Baltic Street Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.6

One of the gardeners shows off his bed.
Green With Envy Tour

I lived in Park Slope for 13 years before moving to Flatbush. The Baltic Street Garden, facing busy 4th Avenue, is a garden I knew of but never got to visit while I lived there. Driving along 4th Avenue during the summer, it’s hard to miss. The two-story Campsis radicans, the native Trumpet Vine, qualifies this as a 50 mile-per-hour garden.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Baltic Street Community Garden

The interior of the garden used to be screened from the street by hedges. Although you can now see the garden from the sidewalk and street, it’s a different experience viewing it from the inside.

The plots are large, raised beds. Gardeners grow a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and ornamentals.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Awesome.

Baltic Street Community Garden

Baltic Street Community Garden

Some glam shots.

Hemerocallis

Echinacea and Sedum

Peaches were falling off this tree. Perfect fuzz.

Peach

Even the “necessaries” were photogenic.

Supplies

I got a kick out of this sign just inside the entrance. That’s just how I feel. They missed a view of my “love to hate” though. What would you add to their list?

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

Related Posts

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26
Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5

Warren-St Marks Community Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy, I.5

Warren-St Marks Community Garden

We’re now halfway through the Green With Envy Tour One from last Saturday. We cross the thoroughfare of 4th Avenue, leaving Boerum Hill and entering my old neighborhood of Park Slope.

The Warren-St Mark’s Garden spans Warren Street and St. Mark’s Place between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. The contrasts with the gardens we visited in Boerum Hill were striking. First, there was just so much space, and more openness and sunlight. Second, food was being grown here.

Warren-St Marks Community Garden

Of course, my eyes were still drawn more to the ornamental plantings.

Warren-St Marks Community Garden

Warren-St Marks Community Garden

Warren-St Marks Community Garden

This big, yellow Asteraceae demanded attention. I didn’t recognize it. I thought at first it was a Heliopsis. The flowers remind me more of a Coreopsis, but I’ve never seen one so huge as this. This specimen was about 6 feet tall. Anyone know what it is?

Big Yellow
Big Yellow and Horsetail
Unknown Asteraceae

I also admired the subtle beauty of the Horsetails in the foreground above.

Horsetail

The composting area is off to one side at the middle of the garden, near Big Yellow, peeking in at the lower right. The big bag contains sawdust for folks to throw in when they’re adding vegetables.

Composting Area

There’s a nice area of stadium seating toward the St. Mark’s end of the garden. They show movies there, using the side of an adjacent building as the screen.

Warren-St Marks Community Garden
Warren-St Marks Community Garden

Related Posts

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26
Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4

Links

Warren St. Mark’s Community Garden (Web site and blog)
Warren St. Mark’s Community Garden (Yahoo Group, requires membership)

Boerum Hill, July 12, 2008

Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Brooklyn

The Green With Envy Tour One of community gardens last Saturday was a walking tour. Lots, and lots, of walking, Five hours of walking interspersed by standing around, and occasionally sitting, in the beautiful gardens.

It was also a street-side introduction to Boerum Hill, a neighborhood with which I’m not familiar. Here’s some things which caught my eye, including some gardens which were not officially on the tour.

“Flags” (T-shirts, actually), 485 Pacific Street
Fire escape flags, 485 Pacific Street, Brooklyn

Gardens, North Pacific Playground, Boerum Hill
Gardens, North Pacific Playground
Echinacea, North Pacific Playground

At first glance this building seems out of place, but take a closer look. The brick and wood relate to the dominant materials on the block. The detailed brick lintel across the width of the ground floor echoes details of its neighbors. The windows reflect the street trees and sky.

377 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Fellow Flickrites luluinnyc and mayotic and I were all intrigued by this unusual building at 385 Pacific Street.

