Filed under: Compost, Events, family activities, gardening, Nature, Queens, Rose Garden | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, compost, composting, environment, family activities, flowers, gardening, New York, plants, public garden, public gardens, Queens, trees
The glorious month of May has arrived and QBG is bustling with blooms and activities!
The Kaltman Fragrance Walk’s lilacs are covered in heavenly scented blooms, while the Rose Garden is full of flower buds just about to open. The Woodland Garden’s trees have all leafed out, and shade-loving wildflowers like Solomon’s seal and bleeding hearts decorate the garden paths. Watch for other floral beauties around QBG like lupines, California poppies and bearded iris.
Enjoy a walk through our bucolic 39 acres and be sure to take part in the great activities planned this month – the Children’s Activity Table on Saturdays and Sundays (sponsored by TD Bank), discounted admission as part of National Public Gardens Day (May 11) and New York State Museums Week (starting May 31), plus a Native Plant Tour for NYC Wildflower Week (May 19).
And don’t miss the last weeks of photographer Audrey Gottlieb’s show “Vignettes from the Queens Project” and the artist’s talk also on the 19th.
Folks from the terrific NYC Compost Project in Queens are also busy – catch them at QBG on May 5 at Mama’s Expo, at QBG for a Composting Workshop in Mandarin (May 5), and on May 6 at the Green for Queens Earth Day Fair at the Central YM&YWHA.
Get all the details on our Events Calendar.
Remember Mother’s Day is May 13 and QBG is the perfect place to bring Mom for a relaxing afternoon. Even better, give her a gift that will last all year – membership to QBG!
P.S. We had a great time at Arbor Fest on April 29 and thank all for visiting! Check out the photos on the Arbor Fest Photo Gallery.
Photos: H. David Stein, Shari Romar
Filed under: Compost, family activities, gardening, MillionTrees NYC, Nature, Queens, Tree care, volunteer | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, compost, composting, environment, family activities, gardening, gardening tips, MillionTreesNYC, New York, plants, public garden, public gardens, Queens, sustainability, trees
Welcome to spring! City trees are blooming and leafing out in parks and tree beds alike, bringing much-needed bursts of color to our landscape.
Now is a great time to offer your trees a bit of tender loving care. There are several things you can do to help your tree out, especially in this unnaturally dry and warm spring we are experiencing.
Young street trees (those which have lived less than 5 years in a tree bed) are in the most danger of suffering from lack of water. Keeping the soil moist will ensure that tree roots grow downward and establish themselves in the tree beds.
To prepare the soil for watering, remove any remaining mulch which may have collected animal waste and other pollution throughout the winter. Remove any trash as well. Take a cultivator or other small gardening tool and loosen up the soil throughout the bed, being careful to watch for roots that may be just under the soil. Loosening the soil is an essential step to making sure the water stays in the tree bed and doesn’t drain off into the sewer system.
Adding compost to the tree bed will help the soil retain moisture and provide air space for tree roots to grow. Work no more than an inch or two of compost in first 2 inches of soil. Either vermicompost (from and indoor composting bin) or compost from an outdoor bin or garden store are great additions to a tree bed. If mulch is available, add 1-3 inches of mulch over the loosened soil, maintaining a space of 6 inches around the trunk of the tree free of mulch. The mulch will help retain water in the bed as well and prevent it from evaporating on warm, dry days.
Now, the tree is ready to be watered! Young trees need 15-20 gallons of water a week, all at once. Slowly pour the water into the tree bed (or use a hose on a low-flow setting) until the bed is saturated. Pouring the water in the “moat” area near the trunk created by the mulch is one way to capture water in the tree bed. Let the water absorb into the soil before adding more to keep water from running off onto the street and sidewalk.
Example of a tree bed moat
Spring is also a great time to shape up your trees, literally. For decades, TreesNY has been training New Yorkers to safely (and legally) prune NYC street trees. Pruning helps keep trees healthy, safe, and beautiful. The Citizen Pruner course in Queens starts in May and takes place in Long Island City. To find out more and register, please visit treesny.org. If you have trees that need pruning on your block, you can also call TreesNY to alert Citizen Pruners in your neighborhood. If trees in your neighborhood are posing a danger, please submit a pruning request through 311.
Filed under: Events, family activities, gardening, Queens | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, childrens gardening, environment, family activities, gardening, New York, public garden, public gardens, Queens, vegetables
The QBG Blogger could write a post with details about this new and very exciting program, but we’ll defer to the expert — the program’s coordinator, Maureen Regan. Check out the interview on New York 1 News, and be sure to stop by this Saturday’s Open House from 10am to 2pm.
