Native Plant Acquisitions, Gowanus Canal Conservancy Plant Sale

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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Blooming Now

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

Pine Barrens Soil Horizons

Yesterday, I transplanted a small piece of Carex pensylvanica, Pennsylvania sedge, from my sister’s property in Ocean County, New Jersey. This species is common on her property.

She lives in the pinelands of New Jersey. The canopy is pine and oak. The duff layer – the natural “mulch” of dead plant material deposited on top of the soil – is composed of mostly pine needles, with some oak leaves.

Here’s a view of the clump I extracted.


And here’s the “back” view, where the blade of the spade I was using sliced through.

I only just realized I had a nice slice of the upper soil horizons.

The slats of the tabletop are 2″ wide. The entire depth of the soil slice is only about 3″, 4″ including the duff layer.

The white is fungal mycelium that has colonized the duff layer, starting the process of decomposition.

After I moved this clump from the table, I noticed tiny beetles, at least two different species, had clambered off. They fell through the slats before I could photograph them or otherwise observe them more closely for identification.

This small slice represents at least five different macro-species – pine, oak, sedge, and beetles – and one micro: the fungus. If we could somehow inventory all the micro-invertebrates and micro-organisms, there might be hundreds, or thousands, of species in this photo.

It’s tempting to think of species as singular “things,” to be contained in our cabinets of curiosities, our checklists, our collections. Any species is not any one thing, but a population, containing genetic diversity that slowly shifts and drifts across space and time. Each species is part of a larger whole, an unbounded fractal of complex relationships.

Yes, I grow many native plant species in my garden. For one reason, I can learn to recognize them. I never want to forget how artificial my construction is. However I may hone my garden, whatever beauty I can construct here, and pleasure I may offer from it, it doesn’t compare to the transcendence I experience of wild things in their natural habitats. All this diversity at home reminds me of how much more there is, still, in the world, and how important it is to protect it.

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April 2015: Native Plants Planting Plan

2015-04-26 Update: Finally finished planting everything.


Took me most of the day to figure out where all of the 63 plants I received this week are going. Better late then never.

Bog Planters

Plant in the bog planters. I’ve only seen Iris versicolor, but never grown it. The other species are new to me.

  • Geum rivale, water avens
  • Iris prismatica, slender blue flag
  • Iris versicolor, blue flag
  • Mimulus alatus, winged monkey-flower
  • Mimulus ringens, square-stemmed monkey-flower

“Wetland” area

Planted where they can benefit from runoff from the garage, bog planters, and other containers. I’ve seen Caltha, but never grown it. The others are new to me.

  • Argentina anserina, Silverweed
  • Caltha palustris, marsh marigold
  • Ludwigia alternifolia, bushy seedbox
  • Menispermum canadense, Canada moonseed
  • Mitella diphylla, two-leaved mitrewort
  • Penthorum sedoides, ditch stonecrop
  • Scirpus cyperinus, common wool-grass
  • Scutellaria lateriflora, mad-dog skullcap
  • Woodwardia areolata, netted chainfern

Front Yard “Meadow”

This is sunny to partly sunny, dry to moist. Except for the Allium, of which – I’d forgotten – I’m already growing a cultivar, all these species are new to me.

  • Allium cernuum, nodding onion
  • Asclepias verticillata, whorled milkweed. Part of my effort to increase the number of milkweed species in my garden.
  • Chelone glabra, white turtlehead, planted at the shadier end of the border.
  • Helianthus decapetalus, ten-petal sunflower
  • Liatris scariosa, Northern blazing-star
  • Oclemena acuminata, whorled wood aster
  • Parthenium integrifolium, wild quinine
  • Penstemon hirsutus, northeastern beard-tongue
  • Pycnanthemum incanum, hoary mountain-mint. This and the next species are relatives of the P. muticum, clustered mountain-mint, which is abundant in my garden and gets more pollinator visitors than any other plant. I’m growing P. virginianum elsewhere. I want to compare these species, both to be able to identify them, and to see if there are any differences in the number or species of pollinators they attract.
  • Pycnanthemum verticillata, whorled mountain-mint
  • Symphyotrichum pilosum pilosum, hairy white oldfield aster
  • Symphyotrichum prenanthoides, crookedstem aster
  • Viola palmata, early blue violet
  • Zizia aptera, heartleaf golden alexanders. Relative of the Z. aurea I already have, and which is seeding itself in my garden. I’ll also be transplanting some of these volunteers to the front yard. I want more plants from the Apiaceae as hosts for Eastern black swallowtails, in the hopes they’ll leave more of our parsley for us.

Backyard “Woodland”

Small things, planted by the Gardener’s Nook so I can keep a close eye on them this year. Some of these are favorites I’d planted in the native plant area of my first garden in the East Village.

