Design for the birds

On this blog you've seen Joe Papendick's eclectic bird houses, courtesy of Lisa Boone of the Los Angeles Times L.A. at Home blog.  Today we bring you the Garden Maker: Bird Habitat by Branch.  Like its butterfly counterpart, the kit contains marking stakes and pencil, instructions, and eight types of seeds.  The latter are Amaranthus, Buckwheat, Calendula, Larkspur, Liatris, Mexican Hat, Salvia, and Sunflower, all "known to attract song birds."

Garden Maker: Bird Habitat image courtesy of Branch

Sunflower is recommended as a good source of seeds by the Celebrating Urban Birds project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To attract songbirds and hummingbirds, it is important to provide "a steady supply of food year round" such as berries, seeds, and nectar. Be sure to read Celebrating Urban Bird's Urban Gardening for Birds and Urban Greening web pages to learn more about creating "little green places" for birds in the city.

If you provide habitat for birds, remember to design your habitat areas to prevent window strikes. Project Feederwatch, another Cornell Lab of Ornithology project, recommends "placing feeders less than 3 feet or more than 30 feet away from windows" or "stretching netting across the window with several inches of spaces between the net and the window." Other prevention strategies include "covering windows with a grid of strips that absorb and reflect ultraviolet light" and "placing decals or other objects with no more than 10cm of space between the objects." Read the entire article ("Windows can be a threat to birds at our feeders") here.

Designing for birds beyond cities is important, too.  Read about the effects of wind power infrastructure on non-migratory and migrating birds in the Autumn 2009 BirdScope newsletter.

Monarch butterfly on the wall

Update: Thanks to Gail and Bob Morris for correcting our butterfly i.d. The butterfly pictured below is a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), not a monarch as previously stated. This post has been edited accordingly.

The butterfly in your photo is a painted lady, not a monarch. But please do plant milkweeds to encourage monarchs! They need our help right now. (Gail and Bob Morris)

This advice still stands: If you are trying to attract Monarch, be sure to plant milkweeds,* the monarch's larval host plants. (Check the Monarch Watch Butterfly Gardening page for larval host plants by butterfly and by plant.)

This Painted Lady on the wall only caught my attention because my gaze was at stroller height.  Sunning itself on the western side of Greenwich Street at Horatio, I am sure it has seen and heard the neighborhood's goings-on. There are few places to create significant butterfly habitat on Greenwich. There are no front yard setbacks but there are street tree beds. If enough tree beds were planted with appropriate species, Greenwich and other city streets could serve as butterfly corridors and patches.  Interested in the butterfly corridors concept?  Read about the Green Hairstreak Butterfly Corridor in San Francisco.

Garden Maker: Butterfly Habitat image courtesy of Branch

So you want to create butterfly habitat?  A good place to start is with Branch's Garden Maker: Butterfly Habitat kit.

Effortlessly create a magnificent butterfly habitat garden with this handy and attractively-packaged organic seed collection. It's the perfect way to bring beautiful and purposeful flowers to your landscape.

The kit includes eight types of seeds: Black-Eyed Susan, Borage, Butterfly Weed, Cosmos, Hollyhock, Mexican Sunflower, Purple Coneflower, and Zinna.

Two things of note.  One, About.com Insects Guide Debbie Hadley offers the following information on the Painted Lady diet:

The adult Painted Lady nectars on many plants, especially the composite flowers of the Asteraceae plant family. Favored nectar sources include thistle, aster, cosmos, blazing star, ironweed, and joe-pye weed. Painted Lady caterpillars feed on a variety of host plants, particularly thistle, mallow, and hollyhock.

Two, a word of advice from Trees NY about planting perennials in street tree beds:

Plant only when the tree in the pit is well established. The tree should be at least 6” DBH (6 inches in diameter, measured at breast height – about 41/2 feet from the ground). These long-lived plants have extensive root systems that will compete for water with newly planted trees.

* I am currently reading Tree by David Suzuki and Wayne Grady, the biography of a Douglas-fir near David Suzuki's beach cottage. I mention the book because in the section titled "Trees Fight Back" the authors write about the chemical compounds produced by plants "to enhance growth and others, called secondary compounds, that have more to do with defending the tree from invading enemies." The monarch's larval host plant, the milkweed, contains a secondary compound, "a terpene that is toxic to birds, which is why monarch butterfly larvae gorge on them; the ingested molecules act to diminish bird predation of the insect" (116).

Time on the High Line

I visited High Line Park for the fourth time last weekend.  Follow me.

Smells like High Line at Bleecker's Bond Street No. 9

Approaching the Gansevoort entrance

Parents watching their kids at the pop-up playground by KaBOOM!

