Something Lost

American Persimmons (Diospyrus virginiana) lost to Hurricane Irene, Brooklyn Botanic

I'd bumped into Uli once or twice since Irene blew through New York City, so I knew that there was damage in the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic and that the American Persimmon grove with that deep-fissured bark that I'd loved so had been lost to Irene. But still it was sad to see those Persimmon logs laid so neatly outside of the closed Native Flora yesterday evening. It's a lot of work, cutting down fallen or damaged trees after a storm and it hasn't been finished yet. These are not the only trees that were lost at Brooklyn Botanic, so the arborists and the grounds crew have been plenty busy I imagine.

Below, that beautiful bark while the trees still stood.

Three Cool Things in Brooklyn Botanic's Native Flora Garden Now

what looks like Native Columbine seedheads slowly fading, nearly translucent and illuminated by sunlight

I'd be lying if I said there were only three cool things about visiting Brooklyn Botanic's Native Flora Garden right now. Even in this sweltering heat, the best place to be outside in New York City, besides near the shore catching a breeze, is under some big old trees in the shade. Anyday is a good day to take a stroll in the Native Flora, but in the summer it's always a hair cooler there. So these are just three cool things I noticed on Thursday while visiting. (Probably the coolest place to be temperature-wise and also for learning a thing or two is the Steinhardt Conservatory, where Uli's amazing pictures of native plants line the walls in a display celebrating both native plants and The New York Metropolitan Flora project. 20 years of scientists mapping what's growing wild in a 50-mile radius of New York City, now that's a project to celebrate.)

Clematis viorna (Vasevine) flower drying on the vine

Nodding Onion (Allium cernuum) blooming

A Bud to Get Excited About

Apios americana Flower Buds

Something sweet and new for me in the garden this year. Witnessing the flower budding of the Apios americana vine that Uli gave me last year during my internship at Brooklyn Botanic. I have such sweet-smelling memories of that beautiful flower and gratitude for all my encounters in Brooklyn Botanic's Native Flora Garden. I haven't found the perfect permanent place for this vine in my garden plot yet, but I'm happy to see it growing in the pot it came in. For more on this fantastic native check out these posts at Garden Bytes from the Big Apple by one of the Ellens who writes and gardens.

Outside the City

The weeds are familiar, although I can't say I've ever seen Wild Turkeys in an open lot in the city like we did on our way to Wappingers Falls. Above, the flower of the Narrow-leaved Plantain, (Plantago lanceolata). Like other plantains, one of its medicinal uses was to treat insect bites. I think the flowering heads are charming, weedy as the species is.

We did find a beautiful native plant in a nursery we passed on the way, Lupinus perennis, and brought it out to Joe's brother's. I'd recently seen this Lupine blooming in the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic and was happy to find it at the nursery. Its bloom is lovely, like most blooms in the Pea Family, but I'm mad for its foliage too. I hope it thrives in Wappingers Falls.



Fantastic foliage of Lupinus perennis, our native Lupine.































Tip of Lupinus perennis' raceme of blooms at Brooklyn Botanic's Native Flora Garden, mid-May.

When the Weather's a Dream

Davidia involucrata Dove Tree, Handkerchief Tree in bloom now at Brooklyn Botanic

you're lucky if you end up somewhere dreamy too. I went to Brooklyn Botanic in the early evening for the annual plant sale, but got lost walking the grounds trying to take in all the beauty.





I left with the Guara I was looking for (and about a hundred pictures of the Dove Tree and the lilacs, tulips and on and on) but also fell in love with a few plants in the Native Flora Garden. Now I'm dreaming of someday having a shade garden so that I might grow them.





















Osmunda regalis (Royal Fern)



Eastern Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)

Troutlily Fishing in Brooklyn Botanic

Wednesday night's Native Ephemerals class at Brooklyn Botanic deserves two posts, because I love any walk through this garden and a guided tour with Uli, its caretaker, is a real treat. From the delicate and tiny Troutlily, (Erythronium americanum) to the native Wild Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia) to up in the canopy with new Red Maple leaves waving, it's as awesome a time as any to take a slow walk through the Native Flora Garden, stopping and observing whatever catches the eye. There's always something to see and something to learn or just fall in love with.