  • Actaea pachypoda, white baneberry
  • Actaea rubra, red baneberry
  • Anemone acutiloba (Hepatica acutiloba)
  • Dicentra canadensis, squirrel corn
  • Dicentra cucullaria, dutchman’s breeches
  • Dodecathon meadia, shooting star, white- and pink-flowering forms
  • Hydrastis canadense, goldenleaf
  • Jeffersonia diphylla, twinleaf
  • Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot
  • Thalictrum dioicum, early meadow-rue
  • Viola affinis, sand violet
  • Viola labradorica, Labrador violet
  • Waldsteinia fragarioides, Appalachian barren strawberry

Planted in various other locations in the backyard.

  • Agrimonia striata, woodland agrimony
  • Anemone virginiana, Virginia anemone
  • Argentina anserina, silverweed
  • Arisaema draconitum, green dragon
  • Eurybia divaricata, white wood aster
  • Geum aleppicum, yellow avens
  • Geum canadense, white avens
  • Hydrophyllum virginianum, waterleaf. This turns out to be a duplicate. I thought I had killed the specimen I bought a few years, but it had just moved from its planted spot.
  • Osmunda claytoniana, interrupted fern. A favorite of mine from my first garden in the East Village.
  • Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’, woodland phlox
  • Rudbeckia laciniata, cut-leaved coneflower. Another accidental duplicate. I’ve got one in the front I planted last year that I’d forgotten about.
  • Symphyotrichum laeve, smooth aster
  • Symphyotrichum novi-belgii, New York aster

Planted in the backyard along the neighbor’s fence where they can fill in and provide background for other plants in the foreground.

  • Carex lupulina, hop sedge
  • Thelypteris palustris, marsh fern

I’ve also got a few more new sedges. I planted these together near the front of the north/serviceberry bed so I can observe them closely and learn how to identify them.

  • Carex appalachica, Appalachian sedge
  • Carex grayi, Gray’s sedge
  • Carex rosea, rosy sedge, curly-styled wood sedge
  • Carex squarrosa, squarrose sedge, narrow-leaved cattail sedge

Finally, two new vines.

  • Dioscorea villosa, wild yam. Planted on our neighbor’s fence along the driveway, near the Clematis virginiana.
  • Vitis aestivalis, summer grape. Planted on an arbor between the two vegetable beds along the driveway. Don’t know if we’ll get actual grapes from this or not.

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This Season’s Schedule

Lots of native plant events from April to June which I hope to attend. And I’ll be speaking, hosting, or tabling at three of them.

Me in my front yard last year, hosting a NYC Wildflower Week Pollinator Safari during Pollinator Week 2014. Photo: Alan Riback.

Saturday, April 25, 11am-3pm
Pinelands Preservation Alliance (PPA) Earth Day Native Plant Sale
PPA Headquarters, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton, NJ 08088
One of my two favorite regional native plant sales. Growers include Pinelands Nursery and New Moon Nursery.

Saturday, May 9, 1-4pm
Butterflies, Bulbs, and Bookmarks
Cortelyou Library Plaza
I will be on-hand to talk about plants, flowers, and pollinators.

Saturday, May 9 to Sunday, May 17
NYC Wildflower Week (NYCWW)
I will be out and about, enjoying many of the free tours and events offered throughout the week. To be announced: A tour of my garden may be one of the events for this year’s NYCWW.

Rhododendron periclymenoides, Pinxterbloom Azalea, seen on the NYCWW 2014 tour of Staten Island’s High Rock Park, Staten Island

Tuesday, May 12, 7:30pm
Long Island Botanical Society (LIBS) Meeting
Muttontown Preserve, East Norwich, Nassau County
I will be a guest speaker, talking about urban gardening with native plants, and the wildlife this supports.

June 3 to June 6
Native Plants in the Landscape Conference (NPILC)
Student Memorial Center, Millersville University, Millersville, PA 17551-0302
This is the first year I’ve registered for this conference. I’m looking forward to meeting fellow native plant geeks.

Friday & Saturday, June 5 & 6, and June 12 & 13
Long Island Native Plant Initiative (LINPI) Native Plant Sale
Suffolk County Community College Eastern Campus Greenhouse, 121 Speonk-Riverhead Road, Riverhead, NY 11901
The second of my favorite regional native plant sales, with plants propagated by the NYC Parks Greenbelt Native Plant Center from populations on Long Island and Staten Island.

The 2013 LINPI Plant Sale

June 15 to June 21
Pollinator Week
To be announced: Another possible Pollinator Safari tour of my garden.

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My Plant Giveaway

2013-04-30 UPDATE: Full house! Sorry, but the response was enthusiastic. I already have all my availability booked for this weekend. If I have any time on subsequent weekends, I will post another update here.


I’m reorganizing some of my planting areas this Spring. I have many overgrown perennials taking up too much space in my garden. I would love to share them with you.

I’ll be working in the garden this weekend, weather permitting, from Saturday May 4 about 12 noon on, and Sunday May 5. I’m on Stratford Road in Beverley Square West (between Cortelyou and
Beverly Roads). Email me at xr@gmail.com to set a time to stop by and we’ll dig the plants fresh out of the ground for you.

