South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

Morning Eye Candy: A Rose of Contradictions

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:15:43 +0000

Rosa rugosa is one of the first roses to bloom in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden. The species name comes from the Latin for “rough” in reference to the plant’s nearly-pleated leaves. It is also a tough plant, willing to grow in some pretty harsh habitats to the point of becoming a weed in places. And yet it is delicate and beautiful and smells amazing, like the finest of perfumes.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: Morning Eye Candy, Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden, Rosa rugosa, Roses, Spring

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Around the Garden.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/around-the-garden/morning-eye-candy-a-rose-of-contradictions/

Wildlife Photographer’s Journal: Great-Horned Owl Nest 2013

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:15:30 +0000

Although I have been photographing wildlife at The New York Botanical Garden since 2008, March 17th, 2012 was my last sighting of a Great-horned Owl. Since that time, during my frequent forays into the Thain Family Forest I could clearly hear them hooting, but have had zero luck in spotting them. But then this April, they made their reappearance when it became clear that one of the female owls had hatched two owlets.

After spending some time peering out of the hole they called home, the two fuzzy owlets stepped out into the world where hundreds of visitors were able to clearly see them from our narrated Tram. Bird watchers and wildlife photography enthusiasts enjoyed being able to observe these young hunters in their natural environment. They were a hit with children as for many, it was their first time seeing an owl. Here’s a partial timeline of my latest wildlife adventure.

Wednesday, April 3 I had just finished my shift and decide to cut through the Forest on my way out, when I heard the distinct hooting of an owl. I look up and there she is. She sticks around long enough for me to take this one photo before taking off.

Friday, April 5 I try my luck again, arriving at the Garden about an hour before my shift begins. I walk through the same area where I saw the owl earlier that week and find her in about five minutes.

Sunday, April 7 You know what they say about the third time being the charm? I see the owl in the same area. I begin to suspect that the she is there for a reason. There has to be a nest nearby. After looking around a bit, I think I find it. I pass my thoughts, photos, and video to Jessica Arcate-Schuler, Director of the Thain Family Forest. It turns out what I have photographed is actually a sleeping raccoon. Wrong tree!

But, in fact, a nest has been discovered, and in order to keep the owls safe and stress free, it is decided to keep the exact location quiet until the owlets fledge. So I relegate my nest observations to early morning or after the Garden closes.

Tuesday, April 9 I visit the Forest again and hit the mother lode. Mamma owl had just killed a squirrel and has it pinned down. I also find the nest tree with two fluffy heads peering through the hole. What cuties!

Thursday, April 18 I arrive at the Garden earlier than normal to attend a special training session, so I stop by to check on the young hunters. One of the owlets is perched just outside of the nest hole on a branch. Hello world! Its sibling is still inside, not quite ready for the world just yet.

Sunday, April 21 Drama in the Forest. Two photographers that I had met earlier that morning tell me that a Red-tailed Hawk had landed close to the owlet. That’s when two adult Great-horned Owls fly out, landing nearby. The stare-down begins with the hawk eventually flying off. Two adult owls? This is news. Mamma owl became a single mom when her mate disappeared in February. Could she have a new beau?

Monday, April 23 The owlet on the branch isn’t there when I get to the Forest this morning. The other owlet is still inside the nest however.

Tuesday, April 24 The nest is empty! The second owlet has stepped out to join his sibling. Hello Forest! It is perched on a nearby branch when I arrive and is still there at 6:15 p.m. when I leave.

Friday, April 26 The second owlet is slowly going further into the Forest. Every time I look, he’s in a different tree now. I see him at 7 a.m. and I check in around 6:15 p.m. before going home. He is deep in the trees this time. I have a feeling that soon he will be joining his sibling in moving on to bigger and better adventures.

