For the Birds

It was really not so long ago that this pea-family tree was food for bees. 

Now it's for the birds. 

The Grass Might Not Be Greener

The grass might not be greener on the opposite side of the fence but the wisteria flowering there sure looks dreamy and the scent was delicious. I would wear it but then I think the bumble bees would be chasing me everywhere.

More Pea Family Flowers in May

Baptisia in May

Are you tired of them yet? I know I'm not. I skipped peas as a food crop in the vegetable garden this year. When it was like 80 degrees in March I figured it wouldn't be a good year for them and just sowed some to fix a little nitrogen in the soil and turn in. But maybe I'll just let those few vines grow anyway, just to see those sweet flowers and harvest a bowl or two to eat.

One Pea Family Flower Blooming this Week

Ridiculously pretty dripping in long chains of those pea family flowers.

Baptisia Seed Pods in April

I'm a sucker for plants in the pea family (do you think they call the family fabaceae because it's so fab?) and a sucker for plants with pretty seed pods, so I'm doubly done in by our native Baptisia australis. Those rattling seed pods still looked beautiful standing stiffly after the winter before they were cut down this afternoon.

If It Looks Like a Pea

                            Seed pods of Albizia julibrissin (Silk Tree, Mimosa), Park Slope, Brooklyn

then it just might be related. When you start out to know the names of plants and identify the things growing around you, the task can seem overwhelming. If you've never paid attention before, you might find yourself bewildered at every corner, even in a densely urban area like New York City known more for its steel skyscrapers and architecture than for its teeming plant life. But there are street trees everywhere and landscaping plants around apartment buildings and a lot to see if you keep your eyes open and focused on more than the pavement. So you start with what you've got in the way of knowledge and make associations based on what you know. It's pretty likely when you see something above your head that reminds you of a snow pea pod that you are looking at a tree in the same family as the pea. If that's only as far as you get, it's not so bad. It's a big world with a lot of plants and you can't learn everything at once. In this case, the pea pods belong to the Albizia julibrissin, which has more than one common name in the US. And while it is planted for decorative reasons, it is also a tree that has naturalized in Brooklyn and more southern parts of the US, and in some places it is labelled as an invasive species.

Some Limas, 1,2,3

After the sowing and growing and staking, there is...the harvesting.

And the shelling. Plus composting. Easy as 1,2,3,do re me. Don't be fooled by my photos. The vine is a monster and prolific. Just watch out for hurricanes and Mexican bean beetles.

Edamame

The only thing that would have made seeing the tiny sweet flower of my soy bean plants today even sweeter is if my nephew had been here to share the sight with me. This is a new crop for me in the garden and for Joe in the pumpkin patch, and as my nephew knows, it's a crop that makes one ono-licious snack. (that's Hawai'ian for delicious). We harvested young soy beans for Edamame from the pumpkin patch today and all the volunteers who helped out got to leave with some.

Street petals

There's a New York City street tree blooming nearby. The Chinese Scholartree is the common name listed in my New York City Trees book. The bees seem to love these late blooms so much they will dive into them where they are lined up on the road or on the tops of cars after falling from the tree. Looking closely at the blooms reveals their resemblance to pea flowers and indeed, this tree is in the legume family. In six months, when it is cold again, there will be pods dangling from the Chinese Scolartree and it will still be recognizable. But I'm not looking forward to winter already. I feel almost the opposite. That another summer is slipsliding away too fast.

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.

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

Wisteria

seed pods dangling in the Japanese Garden. Thanks to Nancy pointing out one of the seedpods lying on the ground, I'll always remember this plant is in the legume (fabaceae) family. It's sweet when something is easy to remember.