Filed under: Events, family activities, gardening, Nature, Queens | Tags: bees, birds, botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, environment, family activities, flowers, gardening, New York, plants, public garden, public gardens, Queens
Spring is in full bloom at QBG! This is the perfect time to enjoy all the beauty of the season, and there’s no better place than right here!
The list of flowers in bloom is enormous but some highlights include crabapple and cherry trees, tulips, grape hyacinth, daffodils, magnolias, dogwoods and eastern redbuds.
Our bees are…well, busy bees! Stop by the Bee Garden and watch them buzzing in and out of the hives to collect pollen. Just as busy are the birds – our robins are looking for nest sites, the red-winged blackbirds trilling all around the Meadow, and migrating warblers are catching a snack as they continue their journey. Don’t forget to keep your eyes open for our charming Italian wall lizards as they warm themselves in the sun.
You can be just as busy at the Garden too! The QBG Store is stocked with great treats and gifts, and stop by the Children’s Activity Table on Saturdays from 1 to 4pm where kids can create a take-home treat. We hope you can make it for the Intergenerational Garden Open House on April 14, and be sure to mark your calendars for our 2nd Annual Arbor Fest on April 29 – an afternoon filled with family fun!
Filed under: gardening, Nature | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, environment, flowers, gardening, gardening tips, Hamamelis, New York, plants, public garden, public gardens, Queens, trees, witch hazel
What is that stunning yellow thing in the Fragrance Garden?!
That’s a question all visitors to QBG have been asking, and the answer is none other than February’s favorite shrub, Hamamelis x intermedia, or hybrid witch hazel.
Witch hazel is an aesthetically funky plant and known for its winter interest. It’s a medium-sized shrub with wide-set branches and smooth gray bark. The habit is V- shaped, getting wider with age. Ridged leaves grow alternately on the branches – summer foliage is a soft medium green color, switching to vibrant orange in autumn. Witch hazel is great to look at even in winter when dusty red seed pods sprinkle the branches!
But what makes this plant stand out in the winter garden is the “big” show starting in late January until February, when the gorgeous bloomer opens up in flower – a sprinkling yellow, orange or red flowers all over the bare branches.
H. x intermedia is a cross between witch hazels native to Japan and China (Hamamelis japonica and Hamamelis mollis, respectively), both discovered in the late 19th century. The popular Hamemelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ (on display in the Fragrance Garden) was bred at the Harvard University Arnold Arboretum in 1928, and released for sale in the early 60’s. It does best in slightly acidic soils with full sun, but can take part shade. Besides being fun to look at, witch hazels are also quite pest resistant, and don’t need much maintenance other than slight pruning.
North America boasts several common native species – H. virginia, H. vernalis, and H. ovalis – historically used in several medicinal treatments. Today, most people recognize the topical astringent, sold in pharmacies everywhere.
Medicinal uses aside, witch hazel is simply a beautiful shrub. It charming flowers will be with us only a couple more weeks, so come on down to QBG and enjoy!
–Written by Aly Fox, QBG intern
Filed under: family activities, gardening, MillionTrees NYC, Nature, Queens, Tree care | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, environment, family activities, gardening, MillionTreesNYC, NYC Civic Corps, public garden, public gardens, Queens, sustainability, trees
We’re so pleased to welcome Neil Barrett to QBG as our new Civic Corps member working on MillionTreesNYC. Neil offers us a glimpse into his backround below — or better yet, meet him in person at on our our MillionTreesNYC workshops!
Since arriving from Cornwall, England in October 2010, adapting to life in New York has required significant readjustment as I’ve looked to find both my feet and professional niche. However, when the opportunity to participate in the NYC Civic Corps program presented itself, I immediately recognized the potential of the program and grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
Aside from helping to speed up my integration into my new home, the Civic Corps program – grounded as it is in public service – also allows me to interact and develop relationships with the residents of New York, many of whom I probably wouldn’t have otherwise met. I find this aspect of the program especially appealing as it enables me to interface with those who, like me, are seeking to reconcile their personal environmental values through social engagement and civic participation.
