Now & 2031: The endangered Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village

The Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village is located in the interior of the block bounded by West Third Street, LaGuardia Place, Bleecker Street, and Mercer Street.  The garden is historic with landmark potential.  It was completed in 1959 and designed by the world-renowned landscape architect Hideo Sasaki.  The garden is endangered.  It is located in the "North Block" of the NYU's proposed 20-year expansion plan area.

The Garden Now

Image: Verdant and lush WSV Sasaki Garden

The Proposed Replacement

Image: Highly paved interior of the North Block under NYU 2031 (source)

The NYU 20 Year Expansion Plan (or NYU 2031) has to undergo a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) which will begin in January 2012.  The first round of hearings will be conducted by Community Board 2.

1. Monday, January 9: Land Use & Business Development: NYU will present its overall proposal.
2. Tuesday, January 10: Traffic & Transportation: What are the implications of the NYU plan on traffic, pedestrian uses and mass transit?
3. Thursday, January 12: Parks, Recreation & Open Space: How does the NYU plan impact public open space?
4. Tuesday, January 17: Social Services & Education: Does the community support adding a public school to the superblocks and what are the plans for such a school?
5. Wednesday, January 18: Environment, Public Safety & Public Health: Will NYU’s proposal affect local environmental conditions?

The above dates are subject to change so please check the CB2 NYU 2031 webpage for updated information.

English Elm in the Tree Year, part 5

The English elm is still in leaf as of December 12. The Tree Year is winding down with only 11 days remaining in the year.  This is our final post about the English elm in Washington Square Park for the Tree Year project.  We would like to leave you with this amazing information about the species from a research abstract by Gil et al., 2004:

The outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s ravaged European elm populations, killing more than 25 million trees in Britain alone; the greatest impact was on Ulmus procera, otherwise known as the English elm. Here we use molecular and historical information to show that this elm derives from a single clone that the Romans transported from Italy to the Iberian peninsula, and from there to Britain, for the purpose of supporting and training vines. Its highly efficient vegetative reproduction and its inability to set seeds have preserved this clone unaltered for 2,000 years as the core of the English elm population — and the preponderance of this susceptible variety may have favoured a rapid spread of the disease.

(source: Phylogeography: English elm is a 2,000-year-old Roman clone, Luis Gil, Pablo Fuentes-Utrilla1, Álvaro Soto, M. Teresa Cervera, and Carmen Collada in Nature 431, 1053 (28 October 2004).)

Previous English Elm posts:
English Elm in the Tree Year, part 4
English Elm in the Tree Year, part 3
English Elm in the Tree Year, part 2
English Elm in the Tree Year, part 1

Bird Watch: Project Feederwatch Top-25 List

I am always delighted to receive publication from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  The Winter Bird Highlights from Project FeederWatch 2010-2011 is chock full of information including a regional roundup of birds sighted by citizen scientists.

Image: Northern Cardinal, Washington Square Village Sasaki Garden courtesy Hubert J Steed (source)

The Top-25 List for the the Mid-Atlantic, East Central, Northeast, Great Lakes, Allegheny, & Atlantic Canada Regions included Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Finch, Tufted Titmouse, and more.

Image: House Sparrow, WSV Sasaki Garden courtesy Hubert J Steed (source)

The New York State Top-25 List included Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and more.

Image: American Robin, WSV Sasaki Garden courtesy Hubert J Steed (source)

If you have not spent time in the Washington Square Village Sasaki Garden in Manhattan, you should do so for many reasons, one of which is the bird life.  Hubert J. Steed has been photographing the birds that frequent the Garden and his photo galleries are available at http://www.pbase.com/hjsteed/wsvg_sg_birds.  Steed has recorded Northern Cardinal, Mockingbird, Thrasher, Catbird, Mourning Dove, Pigeon, American Robin, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, Sparrow (House & White-throated) and European Starling.  A great Top-12 List for a 1.5 acre urban garden!

At play: Moon-inspired books

Playgrounds are typically profiled in the "At play" series but we would like to share our list of moon-inspired children's books in advance of the total lunar eclipse to occur on Saturday, December 10, 2011.  We were inspired by a moon-inspired book list on oomscholasticblog tweeted by @ScholasticNYC.

