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NPILC 2018 – Speaker Notes and Handout

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2018-06-23: Updated with more links.

Following is the outline, speaker notes, and references of my talk at this year’s Native Plants in the Landscape Conference. This was to have been published as a speaker handout for attendees, but it never made it to the conference Web site. So I’m publishing it here.

This isn’t intended to stand alone. This post has many links to my blog posts and photos for further reading and viewing. And the presentation itself is available on Slideshare.

About Me

My New York City Gardens

1981-1992: East Village, Manhattan
Lesson: Buildings -> Shade
1992-2002: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Lesson: Concrete -> Containers
2002-2005: Park Slope
Lesson: Weeds and Invasives
2005 to Present: Flatbush, Brooklyn
Lessons: all of the above

Genius Loci

Geography is Destiny

Long Island

PLACE: Long Island Geography > NYC Eco-Regions > Flatbush

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Long_Island

NASA Landsat satellite global mosaic image of Long Island, New York

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Long_Island_Landsat_Mosaic.jpg

Long Island

Wisconsin Glaciation: ~21K years ago

Bennington, J Bret, 2003. New observations on the glacial geomorphology of Long Island from a digital elevation model (DEM). Long Island Geologists Conference, Stony Brook, New York, April 2003.

• Rpm: Roanoke Point Moraine – North Fork
• Rm: Ronkonkoma Moraine – South Fork
• HHm: Harbor Hill Moraine – North Shore, into Brooklyn and Staten Island
• Kd: Kame Deltas

Central Brooklyn

The Wooded Plain

“Flatbush”: Anglicization of old Dutch:
• “vlachtebos” (vlacke bos, vladbos, flakkebos)
Land use History:
• Home of Lenape and Canarsie. https://native-land.ca/
• Dutch “settled” in early 1600s
• Primarily used for agriculture: woodland -> pasture, meadow
• Railways provided access from “the city” (Brooklyn) through “the country” (Flatbush) to beach resorts, e.g.: Coney Island
• 1870s: Prospect Park
• 1880s: Brooklyn Bridge
• One of five townships consolidated into the City of Brooklyn (Kings County) in 1890s.
• Last farms converted to residential in 1890s, early 1900s: pasture/meadow -> savannah
• Excursion railways converted to commuter lines

Ground Truth (My Neighborhood)

My garden is located roughly ½ mile south of Prospect Lake.
Landscape vernacular:
• Mow&Blow
• Green Death

Ecological Regions (EcoRegions)

In these maps, dashed lines are state boundaries.
Bailey (Roman numerals for Levels) v. Omernik/EPA (3-digit #s + letters)
Bailey: Levels I, II, and III

Level I:
8.0 Eastern Temperate Forests
5.0 Northern Forests

Level II:
8.5 Mississippi Alluvial and Southeast USA Coastal Plains
8.3 Southeastern USA Plains
8.1 Mixed Wood Plains

Level III:
8.1.7/59: Northeastern Coastal Zone
8.5.4/84: Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens
8.3.1/64: Northern Piedmont

Level IV (Omernik)

http://ecologicalregions.info/htm/na_eco.htm
https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions
https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions-north-america

My Garden

Garden Where You Are
Backyard
Front yard
Biodiversity
2011 Garden Tours:
• NYC Wildflower Week
• Victorian Flatbush House (& Garden!) Tour
URL: http://goo.gl/8LgEN#mygarden

Garden #4

2009: Certificate in Horticulture, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
2011: National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat #141,173
2012: Xerces Society Pollinator Habitat
2017: NABA Butterfly Garden #2348 and Monarch Garden

My Backyard Native Plant Garden

The Front Yard

I replaced most of the remaining front lawn in 2014.

Biodiversity

If you plant it, they will come

Plants

Native Plants
Species Acquisitions – “Plant More”
Can you tell from this chart the first year I attended NPILC?!