Grove and benches at 10th Avenue Square

Railroad ties serve as bed dividers

Walking through Gansevoort Woodland

SkyscraperPage.com has a great set of photos of the park.

Shovel-ready greenhouses

Last week I commented on Landscape+Urbanism's post about modest proposals for vertical agriculture.

I wonder if institutions with lawns would lease these them to be used for cold frame agriculture (see http://localecologist.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-happened-to-grow-cook-eat-learn.html).

My comment was inspired by the Grow, Cook, Eat, Learn (GCEL) project of the NYU Graduate Program in Food Studies and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.  The GCEL greenhouses or wooden cold frame boxes are located on one of two unused, university-owned lots between the Washington Square Village apartments. (Why not install greenhouses on both lawn areas?) This spring the greenhouses are full of leafy greens.

I could imagine shovel-ready greenhouses (pushcart style and/or hitchable to a bicycle) being installed in other underused spaces throughout the city -- for food, for wildlife habitat, for viewing. Interested in a collaboration? Email us at info(at)localecology.org.

Branding with the linden tree

On air travel and climate change from the Christian Science Monitor:

"Efficiency is only set to improve at 1 or 2 percent per year at best, while the number of passenger kilometers is growing at 5 or 6 percent," says Peter Lockley, head of policy development at the Aviation Environment Federation, a British think tank. "So emissions are going up steadily in the gap between the two."

On a recent Delta Airlines flight we saw the above advertisement. You'll notice that the leaves in the ad are those of a linden. We wondered why the ad agency selected linden leaves. Aren't maple and oak leaves more recognizable? Hoping to find out more, we searched the internet but did not find any information about this ad campaign. 

However, we did learn that Carl (Carolus) Linnaeus, the father of botany, was named for the linden tree! Here's a version of the story from Wikipedia:

Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. His father was the first in his ancestry to adopt a permanent last name; prior to that, ancestors had used the patronymic naming system of Scandinavian countries. His father adopted the Latin-form name Linnaeus after a giant linden tree on the family homestead.

The wiki entry is supported by Edmund Otis Hovey in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (Volume 18) and by Edward Lee Greene in Carolus Linnaeus (both found via Google Books).  Here's the link to Delta's environmental fact sheet.

Tree Walk: Arboreal pyramids

The dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), a deciduous conifer, "grows in a perfect pyramid 70 to 90 feet tall" according to its US Forest Service fact sheet. The Arbor Day Foundation describes the species as fast growing which means it can grow 25" or more per year.  This particular dawn redwood is located on E. Houston Street in Manhattan adjacent to a nine-story building.

The dawn redwood is a NYC Parks Department approved street tree species.  Two were planted in the sidewalk front of a new residential development at 3-7 Wooster Street. Will they attain the same height as the one in the garden on Houston Street?

Another pyramidal tree approved for sidewalk planting in NYC is the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) but we have not seen one growing in the sidewalk, yet. If you live in New York, have you seen this tree?

Biking up a tree

Continental walker Matt Green of I'm Just Walkin' graciously provided us with the content of this post: the photograph above and observations below about the trees seen along his walk across the U.S. Thank you Matt.

The only big thing I've noticed in terms of numbers of trees is that there tend to be more trees where it's hillier, but that's because the flatter areas tend to be farmed, and where there are fields, there's not much room for trees. So Pennsylvania had a lot more trees than Ohio and Indiana along my route.

I saw a lot of flowering trees in western PA and Ohio. Fewer here in Indiana, but there are some nice dogwoods blooming now.

I don't have any particular recollections of trees in people's yards. I think there's a whole mix of tree types and sizes.

I've seen a few good treehouses, but other than that there haven't been many visible signs of tree use by people.

I noticed more birds in farm land, but I think that's just because they were more visible there without trees obscuring them, and my brain just records bird calls as background noise. But today I paid a little more attention and noticed lots of audible birds in the areas with more trees, so I'm sure that's been the case throughout.

Trains of sunflower yellow and apple green

Source: NYC Subway Map

The Beatles sung about a man who lived on a yellow submarine but New Yorkers can ride the "sunflower yellow" R train from Forest Hills in Queens to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.  Sunflower yellow is the (not-so) secret name for the N, R, Q, and Q lines; "tomato red" for the Nos. 1, 2, 3;  "raspberry" for the No. 7; "vivid blue" for the A, C, and E; "apple green" for the No. 4; "slate gray" for the L; and "terra cotta brown" for the J and Z lines.  I like that some of the lines are named for edibles but wonder who decided on apple green vs. green (was R. Raleigh D'Adamo eating a Granny Smith apple on the day he devised the color scheme?).  We welcome your thoughts!

