do a little touristy stuff. I didn't get out as much as I had planned; mostly, I corrected my sleep deprivation. But I did get to go to the Shedd Aquarium.When I was a boy, I lived in Florida for six years. That period of my childhood secured many of

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Last Friday morning, the Chicago Spring Fling meetup of garden bloggers traveled to the Chicago Botanic Garden, one of the sponsors of the event. They provided a shuttle between the train station and the garden, free entry, and passes for the tram and this area: the Model Railroad Garden.I had imagined a small kiddie ride of a train traveling through a garden. I thought it unseemly that a botanic

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A masterpiece of Prairie School landscape architecture. Originally built in 1889 for raising tropical water lilies, the Lily Pool was redesigned in the prairie style during the 1930’s by Alfred Caldwell. The landscape design of the Caldwell Lily Pool is a tribute to the natural ecology of the Midwest. It was originally designed to mimic a river formed by a melting glacier’s flow of water

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-6939047745134386562009-05-30T22:56:00.008-04:002009-06-18T23:05:06.664-04:00

[bit.ly]Related ContentFlickr photo setChicago Spring Fling 2009LinksChicago NowMr. Brown ThumbMy Skinny GardenOur Little AcreRick Bayless

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It's going to take me several days to slog through the 350 photos I shot today, let alone what's coming tomorrow. Suffice to say that I was overwhelmed and inspired by what I saw.Here's the outline for my entire Chicago trip. I'll be adding the links as I write the posts for each feature of the tours.Shedd AquariumChicago Botanic Garden:Native Plant GardenEdible Plant GardenLandscape GardensModel

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-45908692057359134262009-05-28T14:55:00.005-04:002009-05-28T23:19:50.762-04:00

Viburnum Leaf Beetle, Pyrrhalta viburni, has been confirmed in New York City this Spring:John Jordan, Natural Resources Supervisor at Prospect Park Alliance has found evidence of the beetle there, and says that there was a confirmed report on North Brother Island (between Manhattan and Queens) last year. VLBs are suspected to be in some of the larger parks in the Bronx, northern Manhattan and

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-90782435983797847502009-05-25T09:00:00.002-04:002009-05-28T09:46:09.839-04:00

Sometime this week, one of the counters I use to keep track of visitors to this blog will reach 100,000. I began tracking visits in August 2006, just three months after I launched this blog in May 2006.Each tracking service counts things differently, and the counters I have disagree on how many visitors I've had. While the lead counter says I've had 99,859 visitors at this writing, another

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Domestic Bliss: Blog Widow (left) and me in the gardener's nook on the occasion of the interview. I had just transplanted the female Ilex verticillata in the background that morning.Two weekends ago, Blog Widow and I were interviewed by WNYC's Kathleen Horan on the topic of marriage equality - marriage for all - in New York state. The piece aired this morning, and is available on the WNYC News

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-17785908919370092212009-05-15T19:15:00.003-04:002009-05-15T22:20:26.133-04:00

In observance of Endangered Species Day, here is a list of just some of the plants listed as endangered in New York state. Note that plants endangered in one state may not be listed in another.Aconitum noveboracense, Northern wild MonkshoodAgalinis acuta, sandplain GerardiaAmaranthus pumilus, seabeach AmaranthAsplenium scolopendrium var. americanum, Hart's-tongue fernHelonias bullata swamp

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-25250237509818415322009-05-14T07:37:00.017-04:002009-05-15T15:59:04.071-04:00

See also The Osborne Garden and The Bluebell Wood.For the past four years I've been cultivating my backyard native plant garden. I've been adding compost and mulching with leaves and shredded Christmas trees, as much as I can get of all of it. I'm not yet able to grow The Precious (below), but I'm learning in Soil Management class that what I've been doing is just what's needed to develop the

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-25903376678733978332009-05-13T08:14:00.006-04:002009-05-15T11:30:46.754-04:00

See also The Native Flora Garden and The Bluebell Wood.The Osborne Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, with the Brooklyn Museum as a backdrop, yesterday afternoon.As befits a formal garden, the plant palette of the Osborne Garden - the grand entrance to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from Eastern Parkway - is somewhat restricted. The main body of the design is a large rectangular lawn, flanked by

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See also The Native Flora Garden and The Osborne Garden.The Bluebell Wood at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is at its peak. See it this week, or wait another year.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

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-8885195589708184642009-05-11T14:59:00.013-04:002009-05-12T14:57:48.094-04:00

Last week was NYC Wildflower Week. Appropriately, here are some wildflowers blooming over the past week in my backyard native plant garden.Wildflowers blooming near the gardener's nook in my backyard for last May's Garden Blogging Bloom Day.Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern ColumbineChrysogonum virginianum 'Allen Bush', Green-and-GoldDicentra eximia 'Aurora', White-flowering Eastern Bleeding-Heart,

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I'm no entomologist, but I think this is the same species, Colletes thoracicus (Colletidae), Cellophane Bees, that "bee guy" John Ascher identified from my photos last year. This is an individual from a colony that appeared this week in the same place it appeared last year about this time.We've had rain almost every day for a week. Yesterday I had the day off, and the weather also took a break,

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-58565231414282586242009-05-07T19:35:00.000-04:002009-05-07T19:36:07.247-04:00

Related ContentLinks

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-48819658384802817582009-05-07T07:23:00.006-04:002009-05-07T14:59:36.595-04:00

A meeting of online journalists, professional, citizen, and otherwise, with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz a few weeks ago.Looking forward to seeing my fellow citizen journalists at the Brooklyn Blogfest this evening.I haven't been following the Senate Commerce Committee hearings on newspapers. Much of the testimony has contrasted big-house newspapers, and whether or not they need

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-65097424270460776052009-05-05T23:43:00.008-04:002009-05-08T15:52:19.672-04:00

This afternoon I attended the Members-Only Preview of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 2009 Plant Sale. The sale opens to the general public all day tomorrow, Wednesday, from 9am to 7pm, and continues Thursday morning, from 9am to 12noon.I haven't been able to go for the past few years. I forgot how much fun it can be. It gets crowded at times, but it's the most pleasant crowd to be in. Everyone is

Xris (Flatbush Gardener)http://www.blogger.com/profile/08467595231097695124noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14731145.post-81114196009737073362009-05-05T13:42:00.005-04:002009-05-05T14:13:56.014-04:00

447 Westminster Road, Ditmas Park West, Flatbush, BrooklynBrooklyn's Community Board 14 approved the Flatbush Rezoning Proposal without modification. The next step is review by the Borough President's office. The public hearing is this Thursday, 5/7, at 5pm at Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street (back entrance), in the Courtroom.The Flatbush Rezoning Proposal is unusual in several ways, not least

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