Cuyler Church, 358 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
Cuyler Church, 358 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

The frieze above the door – I thought it was a wood carving, but on closer inspection it could be terra-cotta – reads “Cuyler Church.”
Detail, Cuyler Church, 358 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

It really was built as a church building. It has a fascinating history. It served an “immigrant” community of Mohawk ironworkers and their families that settled in this neighborhood starting in the 1930s. In Spring 2001 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The former Cuyler Presbyterian Church is located in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Designed by Staten Island architect Edward A. Sargent, the building is an example of High Victorian Eclectic design with elements of both Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture. The Cuyler Presbyterian Church began as an extension of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church to support its growing programs. The chapel was built one-half mile away from the Lafayette Church in the North Gowanus neighborhood (now called Boerum Hill).
Cuyler Presbyterian Church

Here’s GRDN, a gardening store in Boerum Hill which I’ve been wanting to visit. It’s on the same block as the Hoyt Street Community Garden, but time did not allow me anything but the briefest entry into the front of the shop. I drooled over the hand-thrown Guy Wolfe pots. I want to go back.
GRDN, 103 Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
GRDN, 103 Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Another beautiful building, this is the Brooklyn Inn, a local watering hole since the mid-1800s, at 148 Hoyt Street.
The Brooklyn Inn, 148 Hoyt Street, Boerum Hill

Rubbernecking at the Gowanus Community Garden, only time to admire it as we walked by.
Gowanus Community Garden

Another lovely windowbox, this one at 218 Bergen Street.
Windowbox, 218 Bergen Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Finally, here’s a different view of the Buddy 50 scooter and windowbox that opened the post. They were each so perfect and beautiful.
Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Brooklyn

Related Posts

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4

Links

Boerum Hill Association

David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4

David Foulke Memorial Garden

Another lovely, ornamental garden in Boerum Hill. It may sound strange, but the first thing that really wowed me about this garden was the sinuous brick path winding from the front entrance to the back seating area.

David Foulke Memorial Garden

David Foulke Memorial Garden

Solid, perfectly bowed from the center to the margins for drainage. A herringbone pattern, with each marginal brick perfectly cut to fit the curve of the path. A professional job, which makes sense, considering that this garden is owned by the Brooklyn-Queens Land Trust, which has access to the resources for a job like this.

There was also plenty of vegetal eye candy, as well.

Wall Planter

Solenostemon (Coleus)

Daucus carota

Strobilanthes

Related Posts

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden

I didn’t get many shots of this one, another ornamental green space. There’s only one narrow path which loops like a shepherd’s crook from the entrance into the heart of the garden. It was hard to assemble everyone on the tour into the garden at once.

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden

Many trees and large shrubs shade the rest of the property, much of it not accessible to the casual visible. (Gardeners, of course, make their own paths.) I imagine it must be a paradise for birds.

Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden

Viburnum, detail

Hosta and Coreopsis

Related Posts

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Green With Envy Tour, Tour One, Stop 1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2

Hoyt Street Garden

On busy Atlantic Avenue, at the corner of Hoyt Street, lies the green oasis of the Hoyt Street Garden. This was our second official stop on the first leg of the Green With Envy Tour yesterday morning.

Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

Metasequoia, Hoyt Street Garden

Dominated by a large Metasequoia and an oak, this is a shade garden, so no vegetables. The center circle is used for story-telling on the weekends. Funds from an annual plant sale funds micro-grants for projects that benefit the Boerum Hill community.

Salvage Path

Variegated Solomon's Seal, Hoyt Street Garden

Our Lady of Milk Crates

Related Posts

Green With Envy Tour, Tour One, Stop 1
Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26

Brooklyn Bear’s Garden, Park Slope, Green With Envy Tour, I.1

The Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. That’s the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower behind.
Brooklyn Bear's Garden

Today I attended the first leg of the Green with Envy guided walking tour of some of Brooklyn’s numerous community gardens. Today we visited 10 community gardens in Park Slope and Boerum Hill over 5 hours. Yes, my feet hurt.

I also took hundreds of photos, which will take me a few days to get through. Here’s the first batch, from the Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden at Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue. There are many more on my Flickr site.

Touristas (mostly)
Touristas

The garden occupies a wedge of land at the intersection of Pacific Street and the every-busy Flatbush Avenue. There’s an entrance on each side.

Brooklyn Bear's Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue

Here’s a view of the Pacific Street side. The entrance is just past the raging Capmsis radicans, Trumpet Vine, which dominates this fence during the summer.

Brooklyn Bear's Garden, Pacific Street

Here’s the entrance on Flatbush Avenue, from outside, and in.

Brooklyn Bear's Garden, Flatbush Avenue entrance
Flatbush Avenue entrance

As you enter from Flatbush, the individual plots are to your left.

