Flyerboxes to Planterboxes!

I now cannot recall where on the web I first saw Poster Child's FlyerPlanterboxes but I sent an email asking for permission to publish the photos on this blog and got this response:

Of course! Please just credit the source! Thanks for asking,

So, without further ado, here are photographs of a FlyerPlanterbox. (All images courtesy of Poster Child.)

Click here to leave & read comments for this post.

Job Opportunity: Urban Forestry Manager, Louisville, KY

I received this posting from a friend who worked in this position for five years.

The Metro Parks Department of the city of Louisville, KY is looking for a Forestry Manager to manage their tree maintenance program. This position is responsible for all things tree related within the 14,000 acre parks system. This system includes a core of historic parks and parkways that were designed by the Olmsted firm, large natural woodland areas, and many different kinds of recreational facilities. It is a highly visible position that works with homeowners, government agencies, and local non-profits on tree preservation, neighborhood beautification, and public safety. You are also responsible for the day to day management of a team of 14 outstanding arborists and also provide consulting services on tree and natural resource management issues. You will also work with closely with the landscape maintenance and landscape architects to install and maintain new installations and reforestation projects. Desired qualifications include experience with the collection and management of tree surveys and other natural resource data, experience collecting and maintaining GIS data, experience working with community groups, and experience managing unionized employees. Being a certified arborist would be a plus as well as prescribed burn experience. To apply for the position please visit the city of Louisville website and apply directly online.

Pay $18.62/hour with health insurance, paid vacation, sick time, retirement, and holidays.

More information.

For the weekend: Cityscape craft

by Yellow Owl Workshop Stamps (seen via Blomma Finds via Heavy Petal)

Today's entry represents a bit of a thematic departure for us. We've never written about crafts, but could not resist featuring this cityscape stamp set. With the addition of a person and maybe a bird or other wildlife, the scape could be our logo.

A stroll around Washington Mews, or Where did Edward Hopper live

We received a hand-me down gift from someone leaving New York for California (we moved from California to New York this summer). The gift: Martha Fay's City Walks: New York, a boxed set of cards of "50 adventures on foot." My first adventure on foot was card #16 - Greenwich Village 2: A Stroll around Washington Square. I did not complete the entire walk. I focused on Washington Mews, a private, cobbled street north of Washington Square Park. Mews is defined as a "street lined with buildings that were originally private stables but have been remodeled as dwellings."

The street is very appealing: mostly two-story brick and stone buildings adorned with window boxes and variously colored doors. Fay notes that the former carriage houses serviced the townhouses facing Washington Square. The original stables are on the north side of the street (left side of the mews in the first photograph) while the south-side buildings were constructed in the 1930s (source: Forgotten New York).

The Mews is owned by New York University though most of the townhouses facing the park are not held by the university. The building pictured above is at the west end of the block, a row of houses commissioned by wealthy families in the mid-1800s. One such family was that of the novelist, Henry James. His grandmother lived at 18 Washington Square North (source: Wikipedia). A passage from the his 1880 novel, "Washington Square," describes the class of person and type of house to be found on the square:

The ideal of quiet and genteel retirement, in 1835, was found in Washington Square, where the doctor built himself a handsome, modern, wide-fronted house, with a big balcony before the drawing-room windows, and a flight of white marble steps ascending to a portal which was also faced with white marble (Source: Ephemeral New York).

The history of the park before it was faced by Greek Revival mansions:

The parkland was once a marsh fed by Minetta Brook. It was located near an Indian village known as Sapokanikan or “Tobacco Field.” In 1797 the Common Council acquired the land for use as a Potter's Field or common burial ground. The field was also used for public executions, giving rise to the tale of the Hangman’s Elm which stands in the northwest corner of the park. The site was used as the Washington Military Parade Ground in 1826, and became a public park in 1827. Following this designation, a number of wealthy and prominent families, escaping the disease and congestion of downtown Manhattan, moved into the area and built the distinguished Greek Revival mansions that still line the square’s north side.

East side of 1 Washington Square North

The row is also known for another historic figure - Edward Hopper - who either resided at 1 or 3 Washington Square North. Julie Lasky of Observatory: Design Observer writes that Edward Hopper and his wife lived on the fourth floor of 1 Washington Sq. North, what is now the New York University School of Social Work. Wikipedia lists Edward and Jo Hopper's address as 1-3 Washington Sq. North, while Walking Off the Big Apple, artnet, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Rolf Günter Renner in "Edward Hopper, 1882-1967: Transformation of the Real" lists the Hopper's address as No. 3.