Native Ephemerals Class and Schwag

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)

I've said before that any day is a good day to check out what's happening in the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic and I still believe that's true, but it isn't everyday that you get to check out what's happening there and go home with some schwag. Last night's Spring Ephemeral class was special because of the opportunity to see the Native Flora Garden blooming full with large drifts of Wild Oats and Dutchman's Breeches and the latest of the Bloodroot to bloom (among other spring goodies), but also because you got to get your hands a little dirty dividing and potting up some Trilliums and Bloodroot to take home. Hopefully everyone went home with a goodie bag that will give and give and give in springs to come.





















Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucillaria)

















Wild Oats (Uvularia sessilifolia) with Troutlilies

Everything You Wanted to Know About Trilliums..

or WakeRobins and then some can be found at Uli's informative post on Trilliums at Brooklyn Botanic's website today. Uli is the curator of the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic, as well as a keen photographer of plants, so if you're interested in these spring ephemerals and curious about their native habitats, it's a post you don't want to miss. There has been some backlash recently in the news and the gardening world about the growing interest in native plants, but the truth is most of us don't really know too much about or recognize the plants that grow (or in some cases used to grow) naturally in our area and rarely have the opportunity to see some of these plants growing wild or in cultivation. They may be native, but they are not necessarily common, particularly in a city as densely populated and developed as New York. And in this town full of people from all over, there's nothing wrong or weird about rooting for the home team.

(The Trillium pictured above was taken at Brooklyn Botanic's Native Flora Garden last April by Joe.)

Brooklyn Botanic Native Flora 100 Year Anniversary Plug

In 2011, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of their Native Flora Garden with some special Native Plant Events throughout the year. There are classes on spring ephemerals and tours of the Native Flora Garden with curator Uli Lorimer and always the possibility of seeing one of the Red-Tailed Hawks that visit the garden to lure you to a Birdwatching event or just walk the grounds. Just in case you think that the study of native plants and their celebration is simply trendy, this is a great example of visionaries, scientists and plant-lovers alike, recognizing their value a century ago and an institution that continues to recognize their importance. Brooklyn Botanic Garden's scientists have spent the last 20 years on the New York Metropolitan Flora Project mapping the presence (and decline) of native flora in the region.

They Had Me at Apios americana

Apios americana in flower, Native Flora Garden, Brooklyn Botanic

Any day is a good day to get excited about a plant, but it isn't every day that you get excited about a plant that's native, has beautiful fragrant flowers and is a wild edible to boot. So I''ll never forget the afternoon that Uli picked a flower off the American groundnut vine (Apios americana) growing in the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic garden and intoduced me to this plant via a sweet-smelling whiff. Though my garden plot at Floyd Bennett was full, my immediate thoughts were on ways to introduce it in some way to the garden, maybe in a lasagna bed or container or in the Wildlife area.

Then yesterday, when crashing a Garden Writer's Association meetup at Metrohort's annual Plantorama event at Brooklyn Botanic, I had the good fortune to listen to the two garden writers named Ellen, who among other their many horticultural talents and pursuits (teaching, writing, gardening, foraging, preserving harvests, cooking and on and on), collaborate on a local gardening blog, Garden Bytes from the Big Apple. How sweet to find among their wild foods posts, pictures of some harvested groundnuts and preferred cooking advice. Now that is something to really get excited about.

Cold Turkey, Really Only Good for Sandwiches

The Osborne in the last days of fall 2010.

Turns out it's harder to give up a daily dose of the Brooklyn Botanic than I'd thought. I didn't even last two weeks out of the internship program before finding myself back on the grounds for a late afternoon walk. Even though it's not quite winter, it's felt that way for the last two weeks, so it seemed like a fine enough time to check out what's interesting now at Brooklyn Botanic in the coldest season.



It's probably not accurate to say the seedhead of this Cardoon, Artichoke Thistle (Cynara cardunculus) is only interesting in the winter since it's been hanging around the Rose Arc looking lovely like this for quite a while now, at least since September. I wonder how long it will remain. To my eye, it's lovely from any view.