Brooklyn Bear's GardenBrooklyn Bear's GardenBrooklyn Bear's GardenBrooklyn Bear's Garden

Mostly vegetables.

Cabbage leaves

Squash blossom

But also ornamentals.

Zinnia
Zinnia
Zinnia

Common areas are devoted to ornamental plantings. They’re attractive to all kinds of insects, which satisfy the vegetables’ needs for pollination. View these flower portraits in their larger sizes to see which insects they’re attracting.

Brooklyn Bear's Garden

Roses and guests

Water Lily

Groundcovers

Rudbeckia

Milkweed

I also had the pleasure of meeting two fellow Flickrites: luluinnyc and mayotic. I’m looking forward to seeing their shots of today’s tour.

Related Content

Green With Envy Tour of Brooklyn Community Gardens, July 12 and 26
Brooklyn Bear’s Community Garden, February 13, 2008
All my photos of this garden (Flickr set)

Weed Cortelyou some more this weekend

This weekend Flatbush residents have two more opportunities to weed, clean up, and mulch tree pits along Cortelyou Road:

  • Saturday, July 12, 9am to 12 noon, between Rugby and Marlborough Roads. Meet at the clock at the northwest corner of Rugby and Cortelyou, by the school and playground.
  • Sunday, July 13, 9am to 12noon, between East 16th and East 17th Streets. Meet at the corner of East 16th and Cortelyou.

One of the tree pits on Cortelyou Road between Rugby and Marlborough, across the street from the Food Co-op, June 28, 2008. The weeds were as high as the parking meter then. They’re even higher now.
Major Weeds

We will be there both mornings from 9am to 12noon or when that block is weeded, whichever comes first. No gardening experience necessary! We will show you what to do.

Bring your own drinking water, sunscreen, and gloves and be ready to get dirty.

Thanks to Flatbush Development Corporation for buying mulch for the tree pits! And many thanks to my neighbor, Tracey Hohman, for jump-starting this cleanup!

Related Posts

Links

Flatbush by rail with Francis Morrone

Writing in today’s New York Sun, Francis Morrone extols the charm – yes, charm – of the B/Q subway line that runs through the heart of Victorian Flatbush:

Two things bring charm to the line. One is that many of the original subdivisions of early 20th-century Flatbush remain intact. These planned communities are picture-perfect railroad suburbs of riotously eclectic bungalows and mansions on tree-shaded streets, many with brilliant design flourishes such as landscaped medians, or the illusion of spaciousness that comes from planting trees at the house line rather than the curbline. It’s fair to say that for cleverness of planning and quality of architecture, these communities rank among the finest of their kind in America.
Savoring the Brighton Line, a Rare MTA Charmer, Francis Morrone, The New York Sun, July 10, 2008

This is the landmarked Avenue H subway station on the Q line in Flatbush, Brooklyn. It was originally a sales office for Thomas Benton Ackerson’s real estate developments in the area. Ackerson is one the developers responsible for my neighborhood of Beverley Square West in Victorian Flatbush. This is the only wooden station house in the New York City subway system.
Avenue H Subway Station, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Morrone briefly samples the neighborhoods of Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, and Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park. He’s written much about the architecture of this area. But today, his focus is the ride itself:

This would not be evident to riders but for the other thing that makes the line so delicious: From Prospect Park to Coney Island, the trains run entirely out of doors. From Prospect Park to Avenue H, the trains run in an open cut. From Avenue H to Sheepshead Bay, the trains run on an embankment. From Sheepshead Bay to Coney Island, the trains are elevated. The stations have the air of country railroad depots.

The Q train’s Beverly Road subway platform
Beverly Road Subway Platform

Morrone doesn’t say much about the architecture in this article, but he does highlight one house in Ditmas Park:

Look for 463 E. 19th St., at the end of the block at Ditmas Avenue. The 1906 Colonial Revival beauty was designed by the great Brooklyn architects Slee & Bryson and has a rounded, jutting front porch with the most beautifully turned wooden balusters you’ll ever see.

463 East 19th Street, Ditmas Park, Flatbush, Brooklyn463 East 19th Street, Ditmas Park, Brooklyn

Related Posts

Links