Oh Boooyeee


Why does the New York Times do infomercials? See this "article" in the garden section. In imagining (because it ain't so) my country vegetable garden, I've always constructed it with buried mesh below and a fence large enough to keep deer out above. But this is too much. What a cage. Seems like the kind of garden a Wall Streeter might create. Yech.


deCordova Sculpture Park


The day after my visit to the New England Wildflower Society (post coming), my friend Steve took me to the deCordova -as it's known around Boston. I had never been. It's a sculpture park and museum that is much more intimately scaled than Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY (post coming). Below are a few highlights from the sculpture park.

Not so much sculpture as much as a sculptural container for plants. I cannot imagine that this is the intentional planting scheme, only vinca holding on in the lower portion. Neat, nonetheless, and could imagine it being planted in a variety of ways.

Hey, look at that -some purple loosestrife in the rock garden they called "Alice's Garden." I wondered if they called the garden this because it has a bit of Alice in Wonderland in its sculpture choices. Then I supposed that loosestrife was fitting as it is a prohibited plant in Massachusetts, and somewhat of a cheshire cat. Always leaves me vexed.

Steve really enjoys this water garden. Set amongst some large pines, it trickles down the hillside.

The upright stones are edged irregularly with casually cut square interiors. From the top of the interior cut, a fountain creates the sound of a gentle rain.

A stack of old newspapers in the woods.

This work is by Steven Siegel, and is placed within what appears to be an old stone foundation.

On top are local plants, like ferns and maples.

I recall working with this artist when I was in undergraduate school, helping to layer newspapers in the cleft of a slope. Interesting to see that he is still working with the same ideas after 20 years.



How Hot Is It?


Weather Underground has just listed the temperature at Hunter College (East Side, 60s) at 103.1 degrees F. Maybe we can squeeze another decimal point into that temperature before the heat begins to wane. I am at work. The lights went out, then the AC. I found Gus, facilities superman and he told that he was instructed to shut lights, AC. Wow, thanks for telling the workers, school officials. I then received a robocall from my studio landlord. It stated that the power would be off in my studio through Thursday. Heat-forced vacation I suppose. I just informed the chair that I would be leaving as no lights and AC feel pretty much like a de facto emergency closing.

I haven't seen this kind of steady heat wave since the 1990s, usually late July/August. I lived through many a 105 degree days during my time in southern New Mexico. There, we had no AC, but something called a swamp cooler, which blew air via a fan through a membrane soaked in water. It kind of worked. Mostly I just stayed in, watched a ton of 49 cent movies from the video store. That was then. In NYC, work must go on.




And Again Tomorrow


My personal weather station (uh, thermometer outside) says it's 84.5 degrees F. When I look up zip code 11218 on the weather underground I get zip code 11215 -close enough and it reads 85.5 degrees F. Lately, the New York, NY station used by weather underground has been suggesting pleasant weather to Manhattanites. Tonight it's a pleasant 76.8 degrees F, dew point 33 degrees, humidity 20% -fabulous, a desert night. Yet they are forecasting 101 degrees for Manhattan this Tuesday with dew points in the high 60s (they'll feel that). As the dew point approaches the air temperature, one feels the moisture. If it rises along with the temperature, say into the high 60s -hello steam bath.

But I digress. Fix that erroneous weather station please. It's supposed to be hotter in Manhattan and no manner of powerful suggestion can overcome this heat. Tomorrow I water -again.

UPDATE: The New York, NY station has been changed to Hunter College. And it reads as it should, 88.2 degrees F this morning. My thermometer reads 93 degrees F at 9:10 am. The weather station is telling me 94.3 degrees -that's pretty hot for 9 am in Brooklyn. As the high pressure slides off the coast, the air flow will become more southerly, less hot, and more humid. I think that will feel worse than this hot and dry air mass. Yuck.





Record High Yesterday...



at JFK of 101 degrees F. Today will be about the same. Fortunately, it has been relatively dry with fairly low dew points. Watering, watering, watering the potted plants. The rivers and streams upstate were running low as I saw them this weekend. If we continue on this path, we'll hit a reservoir drought situation later in the summer. Then, of course, it's water for essentials only.


Eff That Bee!



It was on the euphorbia. A honey bee approached within an instant. It leaped to the ground. Those legs are wound up like springs. At this stage, not much bigger than a dried ol' yew needle.
Don't like bees, but camera's okay.


Miffed and Sleuthed

I have been anticipating the flowering stage of this plant, discovered roadside in Prospect Park. Its unusual character was immediately apparent. Today, however, I discovered it had lost its flowering top to someone or some thing. I was annoyed that I was not able to see it in flower. I am amazed by a plant coming up entirely on its own, without a community of like plants or any plants -just leaf litter, in the dense shade of large trees. What was that plant?!