Dinosaur's Binkit, Sandra Boynton
Pajama Time, Sandra Boynton
Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown
Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, Eric Carle
My Mommy Hung the Moon, Jamie Lee Curtis
Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
In the Night Kitchen, Maurice Sendak
Zoom into Space with the Shiny Red Rocket, Tick Tock Books

Space, NASA Information & News reported that the best places to view the eclipse will be in "Alaska, Hawaii, northwestern Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and central and eastern Asia," while people in the contiguous United States and eastern Canada "will see either only the initial penumbral stages before moonset, or nothing at all."

What are your favorite moon-themed books for children, and adults, too?

Urban Tree of the Year 2011: Goldenrain tree

There has been high interest in the post about the Callery pear and at least one of our readers has made a planting decision based on information contained in the article. If you are looking for another showy tree, consider Goldenrain tree (Koelreuteria paniculata).

Image: Goldenraintree courtesy of City of Troy, MI Parks and Rec (source)

The Society of Municipal Arborists (SMA) selected the species as the 2011 Urban Tree of the Year.  In addition to its flowering characteristics, SMA members valued its tolerance of drought and soil conditions "including pH extremes (4.5-8.0), coarse to fine texture, and compacted soils with low organic content and fertility."  The species is relatively insusceptible to disease and insect infestation.  The goldenrain tree bug (Jadera species), a native insect, is an occasional nuisance according to the University of Florida/IFAS Extension.  Early structural pruning was recommended to "correct" its decurrent form if the species will be used as a street tree.

Image: Goldenraintree courtesy of Salt Lake City Urban Forestry (source)

Goldenrain tree is also historically interesting.  On "June 12, 1809, Jefferson received seeds of Koelreuteria from France and had a tree growing from them two years later at his home in Monticello, Virginia," according to a statement written by Dr. Nina Bassuk of Cornell.  And from the Monticello House & Gardens website:

In 1809, Thomas Jefferson received seeds from his Parisian friend, Madame de Tessé. He reported back to her in March 1811 that a seedling "has germinated, and is now growing. I cherish it with particular attentions, as it daily reminds me of the friendship with which you have honored me."[2] Jefferson's tree was likely the first grown in America, and Jefferson made the earliest American citation of this tree.[3] Goldenrain trees are now naturalized at Monticello.

The scientifically-minded French Jesuit, Pierre d'Incarville, was one of the few privileged explorers allowed in China during the mid-18th century. It is believed that, while in Peking, he collected the black, pea-sized seeds of the Goldenrain tree, which he entrusted to a Russian caravan on a westward trek to Europe. The seeds would eventually reach the Jardin du Roi in Paris and were being grown by 1763. However, according to Joan Dutton, the tree was introduced in England in 1560.[4]

[1] This section is based on the Center for Historic Plants Information Sheet.
[2] 27 March 1811. Betts, Garden Book, 454-455.
[3] Denise Wiles Adams, Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940 (Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc., 2004), 83.
[4] Joan Parry Dutton, Plants of (Colonial Williamsburg. Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg, 1979), 22.

Then & Now: Showy Callery Pear

Early cultivars of Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), for example 'Bradford,' perform poorly in inclement weather (ice and wind) as they age.  Its reported inferior branching habit composed of many vertical stems weaken over time and cannot withstand heavy loading from ice and wind.  In contrast to the 'Bradford' is the 'Cleveland Select' aka 'Chanticleer' which was selected as the 2005 Urban Tree of the Year by the Society of Municipal Arborists.

(For a perspective of these two pears in spring click here.)

What the 'Bradford' and preferred cultivars of the species have in their favor are showy spring flowers and brilliant fall color.  And for the wildlife enthusiasts among us, its fruit is a food source for birds.  A description of the flowers from the Central Park Conservancy:

A profusion of beautiful white flowers, each 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, growing in clusters measuring 2 to 4 inches across, appearing before or with the leaves.

The leaves exhibit a range of colors: yellow, orange, red, purple. Callery pear is reportedly one of the first trees to flower in the spring.  If the tree is growing in Chicago, its fall color can last 10 to 21 days and into December in the absence of a frost, according to the Morton Arboretum.  The photograph of the Callery pears, pictured above, was taken on November 29, 2011 in Manhattan.

Acer or Platanus acerifolia

Have your tree i.d. skills been challenged by a leaf that looks like a maple species (Acer) but could be a London planetree (Platanus acerifolia)?  If so, read our leaf key in the inaugural post of Metropolitan Field Guide's On Being Misunderstood series.