trees
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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 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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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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Trees on the Street
With all the new trees planted around the city, there’s just a lot more eye-level detail to be seen. As the trees bud out into leaves and flowers, we can get a lot closer to these saplings than we can to many a tall, trimmed up, mature tree. These pictures were all taken along two…
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The Darling Buds of… March?
The two crab apple trees on my block are now blooming. Title riff: “Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” ~ Shakespeare, Sonnet 18.
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Lifelines
The usual notion of a tree root is that it has a large root mirroring the trunk, running as deep underground as the trunk runs up into the sky. Or, like Tobin’s sculpture, it has a series of deep roots, but that’s his artistic license, not to mention a practical way of allowing people to…
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Spring Loaded
About two weeks earlier than last year, the fruity ornamentals amongst us have erupted. Genus Prunus of the family Rosaceae encompasses the cherries and plums, and cherry plums, and apricots, and quinces, and even peaches — Callery pears also blooming now are another genus w/in Rosaceae– and these small-blossomed beauties are out and about now…
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Springpink
Just about the perfect spring color.If you hurry, you can see the real thing at the magnolia madness at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
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Spring’s sprung
Spring officially started early this morning, but it’s been bursting out for more than a month now. These pictures are from last week in the Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Backyard and Beyond 