Book review: Flora Mirabilis

Jamaica dogwood

A few months ago Susan Tyler Hitchcock of the National Geographic Society* kindly provided us with a copy of Flora Mirabilis by Catherine Herbert Howell.  Whoever said you cannot judge a book by its cover had obviously not seen this book.  The stories of the 27 plants that "shaped world knowledge, health, wealth, and beauty" are told convincingly with narrative and illustration. The latter is the best feature of the book and the focus of our review.  By the way, the 27 plants are date palm, wheat, rice, olive; black pepper, sugarcane, maize, citrus, tulip; tobacco, tea, coffee, peppers, cinchona; tomato rose, grape, cotton, apple; cannabis, rubber, potato, opium poppy, orchids; and bamboo, yam, cacao.)

The first illustrations that greet the eyes are the ones on the book's jacket. The cover features the Jamaica dogwood (Piscidia erythrina or P. piscipula) and the spine, the Tiger lily (Lilium spp.) both from the collections of the Missouri Botanical Garden Library.

Primula sinensis (pages 96-97)

Strelitzia reginae (page 98)

Each chapter is preceded by double-page spread and single-page illustrations. For example, Chapter 3: Exploration 1650-1770 opens with a two page spread of the Chinese primula (Primula sinensis)** followed by a single page illustration of the bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia reginae).  From the latter image you can see why the plant was thought to resemble a bird.

Camellia sinensis (page 112)

Sections are organized by plants that represent the chapter's theme. Each section has a facing page illustration of its respective plant. Thus, for Chapter 3, the featured plants are tobacco (Nicotiana spp.), tea (Camellia sinensis), coffee (Coffea arabica), peppers (Capsicum spp.), and cinchona or fever-tree (Cinchona officinalis).

Within chapters there are other illustrations such as of important figures, social milieux, artifacts, and ethnobotanical products. An example is of a vessel of immature opium seedpods that were dispensed as "medicine as recently as the early 20th century" (page 205).

Container of opium seedpods

The illustrated time line at the start of each chapter is a creative way of providing an overview of the period under discussion.  Here is an example from Chapter 6: Science 1900 - Present (pages 220-221).

Chapter 6 time line

Two plants - corn and soy - seem to be missing from the last chapter of the book, Science 1900-Present. According to the food media, corn and soy account for much of the modern American diet. There is mention but no substantive discussion of the development of high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s and the use of corn in ethanol.

Finally, in addition to desiring garden spots that would allow me to cultivate most of the featured plants, this botanical volume made me want to spend time in the Missouri Botanical Garden Library!  Did you know that the Missouri Botanical Garden is "the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark"?***  Flora Mirabilis is available wherever books are sold. 


* Also thank you to Anna Kukelhaus of NGS.
** Pardon the quality of the images.  With the exception of the first image, they were scanned with a 8.5 x 11 desktop scanner. 
*** h/t L.A. at Home

Don't forget to enter the Emerald Cities book giveaway

To enter to win a copy of Emerald Cities by Joan Fitzgerald, simply answer the following question in the comments section of the original post: What sustainability projects are being pursued by your city or town?

Entries close at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. We will select one random winner from all the entries.

Acorn to seedling

In honor of Mother's Day.

Somewhere in Boston

Collegiate green spaces

This post about NYU’s Native Woodland Garden is courtesy of Jason Hollander, editor-in-chief of the NYU Alumni Magazine. The original essay ("Green Streets") can be read in Issue #14 of the magazine. Photographs here are courtesy of local ecologist.  A list of the plants used in the garden was compiled by head gardener George P. Reis.

It’s a fair bet that the Manhates Indians—the original Village “locals”—would be awestruck if they walked along West Fourth Street in 2010. They’d find tall edifices, honking cars, and a stream of people inexplicably consumed with their BlackBerries and iPhones. But at the corner of West Fourth and Washington Square East, they’d also find a garden that just might offer a little sense of home and comfort amidst the chaos of the modern world.

Situated between Bobst Library and Shimkin Hall, NYU’s Native Woodland Garden boasts 39 species of native plants, including assorted ferns, sedge, wild ginger, and sarsaparilla. The 2,200-square-foot patch offers a small, rare glimpse of the landscape that the Manhates might have known in 1609. In the centuries since, these species have become so foreign here that some seeds had to be imported from Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The new plot is an ecological anomaly on an island once marked with valleys, grasslands, oak forests, salt marshes, wetlands, springs, ponds, and streams.

The Native Woodland Garden is the first to be planted as part of the Mannahatta Project, an effort by the Wildlife Conservation Society to remember and re-create the natural history of New York City. A legacy gift of NYU’s Class of 2008, the garden was designed by American Horticultural Society award-winner Darrel Morrison and serves as a reminder of how easily native flora thrive in contrast to exotic plants, which need to be constantly watered and pumped with chemicals. "It’ll take two years to get it established and then, hopefully, we just leave it alone," says head gardener George Reis (CAS ’10), who aims to make NYU "a horticulturally significant place."