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Grove Court, a courtyard of six houses between 10 and 12 Grove Street, is described as a mews by Martha Fay in City Walks: New York, but these houses, built for workers between 1848 and 1952, do not have a history of stable use. The term "mews" is historically associated with stables:

"stables grouped around an open yard," 1631, from Mewes, name of the royal stables at Charing Cross, built 1534 on the site of the former royal mews (attested from c.1394), where the king's hawks were kept (see mew (n.2)). Extended by 1805 to "street of former stables converted to human habitations." (source: Online Etymology Dictionary)

Grove Court used to be called Mixed Ale Alley but it is "now among the most exclusive Village streets." Is there a connection between the arts and mews? Angela Lansbury's character lived next to the Grove Court "mews" at 12 Grove Street in the 1964 film The World of Henry Orient and John Ritter's character "cavorted" in the 1980 film Hero at Large (source: "New York: The Movie Lover's Guide," Richard Alleman)

Sneak peak from Hudson Street

Ronald Rael's high line for the Bay Bridge

Courtesy of Wikipedia: new span on the left

While we've been wondering why the new span of the Bay Bridge (between Oakland and San Francisco) was not designed for multiple modes of transportation (vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and subway lines) like several bridges in our new city of New York, Ronald Rael, principal at Rael San Fratello Architects and professor in Architecture at UC Berkeley, has been designing a park for the old span of the Bay Bridge.

via SF Streetsblog

If you notice a resemblance to the High Line, it's not coincidental. Rael used to live in New York City. You can read Rael's proposal - submitted to a UCLA competition - via SF Streetsblog. For more about the Bay Bridge project, including the recent closure, visit the Bay Bridge Seismic Safety Projects website.

ASLA 2009 Student Awards: Katy Amon's "Road Rights of Way"

Katy Amon is an ASLA 2009 Student Awardee in the Research Category. Her submission's title is "Road Rights of Way: Connective Conduits." Here's the project statement provided on the ASLA Awards website:

Using birds as a biodiversity indicator, this project develops a methodology for integrating viable ecosystems and habitats into marginalized urban spaces to augment quality and connectivity across scales. Road rights of way in Surrey, Canada are used as case studies to explore the integration of avian habitat, ecological function, and human programming as connective conduits. This project demonstrates the role of landscape architects in finer grained design within landscape ecology structural patterns.

We are excited that Amon's case studies are based on urban road-side sites. Street trees are planted adjacent to roads. Amon's research not only highlights the role road-side vegetation plays in satisfying avian needs, but her clever methodology can be applied to road-side settings and avian species outside Surrey, Canada.

Take a look at two of her diagrams: (1) Habitat Needs for Nine Species

In this diagram, one can see the important vegetation types for each species and how the each species moves between vegetation types (larger version of diagram). Note that each of the nine species uses several types of vegetation types.

(2) Human and Avian Symbiosis

The elegance of this diagram is its illustration of the various canopy levels used by each species and how this spatial relationship interfaces with human elements. The importance of vertical levels in a planting plan is underscored in this diagram (larger version).

Working Bee Park, another Mission Greenbelt garden

This Friday, September 18, Mission Greenbelt Project,in partnership with Bay Natives, will plant another garden in the Mission. The garden is called Working Bee Park but it will be a temporary installation, for now. September 18 is PARK(ing) Day:

an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

Working Bee Park will "showcase native, wildlife attracting plants [and] amuse passing bicyclists" and Mission Greenbelt organizers will "put the finishing touches on [their] Community Challenge Grant (CCG) application." If you are in the area, the project's needs are:

• Park set-up at 7 a.m.
• Work tables for sketching, couches, blankets & chairs for sitting, food snacks & drink for sharing.
• New sites for Mission Greenbelt gardens in parks, sidewalks, planters, vacant lots & rooftops. Ask questions, take a Sidewalk Landscaping Permit application, choose a garden kit for bees, shady streets, butterflies, dry rock or grassland & sign on as part of the CCG for funding.
• Wildlife - make music, perform for us, show your artwork and/or bring poetry to read.
• Volunteer to build Mission Greenbelt gardens. For the CCG we need to document volunteer hours to match part of the potential funding.
• Park break-down at 5 p.m.

Another Mission Greenbelt Project garden is the Garden for the Birds, a local ecology neighborhood nature making profile. The profile is located here and has been included below.

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Like Ivy Narrow Bird Preserve and CHIA, I participated in the making of the greenbelt garden at the Sangati Center in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco. It's a Garden for the Birds.

A friend and I volunteered on the second work day of three: to break up the existing clay soil, remove debris, and mix in new soil.