Insects in my Garden

Cumulative count of my observations of insects in my garden

Family
Common Name
# Species
Coleoptera
Beetles
19
Diptera
Flies
23
Hemiptera
Bugs
9
Hymenoptera
Bees
27
Hymenoptera
Wasps
26
Lepidoptera
Butterflies, Moths, and Skippers
22
126

Excludes many other arthropod groups, including other insect families not listed here, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, etc.
1st BugGuide post: 2007! Neotibicen canicularis, dog-day/annual cicada
Joined iNaturalist in 2013, but posted my first observation in 2017

Allium triccocum, ramps

Aquilegia canadensis, red columbine

Limestone
Calcareous
Alvar
Grike

Aristolochia tomentosa, pipevine, Battus philenor, pipevine swallowtail

Coccinella novemnotata, C9

Glossary: Extirpated

Coleomegilla usurps Coccinella as New York State Insect, 2006-06-23
Coccinella novemnotata, nine-spotted lady beetle, aka “C9”, 2016-06-24

Timeline
1970: Coccinella novemnotata (C9) is the most common lady beetle species in the northeastern U.S.
1980: Nominated as New York state insect.
1980s: Begins rapidly declining. Speculation as to causes includes competition with introduced species, but no definitive answers have yet been found.
1982: Last seen in New York state.
1989: Designated NY State Insect, despite being apparently absent for 7 years.
1992: Last seen in the eastern U.S.
2000: The Lost Ladybug Project initiated as a citizen science project.
2006-06-15: Bill 2005-A06247 passes the NY State Assembly to change the state insect from Coccinella novemnotata, extirpated from NY State, to Coleomegilla maculata.
October 2006: C9 re-discovered in Virginia, first time it’s seen on the East Coast since 1992, 14 years.
2011-07-30: C9 rediscovered on Long Island, first time seen in New York since 1982, 29 years.
2016: Lost Ladybug Project launches program to re-introduce captively bred C9

Gardening for Insects

Stop using pesticides in the garden. Not just insecticides, but herbicides, fungicides, etc.
Grow more native plants, and more varieties of them. Many insects feed on plants in their larval stages, e.g.: caterpillars, and can’t feed effectively on plants with which they haven’t co-evolved.
A variety of native plant species also provides more flowers to provide nectar and pollen for adult insects. Choose plants that have clusters of small flowers, which will attract a larger diversity of insects than big, blowsy flowers.
Leave piles of leaf litter, old logs and branches, standing dead stems of plants. These provide shelter for eggs, pupae, and adults.

Colletes thoracicus, cellophane bee

Dioprosopa clavata, four-speckled hoverfly

NEW YORK STATE RECORD
Glossary: Adventive

Heuchera ‘Caramel’

Glossary:
• Native
• Hybrid
• Selection
• Cultivar
• Patent

Plant Patent (PP) #15,560
https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP16560P3/en
Sandrine Delabroye
“The inventor discovered the new cultivar, ‘Caramel’ as a chance seedling in a cultivated nursery bed in Hantay, France, CT in 2003. Although the parentage is unknown, the characteristics of the new cultivar and the proximity of plants of Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ (not patented) suggests that ‘Autumn Pride’ is a probable parent.”

Impatiens capensis, orange jewelweed

Volunteers and urban habitats – the “moist meadow”

Oxalis stricta, yellow wood-sorrel

What’s a “weed”?
Other native weeds:
• Acalypha virginica, Virginia Copperleaf, Virginia Threeseed Mercury
• Ageratina altissima, white snakeroot
• Amaranthus retroflexus, Redroot Pigweed (Amaranth)
• Conyza canadensis (Erigeron canadensis), Horseweed
• Erechtites hieraciifolius, American burnweed
• Juncus tenuis, Slender Rush, Path Rush, Poverty Rush
• Lepidium virginicum, Virginia pepperweed, peppergrass
• Lobelia inflata, Indian tobacco, puke weed
• Oxalis stricta, Upright Yellow Wood-Sorrel, Common Yellow Oxalis
• Phytolacca americana, Pokeweed
• Plantago rugelii, blackseed plantain
• Solanum ptycanthum, Eastern Black Nightshade
• Viola sororia, Common Blue Violet

Pycnanthemum muticum, mountain-mint

Pollinator magnet
https://vimeo.com/136679893

Sphecius speciosus, cicada killer

Viburnum dentatum, arrowwood, Pyrrhalta viburni, Viburnum leaf beetle

Yucca filamentosa, Adam’s needle, Carpophilus melanopterus, Yucca beetle

Why Bother?