Want a chance to see the owls for yourself? Join one of our free weekly Saturday morning bird walks! They’re a great introduction to the wonders of birding. Beginners as well as longtime twitchers are welcome. Bring your binoculars and meet at 11 a.m. at the Leon Levy Visitor Center Reflecting Pool. Wondering why we’re publishing this nearly a month after the fact? We wanted to give the owlets time to fledge before divulging their location!

Tags: birding, birds, great horned owls, Owlets, Raptors, Thain Family Forest

This entry was posted
on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 at 11:00 am and is filed under Around the Garden.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/around-the-garden/wildlife-photographers-journal-great-horned-owl-nest-2013/

Morning Eye Candy: A Quarter Century of Orange

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:15:07 +0000

On this day in 1988, Ivo Vermeulen made his first appearance in the U.S.—25 years later, he’s still clicking away behind the lens. Appropriately, most of that time has been spent wearing orange pants.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: Ivo, Morning Eye Candy, poppy, Spring, Wild Medicine

This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Around the Garden, Photography.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/photography/morning-eye-candy-25-years-of-orange/

Should I Mettle with a Nettle?

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:12:45 +0000

Sonia Uyterhoeven is the NYBG‘s Gardener for Public Education.

I don’t know if you have ever encountered a nettle while out on a walk, but I certainly have, and there is one experience in particular that leaps to mind. While out with friends on a botanizing excursion, I managed to stick my hand straight into a huge patch of nettles (Urtica dioica). A big mistake, as you can probably guess.

We spent the rest of the walk searching fruitlessly for broad-leaved dock (Rumex obtusifolius) to relieve the itching, swelling, and burning caused by the nettle’s stinging hairs. My arm was on fire. But the glassy hairs themselves were not the driving force behind this irritation, nasty as they are. That blame lies squarely with the formic acid and histamine released as the spiny hair pierces the skin.

Luckily, there are several wild cures to the nettle’s sting that the natural world offers. Weeds can be useful, even though gardeners view them (often rightly so) as a nuisance. Broad-leaved dock is just one example. To counter the effects of nettles, the dock’s leaves can be collected, torn into pieces, and pulverized until they produce a green sap. This juice will offer near-instant relief from the nettle’s sting.

Plantain (Plantago) also works against the nettle’s burn, as does the ubiquitous jewelweed (Impatiens campensis). But perhaps the most well-known botanical hero is one you will not find in the woods of New York: Aloe vera. Not just for sunburns, the healing properties of this plant also work to relieve the pain of stinging nettle.

But with such a bad rap, is there any reason to covet the nettle? The answer is a definitive “yes.” Nettles are a natural purifier, stimulating the kidneys and liver to help the body rid itself of waste products and flush toxins from your system. Drinking nettle tea in the spring also helps cleanse the body after a long winter spent eating fatty foods. Nettle tea is even helpful when fighting a cold, and should be taken before and during hay fever season as a natural aide against allergies.

Ironically, the same nettle that causes skin irritation is a helpful herb for people who suffer from arthritis, rheumatism, and muscle pain. It is also a good antidote for certain skin problems such as eczema. It is good for women going through menopause, reducing night sweats when combined with sage, and when taken alone or combined with raspberry or borage leaves it helps to increase energy levels in this time of transition.

For those recovering from surgery, nettles are high in iron and work to balance the body after experiencing blood loss. You may even find them as an integral ingredient in your shampoo, where nettle promotes hair growth along with rosemary, sage, and other scalp-stimulating herbs. Alongside iron, nettles also contain vitamin A, C, calcium, and magnesium.

If you plan to use nettles at home, preparation depends on whether they are fresh or dried. Taking the sting out of fresh nettles is accomplished by cooking them, drying the leaves, or scalding them in boiling water. Then again, it may be easier to buy your nettles dried from an herbal store, which will carry a wide selection of herbs, flowers, bark, and roots that can be made into delicious teas. Whichever method you choose, you should use an average of 1-3 teaspoons of herb for each cup of water when making nettle tea, adjusting for taste. Boil the water and let the herbs infuse for 5-10 minutes for drinking tea, or 10-20 minutes for a medicinal strength tea.

