Brooklyn
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Willow, Weep
The “weeping willow” is one of those trees most of us can identify. Often associated with water bodies, it is distinctive. In my experience, the East Village is a good place to find them, often dominating community gardens. Columbia St. (above) and Red Hook (below) are good places to spot them in Brooklyn. All of…
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Dogwood
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) on Van Brunt St. The flower-like petals of this species (and Kousa and Pacific dogwoods) are actually bracts, or specialized leaves; the flowers are the little buds clustered in the center.
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Back 40 Mugwort
The Rock of Repose holds back the line of advancing Common Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris). This sneaked in under the fence from the Mugwort/Knotweed jungle beyond, but you can find it everywhere in the city as it advances to cover the globe. I’ll say one thing for it: fresh (and uprooted) and dried out (in winter),…
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The Weekend in Blooms
Bursting out all over the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, azaleas (genus Rhododendron). Meanwhile, the hawthorns (genus Crataegus) in Prospect Park. Also in Prospect, some other kind of azalea. Butterflies, ladybugs, flies, and bees were happy to see these blossoms, too.
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Back 40 Pin Oak
My squirrel-planted Pin oak (Quercus palustris) enters its second year. The twig-like sapling is 7″ tall; this terminal bud is about a quarter of inch long. I had two of these last year in my Back 40. One I yanked accidently during a weeding frenzy. I replanted it when I saw what I had done,…
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Two Locusts
Two native trees in the legume family, which produce bean-like seed pods and, often, nasty defensive thorns.Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacia) just sprouting in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The pods for this one are small and flat. This hardy, fast-growing tree can be found pretty much anywhere and produces pretty white flowers.Honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos) on Bergen St.…
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Moth Fly
Friends! Are you troubled by little gray-black flies that, upon closer inspection (don’t be shy, get a little closer, the details are remarkable) look rather moth-like with their hairy wings and bodies? Do you wonder why they seem to be hanging around your sinks? Or, like this one, in the hallway, just waiting for my…
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Silver Maple Key
The wind has deposited a couple of keys of the large Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) growing in the middle of the inside block the Back 40 faces. These keys are some of the largest produced by any maple species. This one is 2 and a quarter inches long.
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The Scrape
A Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) looking out of the Brooklyn Bridge. Note the whitewash of bird waste below, streaking the jutting stone. The birds simply turn around, point their tails out, and let loose. Virtually nobody on the bridge notices. New York City’s bridges (e.g., Verrazano, Throgs Neck, Marine Parkway), buildings (see 55 Water Street),…
Backyard and Beyond 