Reis has been working with Cecil Scheib, director of energy and sustainability, to enhance NYU’s landscape—from planters around Pless Hall bursting with fresh vegetables, which are free to the public, to the tulip garden at Coles Sports Center, which inspires spontaneous photos all spring. "I’ve found the public takes it personally,” says Reis, who often fields questions and suggestions from passersby. And unlike schools with sprawling, bucolic campuses, NYU’s green patches are under an unusual microscope—constant foot traffic means that far more people will see them in a given year than see the New York Botanical Garden. As Reis says: "Any garden that we do at NYU is a public garden."

Log-in to save the urban forest

Source: Urban Forest Map Press Kit

Log-in a tree to save it. Sounds like an oxymoron, right? But look carefully at the spelling: it's log-in not logging. The Urban Forest Map project is asking San Franciscans to

add information about specific trees to the Urban Forest Map, such as their location, species, size, and health. That data can then be used by urban foresters and city planners to better manage trees in specific areas, track and combat tree pests and diseases, and plan future tree plantings. Climatologists can use it to better understand the effects of urban forests on climates, and students can use it to learn about the role trees play in the urban ecosystem.

Source: Urban Forest Map Press Kit

The project is a partnership of the Friends of the Urban Forest, the City of San Francisco, and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal FIRE) and is staffed by Amber Bieg and Kelaine Vargas.

Emerald Cities book giveaway

Update: Christopher is the winner of the Emerald Cities book giveaway. Thank you for participating!

Image courtesy of Joan Fitzgerald

"This is an absolutely invaluable resource and essential reading for anyone working on the agendas of green urbanism and green cities," writes Timothy Beatley of Joan Fitzgerald's Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development. Fitzerald is Professor and Director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University in Boston. I learned of Fitzgerald's new book (she's authored two other books) while listening to the April 20 episode of The Leonard Lopate Show. I was so intrigued by Joan's observations that I emailed her asking for a copy of her book for a giveaway on this blog (thank you Joan and Kathie).

*Contest Details*
To enter to win the copy of Emerald Cities, simply answer the following question in the comments section: What sustainability projects are being pursued by your city or town? Entries close at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. We will select one random winner from all the entries.

Our answer: New York City's "sustainable future" is detailed in PlaN-Y-C. The plan focuses on five environmental dimensions: land, air, water, energy, and transportation and its primary goals are "to ensure a higher quality of life" and "to contribute to a 30% reduction in global warming emissions."

Sustainable Urban Yards

Do you live in a building that has a front, side or back area that is concrete, neglected or just plain ugly? Whether you live in a rowhouse or apartment building, there is probably a nearby space that can be transformed into an urban mini-oasis.

If you answered yes to this question then the "Overlooked Assets: Sustainable Urban Yards" landscape seminar is for you! The May 14, 2010 event is sponsored by Sustainable Yards, The Horticultural Society of New York, and the New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Courtesy of Evan Mason

*Seminar Details*

When: Friday, May 14, 2010, 10am-3:45pm

Where: The Horticultural Society of New York
148 West 37th Street, 13th floor

Cost: $35 HSNY/ASLA members; $50 non-members
LACES credits (2.5) available for an additional:
$25 ASLA members; $45 non-members

To Register: click on http://www.hsny.org/programs_workshops_talks_tours.html.
Or call 212-757-0915 x100 if you have questions or wish to register by phone.

Speakers include:
Ken Smith, Ken Smith Landscape Architects;
Mariellé Anzelone, DROSERA;
Jennifer Bolstad, Local Office Landscape Architecture;
Rebecca Cole, Rebeccacolegrows;
Tricia Martin, WE Design;
Evan Mason, Sustainable Yards;
George Pisegna, The Horticultural Society of New York
Tatiana Morin, NYC Soil and Water Conservation District;
Steven Tupu, Terrain NYC

Going a Maying

I love the title of this print from the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog of the Library of Congress: "The boy who knew where there was a tree, or, Going a Maying."

Image credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-90145] ca. 1898. Other May Day prints can be viewed here.

According to Wikipedia, May Day, celebrated on May 1st, is associated with pagan rites such as "the festival of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers, and the Walpurgis Night celebrations of the Germanic countries....[and] is also associated with the Gaelic Beltane. The holiday goes beyond floral rites.  Labor rights advocates gather on May Day so May 1st is also known as International Workers Day.  Where will you go a Maying? Will you be twirling around a tree or pole, or will you be marching for a cause?