Monthly Archives: April 2010

Put Down Roots: Million Trees NYC Tree Giveaway

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Once again, MillionTreesNYC is offering free trees, first-come, first-served, at limited locations around the city. Trees must be planted in the ground, not a container or planter, within New York City.  They can be planted on private property, with permission of the property owner.

Here are some Brooklyn locations. Check their Tree Giveaway page for the latest updates and other locations and dates around NYC.

SOLD OUT – All 200 trees were claimed in 1/2 hour
Green Fort Green and Clinton Hill & FAB Alliance Giveaway
Saturday April 17th and Sunday April 18th 10 am – 3 pm
Putnam Triangle (Putnam Avenue & Fulton Street)
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Grand Street Campus Giveaway
Saturday, May 1st and Sunday May 2nd 10 am – 4 pm
850 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211

April is MillionTreesNYC month. In addition to the tree giveaway, there are many other events and activities scheduled.


Earth Day Corporate Challenge (Thursday, April 22, 2010) – To
celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, NYRP and City Year are
joining forces for a second year to challenge some of New York City’s
corporate leaders to plant more than 100 street trees in Upper
Manhattan’s Washington Heights. To get your company involved, contact
Jimmy Owens, NYRP Corporate Giving Manager, at (212) 333-2552.

NYC Parks Reforestation Day (Saturday, April 24) – more than a
thousand community volunteers will join the NYC Parks Department in
planting 20,000 trees in a single day at 16 park sites across the
city’s five boroughs. To register to volunteer, visit
www.milliontreesnyc.org.

NYC Grows (Sunday, April 25) – NYRP and the NYC Parks Department,
along with presenting sponsor Organic Gardening magazine, invite New
Yorkers to this annual, free outdoor festival that promotes community
gardening, tree planting and care, urban farming and sustainable
living. Tree-planting and care demonstrations will be provided
throughout the day in the MillionTreesNYC pavilion area. To learn
more, visit www.nyrp.org/nycgrows.

Arbor Day Celebration (Friday, April 30) – To commemorate Arbor Day,
MillionTreesNYC lead sponsors The Home Depot Foundation, Toyota and
BNP Paribas will bring their employees out to dig in and green a
Brooklyn residential development. New York City residents are invited
to celebrate Arbor Day by planting a tree in their yard or by adopting
a street tree and watering and protecting it all year long. To learn
more, visit www.milliontreesnyc.org.

MillionTreesNYC Lecture Series (Mondays in May) – To keep the
MillionTreesNYC momentum moving beyond April, a series of lectures
focused on innovations in tree planting and maintenance, public policy
and urban forestry research will be presented each Monday throughout
the month of May. For dates, times and locations of lectures, visit
www.milliontreesnyc.org.

Related Content

Carolina Silverbell: One of a Million, 2007-10-09
News, NYC: 1M Trees in 10 Years, 2007-04-22

Links

MillionTreesNYC

Free Trees in Clinton Hill, GreenBeat Brooklyn, 2010-04-07

The Fallen

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The Fallen

Due to circumstance and inclination, my three decades of urban gardening have been devoted to mostly ornamental private gardens. I have dabbled in the occasional strawberry jar potted up with herbs (successful) and sweet corn in container (wretched). Nevertheless, most of my experience is with perennials and bulbs.

I label my plants. Rather, I label where I plant them. This is most helpful in the off seasons, to dissuade me from scanning some patch of deceivingly barren soil and imagining all the new plants I could acquire to populate it.

In the first garden, in the East Village, I carefully labeled all the little bulbs and plants with plastic labels. The white plastic contrasted strongly with the dark earth. This led one visitor to describe it as a “plant cemetery.”

I’ve since graduated to aluminum labels. They are durable, erasable and reusable. Perhaps most important, less conspicuous. I’ve also gotten into the habit of scribing the provenance onto the back of the label: the year, and usually also the source from which I purchased the plant.

Nevertheless, they sometimes still serve as markers for those plants that have passed on. This is so common that gardeners have a euphemism for it: “adventurous.” I am an adventurous gardener, in that I will plant things I’ve never grown before, perhaps never ever heard of before reading about it or spying it in some nursery and “rescuing” it.

Here then is a sampling of The Fallen, transcribed from markers I’ve found in different stashes, collecting dust with years-old seed packets, rusting pruners, and forgotten catalogs.

  • Adiantum pedatum, Maidenhair Fern, Gowanus Nursery, Spring 2008
  • Alchemilla epipsila, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
  • Aquilegia, Columbine, Shepherd’s Seeds, Spring 1994
  • Ascepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed, Southern Exposure Nursery, July 2007
  • Begonia grandis alba, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
  • Crocus ‘Skyline’, Scheepers, Fall 1998
  • Crocus ‘Taplow Ruby’, Fall 1994
  • Delphinium, Blackmore & Langdon Strain, 1993
  • Gentiana dahurica, Shady Oaks, Summer 1996
  • Hosta nigrescens, Carroll Gardens, July 2003
  • Iris siberica ‘Blue Moon’, Nicoll’s, Fall 1994
  • Iris siberica ‘Butter & Sugar’, White Flower Farm, Spring 1998
  • Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’, 1993

The Fallen

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NYC Garden #1, The East Village, the 1980s: The Shade Garden

Hanami begins tomorrow, April 3, at BBG

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Cherry Blossoms, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 2007, All Rights Reserved
Cherry Blossoms

via BBG Press Release

From April 3 to May 2, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) celebrates Hanami, the Japanese cultural tradition of viewing each moment of the cherry blossom season, from the first buds to the pink blossoms that fall like snow.

During Hanami, visitors can take a free Seasonal Highlights Tour (Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.) focusing on the ethereal beauty of BBG’s Japanese plant collections and specialty gardens, including the more than 220 exquisite flowering cherries, the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, and the Tree Peony Collection. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s curator of the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Brian Funk, will also host a Meet the Curator session (Wednesday, April 14, at 4 p.m.). Throughout Hanami, the cherry display will be tracked in real time on BBG’s web-based CherryWatch feature, which maps the entire collection and provides daily blossom updates.

The four weeks of Hanami culminate in the Garden’s legendary two-day festival Sakura Matsuri — popularly referred to as “New York’s rite of spring” — a thrilling tribute to the Garden’s iconic collection of flowering cherries. Sakura Matsuri is scheduled for May 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with over 60 performances, demonstrations, and exhibits—many of which are new and specially commissioned for the dynamic weekend celebration. Visitors of all ages are welcome to Sakura Matsuri, the nation’s largest event in a public garden.


During Hanami, visitors can also enjoy a selection of special Japanese entrées at BBG’s Zagat-rated Terrace Café and discover the Hanami Collection at BBG’s Gift Shop (both on-site and online), featuring handpicked items inspired by the Garden’s blossoms and Japanese aesthetics.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden encourages all visitors to share their cherry blossom images in the Garden’s Hanami photo pool on Flickr.

BBG began charging admission in 1996. The weekend of Sakura Matsui accounts for 80% of their gate for the year.

Related Content

All Brooklyn Botanic Garden posts