Everything at Once, 2012

I've had the either lucky or very unlucky opportunity to come to know plants in a time when the seasons and weather is changing. It's unlucky of course because the world is changing and the plants and wildlife we rely on are being effected. It's unlucky because it makes remembering the order of things (who blooms first, what to plant and when) harder.

This year for instance, everything is blooming at once in my vegetable garden. The yarrow is still going, while nearby asters are already starting to bloom ahead of schedule. (The asters aren't pictured here.) The vegetable garden is flush with pollinators.

There is a feast now. But with latebloomers that I love so much like the asters beginning already, there may be famine for the pollinators come autumn. Here is where I can see my luck swinging the other way. Because I am paying attention in this time, I can choose to sow some annual flowers now that will help provide some sustenance for the pollinators or I could buy some to transplant. You have to live in your own time and recognize it for what it is.

Monarda punctata blooms.

ZigZag Zipper OrbWeaver

Not exactly its scientific name,but that zig zag zipper that seems to echo that spider's markings is the way I'll probably know it for what it is the next time I run across it. It's common enough, but I had to go to my favorite bug source to find out its proper name. Habitat? Gardens and old fields, but in this case a garden in an old airfield.

Abundance

Granted, the lily is indeed a massive flower, the anthers like giant fuzzy-slippered landing pads, but that is one very very tiny bee. I'm not sure how to make a comparison to any feast I've eaten. But then, I've never actually sat down in my dinner plate with room to stretch out and walk around.

We had our first eggplant for dinner tonight.

On Landscape

The new "landscape" as seen from atop Brooklyn Botanic's greenroof

“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what's going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.”

Annie Dillard, Pilgram at Tinker Creek



The path of a leaf miner

On The Living Roof at Brooklyn Botanic

I learned today from Geraldine, our intern from overseas, that much of the focus on greenroofs in her home city of Zurich which has mandated laws for flat roofs, is on habitat and biodiversity. The thinking is that part of what it means to "green" a city is that there is an attempt made to replace some of what has been lost to urbanization.

Because When the Going Gets Tough

the really tough are only just getting going. Think you could survive two gnarly New York City summer heat waves with no supplemental water up on a green roof in the Bronx? I know I couldn't. I barely made it through just this afternoon intact and it wasn't nearly as hot up on that roof as it must have been last week in the baking sun.

I tried counting the bees today and I tried not to sweat. I failed at both.

The Remains of My Dad's Hosta Flowers

I only harvested a small portion of my dad's hosta buds for bouquets. The remains of some that were left behind are looking allright to me as their petals give way to time and the end of their season.

One For my Mom's Table

This year I harvested most of my garlic scapes about a month ago. Those scapes made their way into salads and one tasty pasta dish that I was surprised came from my own hands at the stove. The rest remained on the garlic plants which were just pulled this week to cure. Those remaining scapes just opening made their way into the bouquet for my mom's table above. I was getting teased down at the community garden though about leaving those scapes on. But it's win/win as far as I'm concerned. I had some scapes for eating, some for flowers and still enough garlic to harvest and of decent size to be happy with. There's more than one way to skin a cat or so I've heard.

Controlling Pests the Easy Way

 What you need is a nephew with very quick hands and an interest in insects.The pictures are bad, but the day was good and I don't think I've ever seen that squash vine borer above actually flying around in my garden before, even though every year it always manages to kill my zuchinni. I told my nephew that my garden would not disappoint for bughunting, but I had no idea that he was going to be doing me such a big favor. The cucumbers and zuchinni just might have a chance this year thanks to him.

I Was Trying

but it's such a delicate wisp of a thing and the wind was blowing and the sun felt like a weapon.

How could you not?

In The Skyline With Agastache and A Bee

I'm just pulling weeds, quite happily, 17 stories up in the New York City skyline with some Agastache and a bee and I am almost never bored at work. That last part is the most beautiful thing.