Living (and Gardening) in the Anthropocene

Population Urbanization
Habitat Loss
Globalization -> Invasive Species, Emergent Diseases
Injustice and Inequity: Environmental, Economic, Social

Climate Change

2018 = 60th anniversary of the Keeling curve
CO2 has increased by 32% IN MY LIFETIME
65 people died in New York state, 44 of them in New York City, 8 in Brooklyn, as a result of Sandy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Sandy_in_New_York
https://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/11/05/the-people-who-were-killed-by-hurricane-sandy/

The Sixth Extinction

Extinction Symbol
Lost Species Day of Remembrance: November 30th
Extinct Plant Species of Northern North America

Defiance and Resistance

Related Content

Coleomegilla usurps Coccinella as New York State Insect, 2006-06-23
Coccinella novemnotata, nine-spotted lady beetle, aka “C9”, 2016-06-24

1st BugGuide post: 2007! Neotibicen canicularis, dog-day/annual cicada
Joined iNaturalist in 2013, but posted my first observation in 2017

Flickr: Insects in my Garden

Links

NPILC 2018 – Books

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I spoke this year at the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference at Millersville University in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The organizers asked speakers for a list of books we recommend.

Just a few of the books for sale at the Native Plants in the Landscape Conference 2018

This is my list, grouped roughly by category.

Science

Brian Capon, Botany for Gardeners, 3rd Edition
2010, Timber Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-604690-95-8

Steven B. Carroll and Steve D. Salt, Ecology for Gardeners
2004, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-611-8
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-604694-45-1

James B. Nardi, Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners
2007, The University of Chicago Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-22656853-9

See also: Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home

Plants

Lauren Brown, Grasses: An Identification Guide
1979, Houghton Mifflin Company
Paperback, ISBN 0-395-62881-4
C. Colston Burrell, Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants
2006, Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-889538-74-7

William Cullina, Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada
2000, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-39596609-9

Eric Lee-Mäder, Jarrod Fowler, Jillian Vento, Jennifer Hopwood, 100 Plants to Feed the Bees: Provide a Healthy Habitat to Help Pollinators Thrive
2016, The Xerces Society/Storey Publishing Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-61212-701-9

Lawrence Newcomb, Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide: The classic field guide for quick identification of wildflowers, flowering shrubs, and vines
1977, Little, Brown and CompanyPaperback, ISBN-13 978-0-316-60442-0
Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, and Joseph M. DiTomaso, Weeds of the Northeast
1997, Cornell University Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-8014-3391-6
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-8014-8334-9

Insects

Eric Grissell, Bees, Wasps, and Ants: The Indispensable Role of Hymenoptera in Gardens
2010, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-988-1

Heather Holm, Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
2014, Pollination Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-9913563-0-0

Eric Mader, Matthew Shepherd, Mace Vaughan, Scott Black, and Gretchen LeBuhn, Attracting Native Pollinators
2011, The Xerces Society
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-60342695-4

Paul H. Williams, Robbin W. Thorp, Leif L. Richardson, and Sheila R. Colla, Bumblebees of North America: An Identification Guide
2014, Princeton University Press
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-0-69115222-6

The Xerces Society, Gardening for Butterflies
2016, The Xerces Society
Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-60469598-4

Inspiration

Rick Darke & Doug Tallamy, The Living Landscape: Designing for beauty and biodiversity in the home garden
2014, Timber Press
Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-60469-408-6
Kenneth I. Helphand, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime 2006, Trinity University PressHardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-59534-021-4 Paperback, ISBN-13 978-1-59534-045-0  
Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, Planting in a Post-Wild World Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
2015, Timber Press Hardcover, ISBN-13 978-1-60649-553-3

Douglas W. Tallamy & Rick Darke, Bringing Nature Home: How native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens
Timber Press
Hardcover, 2007, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-854-9

Paperback, 2009, ISBN-13 978-0-88192-992-1

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City Nature Challenge 2018

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Viola sororia, common blue violet, in the front yard, April 2018
The “weedy” remnants of my front lawn, where Viola sororia, common blue violet, has taken charge. Easily overlooked, it seeds itself readily without any help from me (or any other gardener). Yet this species is native to New York City. It’s one of my iNaturalist observations from my garden for this year’s City Nature Challenge.

Today, Sunday, April 29th, is day 3 of the global City Nature Challenge, which continues into tomorrow. Building on the explosive popularity of iNaturalist as a platform for observations, this gamified bioblitz pits cities against each other, to see which can identify more taxa of living species in a 96-hour period.