My academic background includes a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Systems from the University West of England, a Trinity College London, Cert. TESOL, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Decision Making from the UK’s Open University. While my academic goals are currently on hold, I plan to resume my studies upon completion of the Civic Corps program with a view to completing my Master’s degree in Urban Ecology. Additionally, my work with the Civic Corps program at with the Parks department at Central Forestry requires an understanding of urban forestry and, to develop my understanding of this area, I’ve am also studying to become ISA (International Society of Arborists) certified, something which I am sure will benefit my wider MillionTreesNYC community outreach work.
In the meantime, I remain both excited and committed to continuing and extending the outreach work of MillionTreesNYC. From my base at Queens Botanical Garden, my primary focus will be to extend the MillionTreesNYC message and help educate New Yorkers about the many benefits a healthy urban tree canopy can bring to the city. Additionally, my work will also involve hosting tree care workshops and teaching basic tree stewardship skills. Through this work, I hope to develop and sustain tree stewardship networks, so that individuals and groups can then share their skills and knowledge with others, so that New York’s street trees remain strong, healthy and prosper well into the future.
Filed under: gardening, Great Reading, Nature | Tags: botanical garden, botanical gardens, environment, flowers, Founding Gardeners book, Garden reading, gardening, New York, plants, public garden, public gardens
We love our volunteers at QBG. They’re a fun group of folks working in all areas of the Garden. Plus they’re always reading great books! Sue Nicholas, Rose Garden volunteer, shares her review of her latest read, The Founding Gardeners:
I’ve had a wonderful summer working with Karl in our beautiful Rose Garden (though the weeding never stops…). I feel most fortunate to have this privileged fun and to see the wonderful results of his planning and our labor.
Now with winter coming, it’s time to catch of on my reading! I just finished The Founding Gardeners by Andrea Wulf. Focused on Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison and their respective “home places” (Mount Vernon, Peacefield, Monticello, and Montpelier), Wulf describes their common trait: all were passionate botanists with visions of an independent, agriculturally self-sufficient republic in the New World.
I was especially struck by Madison’s contributions — he was truly our first environmentalist. In May 1818 he delivered a famous speech to the Agriculture Society of Albemarle in Virginia, providing a voice to the principles of soil, forest conservation, and the delicate balance of nature. The benefits and importance of nature were not hot topics in the 1800s — nature existed entirely for human benefit (clearly no one realized that trees give off oxygen!). Madison’s alternate vision had wide repercussions — his speech was made into a pamphlet and read across the world and revolutionized farming methods.
All four founding fathers did not limit themselves to farming concerns. They also took the first steps in public gardens by trying to create a national botanical garden. Their initial attempt failed until the first national garden was created in 1870.
Founding Gardeners was brought to life on a recent trip to Richmond, Virginia for a family wedding at the very lovely Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. My visits to nearby Monticello and Montpelier were greatly enriched by reading Wulf’s engaging book, and I had a better understanding of the world in which these gardens were created.
As the gardening beds are put to rest and tools returned to storage for the winter months, enjoy the new free time by checking out Founding Gardeners. I promise you a good read!
This book available through QBG’s Amazon Associates store — a portion of your purchase will support our programs and gardens.
Filed under: gardening, MillionTrees NYC, Queens, Tree care | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, environment, family activities, gardening, gardening tips, MillionTreesNYC, plants, public garden, public gardens, Queens, sustainability, trees, volunteer
Ever wonder how that beautiful, young, new street tree came to be planted on your street? Keep reading for an insider’s look on the MillionTreesNYC tree planting process by Chelsea Clarke, Queens MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps Outreach Coordinator!
As we transition from rainy April weather to warmer May temperatures, the planting season is well underway for the urban foresters working at the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Spring tree planting typically begins mid-March and continues until late May, or until all the trees are in the ground. But where do all these trees come from? Surely, they don’t just sprout from seed and grow to be 12 feet tall in a day! No, these trees are grown in nurseries for about 7 years, until their diameter at breast height (DBH) measures at least 2.5 inches, and they are deemed capable of surviving in the harsh urban environment of New York City.
In early March, carefully selected trees from nurseries in Maryland, Long Island, Buffalo and sometimes as far as Oregon arrive in New York City on semi-trucks. For easy handling during shipment and planting, a portion of the tree’s roots are removed, and then the remaining mass of roots and soil is wrapped up in burlap and contained by wire cages. This burlap package of roots at the base of the tree is called the root ball. The tree’s branches are tied up with string, much like a Christmas tree, in preparation to load it onto the truck. Trees from Maryland and Long Island are tied securely down onto the back bed of a large semi-truck. If the trees are travelling from as far as Oregon, they will be loaded onto a refrigerated truck.
Take note of the trees' root balls, and their tied branches.