I moved on, miffed by this missed opportunity. I looked around its immediate vicinity to double check that it truly was growing without company. It was and so I traveled the bridge over the Lullwater, still scanning for the plant in the understory.

To my left I notice a break in the wire fence. A pair of sunglasses, an evening's hideout? I break with conformity and go through the fence. Lo and behold, I spot the leaves.

The first I saw was leggy, the flowers spent and brown. They look weak, stems falling over, not the stout specimen I initially saw by the road. I think to myself how the dry spell must be affecting them, especially here, under the dense canopy of trees.

I move closer to the water and I spot my best opportunity for a photograph. The heavy, green- cast shade is affecting the flower's color, which leans toward green and white with a blush of pale purple. My original thought that the mystery plant was some kind of lily, given the leaf arrangement and the timing with our cultivated lily bloom, was clearly way off.

Ellen at GardenBytes believes it to be an orchid as she has just seen similar plants blooming in her woods. A close look at the flower backs her up. A quick check of white-green-flowered wildflowers at the Connecticut Botanical Society reveals that Ellen is right. Epipactis helleborine, or Helleborine, is an orchid, but one that hails from Europe and is rather derisively called Weed Orchid. Oh well, leave it to me to discover a weed in Prospect Park.


Mites



The dry, breezy, hot weather has made a ripe environment for spider mites. Now my tomatoes' got 'em. Not just them, mind you, but the maple tree sprouts 10 feet away, amongst the poles.

Yellow mottling on top.

Webby, detritus-covered bottoms.

I was gonna spray some soap, but then didn't. I fertilized instead, hoping there will be enough plant for both mites and tomatoes. We'll see. I'm lazy when it comes to treatment.


I'm No Birder...

...but I had an encounter with this bird in Prospect Park while I was talking with a neighbor, near the lake.

I had never seen it before. Significant markings include bright yellow tips on its tail feathers, a bright red patch on its wing, and a super hero black mask on its face. Yellowish-ochre underbelly and reddish-ochre head with gray, black and white elsewhere.

It was flitting around the tree we were standing under, I then noticed at least three others follow it to the tree. Photographing this bird with my little Canon A80 was nearly impossible -no significant zoom, and, well, birds keep moving.

I got enough shots, and the markings were memorable, that I could look it up in my handy Audubon Society Nature Guide -Eastern Forests. Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedorum, summers and winters in our area and is common to most of temperate North America. They love berries, like park settings, and enjoy fresh water. Look for it in trees near you.




Seeking Rain


The garden wants it to rain. Its been dry, its been hot, its been breezy -all conspiring to extract moisture from the soil. The plants are hanging on, but not without the occasional spot dousing by my watering can, which I am not wont to do.

So this afternoon and evening's thunderstorm threat, with its 1/2 - 1 inch of rain in short bursts, seems all the more promising. Yet, as I watch the sky, I head out with my watering can in full doubt that we will be doused. So far, I've experienced no more than cloud spit.

Radar indicates a southwest to northeast flow, often the pattern for harsh summer storms -but also the pattern for random locales getting completely missed by the restorative rains. This may be the case for some gardens and their last chance for awhile to get some rains. Northern Manhattan shall get some. The Bronx for sure, but Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, we'll need to keep our fingers crossed.


Look What I Found



I feel like I found something special -even if it's not. I shoved two sticks in the ground to protect it (ha!), being rather exposed as it is in an area of Prospect Park where tree-trimming and garbage trucks pass through regularly. It stands alone, nothing around it but forest litter, quite near the paving.

I discovered it a week ago, however without my camera. I returned the other day thinking it would be blooming by now. It was not. My guess as to what it may be: A lily of some kind, maybe Maianthemum? I will need to see it in flower. Any good guesses?


Prospect Plants



When I noticed these all over Prospect Park this spring, I kept thinking "sambuca." Is that right? Google sambuca plant and lo and behold, Sambucus canadensis pops up. Seems right, no? Poisonous, except the berries.

Flowers sweet scented, this I can attest.

What is that floating yellow-flowered plant? Yellow water primrose?

This young tulip tree is under some stress, looks like autumn.

Porcelain Berry Vine, variegated or Ampelopsis glandulosa brevipedunculata 'Elegans'. Known to be aggressive in woodland and woodland edge settings in our area. See this post.

What might this small tree/large shrub be? It looks like privet to me, but large-leafed.

And the flowers more sweet smelling than stenchy.



Lilies and Roses

The front yard garden yesterday evening.

This lily is blooming its head off.

I was excited to see the lily well-timed with the second bloom of grandma's tea. In the first two photos you will not see any roses. Someone enjoyed snipping them all off yesterday -for a vase or to make up.