NYC is currently is 6th place globally, and 4th nationally. There are still plenty of opportunities to join special events organized for New York City, with events in 4 of our 5 boroughs today, and more tomorrow.

I wasn’t able to take part in yesterday’s festivities. This weekend, I have to get my garden ready for this season’s garden tours. Armed with only my phone, I kept an eye out for anything I might see, uncover, or unearth. I was rewarded.

I came up with 16 observations yesterday. In addition to Viola sororia introduced at the top of the post, I observed:

And not a vertebrate among them. There were plenty of birds, and the occasional squirrel, in the garden. I wouldn’t have been able to get close enough with my phone to any of them to get a decent photo.

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Native Plant Acquisitions, Gowanus Canal Conservancy Plant Sale

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Today I made my way to my first Gowanus Canal Conservancy Native Plant Sale. Today is Earth Day 2018, and today’s sale was held at their nursery location, the Salt Lot where Second Avenue ends at the Gowanus Canal. They have two more sales this season. The next, on May 19th, conflicts with the NYC Wildflower Week tour of my garden.

Gowanus Canal Conservancy Salt Lot entrance, April 2018

A wide range of species are listed are available on their nursery page. Not all of them are still in stock. In compensation, they had other unlisted species available at today’s plant sale.


I used their published list of species to make a shopping list, always a good idea when heading out to plant sales. I cross-checked their list for species that 1) I didn’t already have, and 2) were native to New York City. Since they list the Greenbelt Native Plant Center as a partner, I suspected many of their species would be NYC-local ecotypes. I made a few exceptions for cases where I have the species, but not a NYC-local ecotype, e.g.: Solidago sempervirens, seaside goldenrod.

Partial Shopping list for Gowanus Canal Conservancy Native Plant Sale, April 2018

I had the chance to speak with a few of their staff and volunteers, including Diana Gruberg, their Horticultural Manager for the whole operation. I was pleased when she confirmed that some 90% of their species originated with Greenbelt. They are now successfully propagating many of these species themselves, both vegetatively and from seed.

Gowanus Canal Conservancy Native Plant Sale at the Salt Lot, April 2018

Gowanus Canal Conservancy Native Plant Sale at the Salt Lot, April 2018

Today’s acquisitions, listed alphabetically by botanical name:

  • Carex albicans, white-tinged sedge
  • Carex comosa, bristly sedge
  • Euthamia graminifolia, common flat-topped goldenrod
  • Juncus greenei, Greene’s rush
  • Monarda fistulosa, bee-balm
  • Oenothera biennis, common evening primrose
  • Quercus bicolor, swamp white oak
  • Schizachyrium littorale, dune blue-stem 
  • Solidago sempervirens, seaside goldenrod, N YC-local ecotype
  • Symphyotrichum ericoides. heath aster
  • Veronicastrum virginicum, Culver’s root

I confirmed with Diana that the seaside goldenrod was propagated from a Greenbelt collection, so it’s a local ecotype. I don’t know for sure which of the others also are. Odds are good that it’s most, if not all, of them.

Native Plant Acquisitions, Gowanus Canal Conservancy Plant Sale, April 2018

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Emerald Ash Borer Discovered in Prospect Park

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Terrible news.

Until this announcement, Agrilus planipennis, emerald ash borer, or EAB for short, had been found throughout New York state, but the locations closest to NYC were in Westchester County. This is quite a leap. One of the ways invasive forest pests get spread is through moving firewood. I wonder if that was the case here.

I live 1/2 mile south of Prospect Park. I am going to visit the ash trees in my neighborhood. They may not be here next year.

Press release from Prospect Park Alliance, 2017-10-27:

Today, the New York State Departments of Agriculture and Markets (DAM) and Environmental Conservation (DEC) confirmed the first-ever discovery of Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in New York City in Prospect Park. Of an initial survey of 10 suspected trees in Prospect Park by Prospect Park Alliance—the non-profit that cares for the Park in partnership with the City, three were confirmed to be infested by this invasive pest by a Cornell University researcher.