The days and the Mission Greenbelt Garden project were organized by Amber Hasselbring of art-eco.org.

What's the mission of Mission Greenbelt Gardens? To provide habitat for local wildlife. Additional goals include "enliven public space" and to capture rainfall and stormwater runoff.

The Sangati Center greenbelt garden is located at 22nd and Mission. There's a second greenbelt garden at the Mission Playground Pool at 19th and Linda.

Since I only volunteered one day and not on the day of planting, I have not seen the planted garden. However, I was able to photograph some of the plants scheduled to be planted. Amber Hasselbring told me that the palette would include coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), sticky monkey flower, two grasses (deer grass, Muhlenbergia rigens and purple needlegrass, Nassella pulchra [the California's state grass], ceanothus, hummingbird sage (Salvia spathacea), grape, and wildflowers from seed.

Question: How will your community celebrate PARK(ing) Day?

Tree portraits from Human/Nature at BAM Galleries

drawings by Kenyan school children

Can art inspire conservation? Can conservation inspire art? BAM/PFA (Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives) in partnership with MCASD (Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) and Rare invited eights artists "to travel to eight UNESCO-designated World Heritage sites and to create new works of art in response to their travels and experiences there." The result is the Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet exhibit.

Xu Bing is one of the artists invited by BAM Galleries (the exhibit closes on September 27, 2009). I photographed several tree portraits from Bing's Mu, Lin, Sen (wood, woods, forest) Project or Forest Project exhibit.

What is the Forest Project?

Through art, culture, education, the involvement of local folks, and the internet, Xu Bing’s Forest Project creates a system to facilitate the automatic and uninterrupted flow of funds from developed countries to Kenya, earmarked for the planting of new trees....The educational component—embodied in an instructional book and workshops led by artist Xu Bing—connects the written word, calligraphy and art into one process. Students from local primary schools create drawings of trees using forms of writing from a variety of cultures and historical periods....The income and price disparities between more developed nations and Kenya form the basis for the success of this project. Two dollars is a pittance for many in the West, just enough for a one-way ride on the subway, but when used to purchase a piece of art created by a student in Kenya, it can be converted into 10 newly planted seedlings.

Question: What would your tree portrait look like? Below is a tree portrait from the Memorial Oak Grove-UC stadium treesit.

Gathering for President O. and Magnolia

President Obama was in the Village on Tuesday afternoon, eating lunch with Bill Clinton, at Il Mulino, an Italian restaurant on West 3rd Street west of Thompson Street.

Crowds gathered at West 3rd and LaGuardia Place as well as Bleecker and Thompson where the President and his motorcade exited the area.

About a week ago, further west on Bleecker, I saw a long line of people waiting to get into Magnolia Bakery, where Carrie and Miranda ate cupcakes in Sex and the City. The line wrapped around the block. I've eaten cupcakes from Magnolia but really like the cupcakes from Crumbs Bake Shop and the lemon cake from Amy's Bread.

BikeLid

What's looks like an upside down canoe a boa constrictor that has swallowed an animal and protects and secures bicycles? A BikeLid bicycle parking system! Several weeks ago I spied four in a Chelsea courtyard. The uncovered bikes seem exposed and vulnerable. Each BikeLid can store two bicycles. How does the BikeLid work? Here are the instructions.

My new place does not offer bike storage and though there have been rumors about storage facilities, nothing has been installed. Maybe I should forward the BikeLid testimonials to the management to get the wheels turning again (pun intended). Also, I could mention that BikeLid "is a Community partner with Clean Air New York."

Repost: Tree Walk: Schenley Farms, Pittsburgh

The original posting of "Tree Walk: Schenley Farms, Pittsburgh" received buzz on the POP City website ("A walk through Schenley Farms: Trees thrive midst of Oakland"). We are pleased to post the entry again.

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The residential section of the Schenley Farms National Historic District was designed by Franklin F. Nicola and developed between 1905 and 1920 from land purchased from Mary Schenley's estate. (One of Pittsburgh's four regional parks, Schenley Park, was also created out of Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley's estate.) The district is a combination of City Beautiful civic design and model planned suburban development of the early 1900s. The residential area includes "96 detached, single-family homes for upper-class residents" (Borchert and Borchert 2002) with underground utilities and several types of architecture - traditional English, French, Colonial-style homes, and Craftsman. (The architecture in the civic section is "predominantly monumental, four-story stone structures in Beaux Arts, Classical, and Renaissance Revival styles.")