If you don’t know what will grow, tell me what you have to garden in and I’ll give you something that will grow well for you. I have plants for sun, shade, or anything in between:

  • Corydalis cheilanthifolia (ferny foliage, yellow flowers, blooming now)
  • Hemerocallis, Daylilies (mostly the common orange H. fulva, but also some fragrant yellow ones)
  • Iris siberica, Siberian Iris
  • Bearded Iris, Purple-flowering, smell like grape jelly
  • Hosta (plain green leaves, purple flowers)

I also have some native plants – my specialty – that have thrived enough for me to be able to give some away.

  • Asarum canadense, Wild Ginger
  • Helianthus, tall perennial sunflowers, including H. tuberosa, Jerusalem Artichoke
  • Onoclea sensibilis, Sensitive Fern
  • Phlox stolonifera, Creeping Phlox
  • Pycnanthemum, Mountain-Mint, a great pollinator plant
  • Viola, violets, both purple- and white-flowering

… and maybe others if we hunt around the grounds.

All of these are “outdoor” plants. They need the cold of Winter to rest each year. Some of them can be grown in containers; you don’t need to have ground to garden!

Happy Gardening!

A Busy Flatbush Gardener’s Weekend

I’ll be out and about in the community at two events this weekend. Stop by and say hello! And maybe pick up some tips and plants while you’re at it.

Saturday, April 21, 9:30-1:30
Sustainable Flatbush Church Garden – Earth Day Open House
Flatbush Reformed Church
2121 Kenmore Terrace, off East 21st Street, one block south of Church Avenue

View Larger Map

Sunday, April 20, 12-3pm
Great Flatbush Plant Swap 2013
Flatbush Food Coop
1415 Cortelyou Road, corner of Marlborough Road

View Larger Map

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Great Flatbush Plant Swap 2013, Sunday, 4/21, Noon-3pm

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Sustainable Flatbush: Save the date for our Earth Day Open House!

Great Flatbush Plant Swap 2013, Sunday, 4/21, Noon-3pm

This Sunday, April 21, from noon to 3pm, join your fellow green-thumbs, and brown-thumbs, for the 2013 Great Flatbush Plant Swap.

Got some extra seed-starts you don’t need? Leftovers from dividing perennials? No place for that shrub you just dug out? Looking to start a new garden, and want some free plants? Looking to meet your gardening neighbors and pick up some tips?

Each year we’ve done this, we’ve re-distributed hundreds of plants. No plants? No problem: everyone can bring home a plant, even if you have none of your own to swap. You don’t need to bring something to be able to take something away.

Co-sponsored by the Flatbush Food Co-op and Sustainable Flatbush, this is an opportunity to share or swap plants, meet your gardening neighbors, and get some free plants.

When: Sunday, April 21, 12noon-3pm, Rain or Shine
Where: Flatbush Food Co-op, 1415 Cortelyou Road, corner of Marlborough Road

2013 Plant Swap Flyer
Credit: Baly Cooley

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2011: Second Annual Great Flatbush Plant Swap
2010: The First Annual Great Flatbush Plant Swap, Saturday, April 24

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Native plants blooming in my garden today

Lonicera sempervirens, Trumpet Honeysuckle, blooming in my urban backyard native plant garden and wildlife habitat this afternoon.
Lonicera sempervirens, Trumpet Honeysuckle
My little urban backyard native plant garden is in its peak Spring bloom:

  • Amsonia tabernaemontana, eastern bluestar
  • Aquilegia canadensis, eastern red columbine
  • Arisaema triphyllum, Jack-in-the-pulpit
  • Asarum canadense, wild ginger
  • Chrysogonum virginianum, green-and-gold 
  • Cornus stolonifera ‘Cardinal’
  • Dicentra eximia, fringed bleeding heart
  • Fragaria virginiana, Virginia strawberry 
  • Geranium maculatum, spotted geranium (just starting)
  • Iris cristata, dwarf crested iris
  • Lonicera sempervirens, trumpet honeysuckle
  • Phlox stolonifera, creeping phlox
  • Photinia pyrifolia (Aronia), red shokeberry (just finishing)
  • Podophyllum peltatum, mayapple
  • Polygonatum biflorum, Solomon’s seal
  • Sedum ternatum, woodland stonecrop
  • Tiarella cordifolia, foamflower
  • Trillium (various)
  • Vaccinium angustifolium, lowbush blueberry
  • Vaccinium corymbosum, highbush blueberry
  • Viola sororia, dooryard violet, common blue violet
  • Viola striata, striped cream violet
  • Zizea aurea, golden alexander

Phlox stolonifera, Creeping Phlox. These appear blue on-screen, not at all like the purple they carry in the garden.
Phlox stolonifera, Creeping Phlox

Fragaria virginiana, Virginia Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana, Virginia Strawberry

Zizia aurea, Golden Alexander
Zizia aurea, Golden Alexander

Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern Red Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern Red Columbine

Vaccinium corymbosum, Highbush Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum, Highbush Blueberry

Chrysogonum virginianum, Green-and-Gold
Chrysogonum virginianum, Green-and-Gold

Amsonia tabernaemontana, Eastern Bluestar
Amsonia tabernaemontana, Eastern Bluestar

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My Native Plant Garden