Prospect Park Alliance has removed three trees to date that succumbed to this infestation, located along the Ocean Avenue perimeter of the Park, and additional affected trees in this area will be removed over the winter. NYC Parks, DEC, DAM and Prospect Park Alliance are taking immediate action to limit the spread of infestation and protect New York City’s more than 51,000 ash trees.

“The Emerald Ash Borer infestation was detected in Prospect Park thanks to vigilant monitoring of the tree population by Prospect Park Alliance arborists, a year-round tree crew committed to the protection and preservation of the Park’s 30,000 trees,” said John Jordan, Director of Landscape Management for Prospect Park Alliance. “The Alliance will continue to monitor ash trees in the Park, and will work closely with New York City Parks Department, USDA and DEC to continue tracking and responding to this infestation.”

EAB is a non-native species of beetle whose larvae kill trees by burrowing into the inner bark and thus interrupting the circulation of water and vital nutrients. EAB-infested trees are characterized by thin crowns, sprouts on the trunks of the trees, and the signature d-shaped exit holes adult beetles leave on trees’ bark. EAB only affects ash trees, which constitute roughly three percent of NYC’s street trees. EAB has been present in New York State since 2009.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently awarded a $75,000 Urban Forestry Grant to the Prospect Park Alliance to conduct a tree inventory of Prospect Park. The inventory will include an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 trees in the landscaped areas of the park, representing about half of the total population. The tree inventory will include an invasive insect, pest, and disease detection survey by incorporating the USDA Forest Service early pest detection protocol (IPED).

Thank you to Jessica Katz who posted this to several NYC gardening groups, which is how I learned of it.

Exhibit on Agrilus planipennis, emerald ash borer, from the Onondaga County Cornell Cooperative Extension at the 2012 New York State Fair.
EAB Exhibits

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Remembering Sandy, Five Years Later

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Rockaway Beach Boulevard, between Beach 113th & 114th Streets, Rockaway Park, Queens, November 4, 2012Rockaway Beach Boulevard, between Beach 113th & 114th Streets, Rockaway Park, Queens, November 2012

The storm surge flooded this block to at least five feet. Fire broke out and was quickly spread by 80-mph winds. These buildings burned down to the water line.

This was the site of a heroic rescue by FDNY Swift Water Team 6 and other firefighters attached to this unit for rescues during the storm. Firefighters Edward A. Morrison and Thomas J. Fee received awards for their actions during these rescues.
www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-166/issue-5…
www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/publications/medal_day/2013/Med…

Investigators later determined this fire was caused by downed electrical wires falling onto 113-18 Rockaway Beach Boulevard. 16 homes were destroyed by the fire.
www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sea-water-surge-behind-serio…

There was worse destruction than this on Beach 130th Street, between Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach Channel Road. That fire started at 239 Beach 129 St. and destroyed 31 buildings.

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Land of the Free: A Civics Lesson

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[Transcribed from a 2017-09-16 Twitter thread and back-dated.]
ACLU Handbook - The Rights of Students - Front Cover - 1973

I originally wrote this as a linked group of posts on Twitter in response to an article about a teacher put on leave after “manhandling” (violently snatching from his chair) a student who refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

A billion yrs ago, I was in high school. I was gay, atheist, and figuring out my personal conscience and integrity against the injustice I saw in the world.

I spent a lot of time in the school library. There I found a copy of an ACLU handbook on students’ rights. Among the chapters, there was a section about reciting, or even standing for, the so-called “Pledge of Allegiance.” That was the practice in my high scool’s “home room”: the first “class” of the day, where attendance was taken, and Pledge recited. I had been standing only, not reciting, for weeks.

After reviewing the ACLU handbook, I wanted to exercise my conscience, and my right. One morning, I remained seated. The teacher, calling me by my last name, told me to stand. I refused. He asked why. I explained. I was lying if I recited it. There was no “liberty and justice for all.” I was atheist, and did not believe in a nation “under god.”

He moved on that 1st day. The 2nd day, he brought in the school’s disciplinarian to glare at me from the doorway, to intimidate. I sat. There was the visit to the principal’s office. I explained my reasons again. I remained seated.

This gave other students license to attempt intimidation, push my chair while I remained seated, shove me in hallways outside class. One student called me a “godless, commie fag.” He didn’t know I was gay. It was just the worst insult he could think of.