I encountered Schenley Farms going back and forth from a hotel in the historic district. I was immediately struck by the large trees and took a brief walk one morning to take a closer look. The underground utilities make a huge difference in the height of the trees as well as a lack of often ghastly utility pruning.

Bigelow Boulevard is the boundary between the residential and civic sections of the Schenley Farms National Historic District. It too has no overhead utilities. The trees are planted behind the sidewalk. Looking south at Tennyson, the canopy consists of mostly lindens with one red oak; the oak is larger in diameter than the lindens.

The practice of planting trees behind the sidewalk continues along Bigelow heading west. Trees are planted in front yards and the first block consists of sweetgum, pin and red oak, hawthorne, and maple.

The sweetgums are smaller in diameter than the oaks.

Trees are generously planted around houses in the district. For example, the house at the corner of Tennyson Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard is shaded by six trees - four London planes, one red oak, and one sweetgum. The only distraction is the form of the planetrees as a result of pruning:

Question: Where are the generously planted streets in your city?

Lone weeping beeches

Update, Sept. 11, 2009: I received a kind email from Arthur Plotnick. Art has given his permission to post his email here:

As the author of THE URBAN TREE BOOK, I was cheered to see that the book is one of your favorites--- and worth quoting from on your fine site (re European Beech). Though the book (now only available at online bookstores) has sold some 8,000 copies, the illustrator (my wife) and I feel that still more readers would enjoy it, and such mentions as yours are a great help. Here's to the cause, and all best wishes to you. Yours, Art Plotnik

You can find Art online at artplotnik.com.

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Two lone weeping European beeches (Fagus sylvatica pendula) occupy a grassy area near NYU's Coles gym.* It's rare to see a weeping beech outside a park setting in the city. The author of my favorite urban tree guides, Arthur Plotnik of The Urban Tree Book, writes of the European beech:

the European beech is a large, slow-growing tree, similar in form, flower, and fruit [to the American beech, F. grandifolia]. But its foliage quickly distinguishes it from the North American species: The leaf edges are wavy, not pointy-toothed, where the veins meet them....Beeches that form a giant weeping heap or sport exotically colored or filigreed leaves are always European varieties....A runty, contorted European beech variety (F. sylvatica 'Tortuosa') is actually called "monster" or "parasol" beech. Striking when snow-covered, its branches twist like "snakes in a frenzy," wrote a staff member about the Arnold Arboretum's specimen in Massachusetts.

I wonder if these beeches are F. sylvatica 'Tortuosa'?

More from Plotnik:

In northern Europe, ancient runic inscriptions on the bark might have prompted the English name "beech" via Germanic words for "book" or "letter." The Polish word for beech is buk.

*NYU is located in our new neighborhood and owns a lot of open space.

What happened to the Grow, Cook, Eat, Learn greenhouses?

Update, Sept. 10, 2009:

A few days after posting the original entry, I saw a see of blue where the old GCEL greenhouses used to be. New GCEL greenhouses have been installed and I think the greenhouse "windows" are plexi-glass. Cannot wait to see what's planted.

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You might be asking, what is a Grow, Cook, Eat, Learn (GCEL) greenhouse? Well, Grow, Cook, Eat, Learn is a "self-contained sustainable food system and urban agricultural working laboratory" and elementary-school food education project sponsored by the NYU Graduate Program in Food Studies and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The project received seed funding from a NYU Sustainability Fund Grant for the year 2007-2008.

A GCEL greenhouse is a wooden cold frame box. Nine boxes were located in a grassy area of Washington Square Village. On a recent trip to the Union Square Greenmarket, I walked by the site and noticed that only one of the nine greenhouses remain. The tattered and faded project signs still hang on the fence and one of the glass panels in the remaining greenhouse is broken.

What happened to the others (exposed areas of soil)? Why was one left? Will new gardens be installed?

Self-guided tour of privately-owned public open space in San Francisco

We did not attend this tour of privately-owned public open spaces in San Francisco developed by SPUR. A relative did, with a design class from Merritt Horticulture Department. Of the tour, she said, "It makes a great afternoon walk downtown- some are great- some not- but interesting all the same."

Privately-owned public open space is also known as POPOS. Most POPOS were created as a result of "incentive zoning," i.e. developers could build more floor space if they provided outdoor and indoor open space accessible to the public. Learn more about POPOS in Jerold Kayden's "Privately owned public space: the New York City experience." The City of New York's POPOS maps are available through its Department of City Planning.

Question: Do you know where the POPOS are in your city?

(untitled)

Last year friends visited several cities in China. Among the photographs they took, these two are priceless. One elicited a "Right On" and the other, fear of being a pedestrian. What's your take?