And as always, it's never a disappointment to spend any amount of time in the Native Flora Garden, no matter how small. Right now there's a lot to see down at ground level, like the beautiful white strips of this Birch bark among the fallen leaves.

Beeches

Our American Beech (Fagus grandifolia)in the Native Flora Garden. Grand foliage, bark and all.





















And one of the massive beeches, an Oriental, behind the Rose Arc in Bluebell woods. It's hard to imagine an improvement on the sight of this giant's smooth grey bark and golden leaves in the fall.

In Today's Blue Sky

A lucky encounter with the Hawk, and the silhouette of a Sugar Maple that's ready for winter in the Native Flora.



And a long ways from the sky, buds on a rhododendron, next year's flowers I think. The buds are almost enough of a show on their own.





















Swamp Azalea (Rhododendron viscosum)outside of Native Flora.

A Walk to Native Flora with Susan

Just getting close to the Native Flora Garden right now, you know you are in for a treat. The Native Flora is always a pretty cool spot, but in autumn it's downright dazzling.
















Nearby is a Witchhazel in bloom. Susan noticed one blooming in Prospect Park this weekend, two weeks earlier than I saw it blooming last year.

















There's that Sumac, which is an incredible greeting as you enter the gate.

















And on and on it goes. We walked the different paths of the garden, where there was always some spectacular fall color to see just around the bend.


















I'll miss these walks through Brooklyn Botanic's grounds and through Native Flora, whether studying for ID tests or getting ideas for our projects. Just watching the grounds change daily and through the seasons has been one of the highlights of my year.

Maples

A Sugar Maple inside the Native Flora Garden and maple leaves from just outside it, where a Japanese Maple, Sourwood and a few others are also putting on a bit of a fall show. It felt almost wintery today but we are still waiting on most of the fall color here.





















Leaves of the Amur maple.

In the time of goldenrod

In the Native Flora...
















and off the bike path by Plumb Beach near sunset tonight nestled into a giant stand of Giant Reed grass. What's not to love about goldenrod? It lines the side of the road or any old abandoned lot with these waves of gold and yellow that bend with the wind and when you get close to it, each plant looks like its own bouquet of daisies. Its clear as day that its a composite. Plus Joe likes to make a sweet tea from the leaves. It's that time again.

Form & Function

For good or bad, who knows, I have a sweet spot for some of the plants growing in the Herb Garden and the Native Flora Garden, and the Horsemint plant above happens to be in both. I also love when plants at Brooklyn Botanic are in Peterson's Medicinal Plants of Eastern/Central North America, not necessarily because I'm about to make a tincture from them, but because I can read a little more about them and learn to ID them at home. According to Peterson's, Horsemint's (Monarda punctata) oil is high in thymol, an antiseptic. If you've ever read a medicinal book, you know that expelling worms is high on the list of positive qualities for a plant and since thymol is listed as good at expelling worms, you know Horsemint was a pretty cool plant to know back in the day.







The Levant Cotton pictured below isn't native. African, I think. But it's certainly pretty and functional. The malva family is very pretty in flower, whether its a vegetable (Okra) or decorative plant, (Hibiscus) or important agricultural fiber like cotton (Gossypium). A lot of this country's history is tied up in the fiber of a malva family plant, but not the pretty purple one below.

Wild edibles of the Native Flora

Steve Brill would have a field day in the Native Flora Garden right now. There's a giant edible "chicken of the woods" mushroom just begging to be harvested and fried up, though I think Uli will leave it for folks to ooh and aah at. It's a good thing because this mushroom is quite massive and vibrantly colored, really something to see. Any potential foraged-dinner plate could also contain edible tubers from Apios americana (the groundnut vine), although I think you'd have to wait until later in the season to harvest. This plant provided a staple tuber of the Native American diet and it is flowering fragrantly and beautifully right now in Native Flora. According to Peterson's Field Guide of Medicinal Plants of Eastern/Central North America, the tubers have 3 times the protein of potatoes and under cultivation a plant could produce 5 pounds of edible tubers. I read online that you can also eat the seed pods. I love how there's always something to discover every time you wander into Native Flora.



Flowers of Apios americana