Nettles can be daunting opponents for hikers and home brewers alike, but the health benefits they provide are as potent as their sting. And these benefits are just a few of the many on display during Wild Medicine, a showcase of the world’s most important therapeutic plants. From The Renaissance Herbal to our recreation of the first garden at Padua, see it all through September 8 at the NYBG.

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: medicine, nettles, Sonia Uyterhoeven, stinging nettle, tea, therapeutic, Urtica dioica, Wild Medicine

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 at 11:00 am and is filed under Learning Experiences.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/learning/should-i-mettle-with-a-nettle/

At the Guggenheim, In the Garden of Good and Evil

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:12:29 +0000

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787.

Since ancient times, all cultures have used plants as a source of medicine, from a European willow tree that produces the active ingredient in aspirin to the Pacific yew, the source of the cancer fighting drug Taxol. Many of these plants straddle a fine line between helpful and harmful.

A few years ago it was discovered that flowers in the genus Narcissus, also known as the cheery yellow common daffodil, contain a compound that may help combat dementia. But, as anyone who has ever battled garden pests will tell you, one of the reasons that daffodils are common and beloved by gardeners is because they contain a toxic compound that keeps critters at bay, so you certainly do not want to walk out to your backyard, dig up a bulb and take a bite out of it in order to gird your brain against future memory loss.

That’s the thing about medicinal plants: they can both save and kill. They can be used for spiritual healing as well as physical healing. This healing dichotomy is the focus of an exciting upcoming event being produced in cooperation with the Guggenheim Museum and the New York City Ballet. “Garden of Good and Evil: Harmful and Healing Properties of Plants“ is an interdisciplinary presentation that combines performing arts and science.

Dr. Michael Balick, curator of Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World and Vice President for Botanical Science, Director and Philecology Curator of the Institute of Economic Botany at The New York Botanical Garden uses excerpts from theatrical performances to discuss the healing and harmful properties of plants and the use of plant-based remedies and poisons. New York City Ballet principals Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring and members of the Corps de Ballet Devin Aberda and Andrew Scordato perform excerpts from George Balanchine’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Tom Gold’s Shanti. Chris Murrah directs the witches scene from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and a video excerpt from the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore will also be shown.

Part of the Guggenheim’s Works Process series, this exciting multimedia event will be held at the museum in Manhattan on Sunday, June 2 and Monday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available now.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: Donizetti, Garden of Good and Evil, Guggenheim, L’Elisir d’Amore, Macbeth, Michael Balick, Shakespeare

This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Programs and Events.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/garden-programming/at-the-guggenheim-in-the-garden-of-good-and-evil/

Morning Eye Candy: Good Eats

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:12:08 +0000

It’s radish season again in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden! And as we all know, they really do taste best straight from the ground, after a little rinse of course.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: children’s gardening program, Morning Eye Candy, Radishes, Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, Spring, vegetables

This entry was posted
on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Photography.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/photography/morning-eye-candy-good-eats/

Morning Eye Candy: Hops To It!

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:09:29 +0000

“What’s that vine?” is a question I overhear frequently when strolling near the Herb Garden. Do you know what it is? Here’s a hint: Mmmmmmm … beer! Yep, that’s right, it’s none other than Humulus lupulus, aka hops, the bringer of tasty bitter flavors and preservation to one of mankind’s favorite beverages.

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: beer, Herb Garden, hops, Morning Eye Candy, Vines

This entry was posted
on Sunday, May 19th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Photography.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/photography/morning-eye-candy-hops-to-it/

Morning Eye Candy: Primula and Proper

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:09:17 +0000

Primula in the Rock Garden (photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen)

Tags: Morning Eye Candy, Primula, Rock Garden, Spring

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on Monday, May 20th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Photography.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/photography/morning-eye-candy-primula-and-proper/

Floras are Never Complete

admin — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:08:58 +0000

Scott A. Mori is the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. His research interests are the ecology, classification, and conservation of tropical rain forest trees. His most recent book is Tropical Plant Collecting: From the Field to the Internet.