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“Farmington teacher accused of mistreating student put on leave“, Charles E. Ramirez and Mark Hicks, The Detroit News, 2017-09-15 Continue reading →

Blooming Now

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NYC-Native Species

Asarum canadense, wild ginger

Fragaria virginiana, Virginia strawberry

 Geranium maculatum

Geum rivale, purple avens
Geum rivale, water avens, purple avens

 Podophyllum peltatum, mayapple

Polygonatum biflorum

Rhododendron periclymenoides
Rhododendron periclymenoides, pinxterbloom azalea


 Thalictrum thalictroides

Vaccinium angustifolium, lowbush blueberry


 Vaccinium corymbosum, highbush blueberry

Viola lanceolata, bog white violet

 Viola sororia, dooryard violet (several different varieties)

 Zizia aurea, golden alexanders

Eastern Regional Native Species

Dicentra eximia
Fothergilla major
Phlox stolonifera (in bud)
Polemonium reptans, Jacob’s ladder
Sedum ternatum
Stylophorum diphyllum, woodland poppy
Tiarella cordifolia, foamflower
Trillium grandiflorum, great white trillium

Standing Still 2016

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Persephone with her pomegranate. Dante Gabriel Rossetti – Proserpine (Oil on canvas, 1874) – Tate Gallery, London

This season’s solstice (Winter in the Northern hemisphere, Summer in the Southern), occurs at 10:44 UTC, December 22, 05:44 Eastern Standard Time (UTC-05:00), December 21. Etymology: Latin solstitium (sol “sun” + stitium, from sistere “to stand still”)

The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, its apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill.
– Solstice, Wikipedia

This year feels darker than most. Yesterday, as expected, the U.S. presidential electorate election was affirmed. “Standing Still” takes on a different meaning if there’s a chance the light won’t return.

A Single Candle

So we light a candle against the darkness, and try to keep it lit. If I’m feeling hopeful, I might reflect on these lyrics from Peter Gabriel’s song written in memory of Stephen Biko, who would have been 90 this past week:

You can blow out a candle
But you can’t blow out a fire.
Once the flames begin to catch
The wind will blow it higher.

Wishing for peace, wishing you peace, these dark days.

This page has a little MIDI file which bangs out the tune so you can follow the score.

Illumination of Earth by Sun at the southern solstice.

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Wikipedia: Solstice

Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies

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This is an updated version of a recipe I published 3 years ago. This version reflects the adjustments I’ve made since then. I feel like I’ve perfected this one. If you try this recipe, let me know what you did and how it turned out in the comments!

Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies, cooled and ready for consumption


The trick of using a frozen lemon and zesting the whole thing is something I picked up from my husband. He came across it, as he says, “on the computer.” As you grind down the lemon toward the center, be sure to pick out the seeds with a fork.
Half of a frozen lemon, zested for Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies

Yield: 60 (5 dozen) cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
  • ½ frozen lemon, zested
  • 2-1/2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour, sifted. I like using white whole wheat flower for a recipe like this that has more delicate flavorings.
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Directions

  1. Let the butter soften to room temperature.
  2. Zest the frozen lemon (pick out seeds, as needed) into a small bowl and set aside to thaw.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  4. Sift the flour and set aside.
  5. Cream the butter until smooth.
  6. Cream the butter and sugar together at high speed until light and fluffy.
    Creaming the butter and sugar, Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies
  7. Add the zested lemon, extracts, and spices. Add salt to taste, if desired.
  8. Add the baking powder and baking soda and blend well.
    Batter, before adding dough, Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies
  9. Add the sifted flour and mix until just blended together and no flecks remain.
    FInished Dough, Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies
  10. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
  11. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
  12. Scoop tablespoons of the chilled dough, roll lightly in sugar, and place on the parchment. Leave space between them; they will roughly double in diameter.
    A baker's dozen of scooped dough, ready for the oven, Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies
  13. Bake for 10 minutes until just brown on the edges. Your sense of smell is the best guide; remove them when you can just smell the sugar caramelizing. The edges should be just starting to darken. This will give you a crisp edge and chewy center.
    Lemon-Cardamon Sugar Cookies, fresh out of the oven
  14. Remove the baking sheet to a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool and set up on the sheet.

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Other recipes on this blog

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The original recipe by Lauren Zietsman, published on her blog “A Full Measure of Happiness,” is no longer available on the Web.