A Bulb and A Bloom

At Brooklyn Botanic on Friday, Susan, Anne and I checked for signs of life in the boxes near the children's garden. The boxes are planted with daffodils, crocus, hyacinth and tulips and designed by 2010's horticulture interns. Beneath the netting to keep out critters we found a bulb making its way to the sunlight. And then we were wowed by the display in the Warm Temperate Pavilion where the South African beauties like the Moraea below are blooming.

Catkins, Revisited

Pink female catkins on the Manchurian Alder

All winter I've been visiting this Manchurian Alder across from the Children's Garden at Brooklyn Botanic since spotting its fabulous catkin show on a walk in late December with Susan and Pat. Yet, this Friday was the first time I really noticed the new pink female catkins on this tree. You can see from an earlier picture (below) that they were indeed there, but they seemed so small even just a little over a week ago and you really have to look for them to even see them. They were overshadowed by last years darker female catkins, which hang around through the winter, and the longer male catkins. Surely those little pink catkins had gotten bigger since I saw them last because they were the first thing I noticed when I looked at the tree this Friday afternoon.

That's the really fun thing about watching plants. You might think that there's not a lot happening with the trees around you, but when you really take a look, you find they are changing all the time. These pretty catkins on the alder are a reminder to pay more attention to what's happening with the birches I pass this year. (The alders and birches share a family.)

All in the Family

Hardenbergia violacea flowers

When I saw the Hardengergia violacea blooming today in the Warm Temperate house at Brooklyn Botanic, it didn't immediately call to mind lilacs, (one of its common names is the Lilac Vine) but rather it immediately made me think of Apios americana (groundnut vine). I didn't know what plant I was looking at, but I had a feeling it shared a family with the pea, just as the native Apios americana does. When I realized I was right and indeed this was another plant in the Fabaceae family, I was pretty psyched because it means something is sinking in from looking at all these plants.


Apios americana flowers

These plants that come from different places are related (the Hardenbergia is Australian) and just like you can with some members in human families, you can see a resemblace right away. They are currently classified in the Fabaceae family, which is huge, just like the snow pea vines I grow in my vegetable garden. Of course, you can't assume plants are related just because they remind you of each other, but seeing similarities between species is a good enough start when you're trying to learn about plant families or just trying to ID something.





















Snow Pea flower

Volunteering The High Line Green Up

Spent this windy late-winter day volunteering at The High Line Green Up, cutting back last year's growth on sedges, grasses and perennials that were left as they were for the public to enjoy in the winter season. The conditions are pretty unforgiving up on that old railway, with almost no shade and accelerated winds due to the elevation and proximity to the water. So you really have to give it up for the plants that thrive there and also to the park's staff working and gardening out year-round in this environment.



The brightest spot of color of the day? The rosy buds of the Viburnum x bodnantense, getting ready to bloom real soon.


Rosy flower buds of the Viburnum x bodnantense in late winter on the High Line

Green (and Red and Multicolored) With Envy

Haworthia margaritifera

We went to Planting Fields Arboretum for the Camellia show and then got lost among the orchid and succulent collections in the Conservatories. Did I leave envious for some indoor growing space while waiting for the soil outside to warm up? You bet. At least the different Haworthia species pictured here would fit in a tiny space, and someday when I have some square inches to spare, I'd love to watch one grow. Until then, I guess I'll have to get my fix for these neat plants from other climates and locales visiting public gardens. You really can't have it all in this life and if you live in a small studio in a large city, you know that's the truth.



Haworthia viscosa