In telling the tale of one of the great Amazonian explorers, C.V. von Martius, I wrote that, “… Martius was carrying with him 20,000 botanical specimens which served, and continue to serve, as the basis for countless botanical studies, including Flora Brasiliensis which remains the only published complete Flora of Brazil to this day.” To clarify, I was not suggesting that Flora Brasiliensis contains all Brazilian species, but that it is the only Brazilian Flora that included all documented plant species in Brazil at the time of its writing. In fact, there are at least twice as many species known in Brazil today as there were back then!

Examples of new information resulting from botanical exploration in French Guiana:
A/B. New species Byttneria morii
C. Monopteryx inpae, previously known only from central Amazonian Brazil
D. Miconia cacatin, placed in the wrong genus when first published

But what is a Flora? And how does it relate to another common botanical publication, the monograph? Floras and monographs are two of the many products produced by plant taxonomists at The New York Botanical Garden’s Institute of Systematic Botany. Traditionally, a Flora is a book describing all plants in a given geographic area, while a monograph treats all species of a particular group of plants throughout its geographic range. I capitalize “Flora” to distinguish it from “flora,” which alludes to all of the plants in an area rather than a book about the plants of that area.

But why are Floras never complete? In the first place, the area covered by a Flora often harbors new species that have not been named scientifically, or have scientific names but have not yet been found in the area covered by the Flora. This is especially true in tropical areas. For example, in our Guide to the Vascular Plants of Central French Guiana, we discovered 70 species new to science and 200 named species never before found in the region, all over the course of three decades of study.

In addition to these discoveries, the knowledge about the plants of a given floristic region continues to improve. Flowers, fruits, and seedlings are collected for species that once lacked this information; data on the flowering and fruiting of species is collected; a better understanding of morphological variation is achieved; chromosome, molecular, and chemical data are applied to help understand speciation; and new biotic relationships are revealed—such as which pollinators visit the flowers and what dispersal agents carry away the seeds.

A well-planned floristic project is based on a collecting plan that includes expeditions in all habitats during all seasons. As the expeditions increase, the number of species added to the floristic area per expedition decreases—but the value of each collection goes up. The reason for the latter is that all of the easy-to-collect plants have already been gathered, leaving trees, woody canopy vines, rare plants, and those that fruit or flower for short periods as the last to be discovered. When the graph of a collection over time begins to level off, that is the time to get the working manuscript ready for publication. A hard copy Flora is out-of-date the day it is published, and cannot be updated until the next printed edition.

However, new technology allows Floras to be dynamic. They can be updated when needed, and new information is available online as soon as it is entered into the database. As one example, when new specimens are collected they are geo-referenced using a GPS device, and the new locality instantly appears on the database-driven website. Another strength of an electronic Flora is that its information can generate a hard copy Flora on demand for those who request it.

I hope this helps you to better understand the importance of Flora Brasiliensis and the undertaking of modern Floras. If you ever find yourself looking for a better explanation of something I discuss, feel free to leave your questions in the comments!

Tags: Brazil, Flora, Flora Brasiliensis, Scott Mori, taxonomy

This entry was posted
on Monday, May 20th, 2013 at 11:00 am and is filed under Science.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/science/floras-are-never-complete/

Morning Eye Candy: On A Grid

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 02:00:58 +0000

Looking down the axis of our recreation of the teaching gardens at the University of Padua, part of Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World, opening to the public Saturday!

Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

Tags: Exhibitions, Morning Eye Candy, Renaissance Garen, University of Padua, Wild Medicine

This entry was posted
on Friday, May 17th, 2013 at 6:00 am and is filed under Exhibitions.
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Article source: http://www.nybg.org/plant-talk/2013/05/exhibit-news/morning-eye-candy-on-a-grid/

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