Trees tied neatly and securely on the semi-truck.
Once the trees make the journey by truck to NYC, they are delivered to various storage yards all over the city. The pictures you see here were taken at a storage yard in East New York, Brooklyn. They trees are then unloaded from the truck using a special machine, grouped by species, and stored in the yard until their new sidewalk home is ready for them, usually just a couple weeks later.
This handy machine easily slides under the root ball of a tree and lifts it from the truck...
...to the ground, among trees of the same species, creating a forest of burlap and root balls.
Trees are marked with colorful ribbons to help workers identify the species before planting. Ribbons are removed after planting.
Keep a look out for new trees planted in your neighborhood this spring! Check for the orange bracelet that says SPRING 2011. Don’t see any trees in your neighborhood? Be sure to look for a white spray-painted “T” or the milliontreesnyc.org stencil on the sidewalk that indicate you might be receiving a tree this spring. To request trees for your neighborhood, call 311, and be sure to specify an address.
Each MillionTreesNYC tree has a colorful bracelet that identifies the year it was planted. Check the young trees on your block to see when they were planted!
MillionTreesNYC.org Stencil spray-painted using water-based marking chalk.
About the Author: Hi, my name is Chelsea Clarke, and I am an AmeriCorps member working as the Queens MillionTreesNYC Stewardship Corps Outreach Coordinator at Queens Botanical Garden. I work to set-up Street Tree Care Workshops at the Garden and in Queens neighborhoods where MillionTreesNYC has planted new street trees. Along with the NYC Compost Project in Queens and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (NYCDPR), we teach these workshops to inform New York City residents (people like you) how to properly care for your new street trees to ensure that they grow tall and strong to provide you and your community with all the benefits that trees can! Not only do I offer these workshops, but I also work with the NYCDPR at the Central Forestry office to gain insight into the entire tree planting process. Stay tuned for more blog posts from me in the next couple months about tree care and street tree planting processes, from tree procurement to stump removal.
Filed under: Compost, Events, gardening | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, compost, composting, environment, public garden, public gardens, sustainability
If you’re interested in spreading compost know-how and enthusiasm, consider the NYC Compost Project’s Master Composter Certificate Course!
The NYC Compost Project Master Composter Certificate Course is a train-the-trainer program with a community service component. This course was developed by the NYC Compost Project and the DSNY Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling.
Application Deadline: Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Courses will be held every Tuesday in March and April (except April 19th) from 6-9pm at Queens Botanical Garden with two weekend field trips, TBD. Apply online at http://bit.ly/feszXA .
Master Composter Course Description
The Master Composter Certificate Course requires 18-23 hours of classroom instruction, two field trips, plus 15 hours of supervised community training, and 15 hours of independent projects/community service helping to advance on-site composting in NYC. This course covers the following topics:
- the small-scale composting process
- how to use finished compost
- how to design and build on-site compost systems
- techniques for teaching others about composting
For the community service component, participants engage in projects based upon their interests and the goals of the NYC Compost Project. Potential projects might include giving composting classes at schools and civic associations, building compost bins at community gardens, staffing compost info tables, or working at compost demonstration sites.
Course material fee is $40; limited scholarships are available.
The Master Composter Certificate course is offered every spring by the NYC Compost Projects at the city’s botanical gardens in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island; the NYC Compost Project in Manhattan offers the program in the fall. Applications for spring classes are due in early 2011. For more information, dates and the online application, please visit: http://bit.ly/dYTsLU
The NYC Compost Project is funded and managed through the Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Waste Prevention, Reuse and Recycling.
Filed under: Events, gardening, Nature, Queens, Tree care, volunteer | Tags: botanical, botanical garden, botanical gardens, compost, composting, environment, family activities, flowers, gardening, gardening tips, grass, herb gardening, New York, NYC Civic Corps, plants, public, public garden, trees, turf grass, vegetables, volunteer
It’s never too early to start planning — and fundraising — for your spring projects. If you have a local environmental project that needs financial or volunteer support, apply to post your project on ioby today. ioby stands for ‘in our backyards’ and connects people to environmental projects in their own neighborhoods so they can support them with donations or volunteer time. Anyone can post a project that meets our criteria. Got questions about how it works? Call 917-464-4515 or email info@ioby.org to talk to Erin or Brandon about your idea for neighborhood change.
Read some success stories to find out how ioby’s community can support work just like yours. Or join us at our benefit event on November 11th to meet 2010 Heroes In Our Backyards.
