ALIVE STRUCTURES

Sharks! Stingray! Lion Fish!! Palm Trees!

2012-01-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Blogging about a recent trip to the caribbean is not intended to make anyone jealous, but simply to share interesting ecological information-but, yes, my tan looks great, thanks :)

My family and I stayed for one week in Guanica, Puerto Rico beside the largest remaining tract of tropical dry coastal forest in the world, which was declared an International Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO because of its biological diversity. The forest feels both tropical and desert. Walking on it's trails, one is surrounded by low growing twisted shrubs, barrel cacti, cactus trees, but also palm trees and the turquoise ocean (also a few nice gay beaches if anyone's interested).

The dry forest has 700 plant species of which 48 are endangered and 16 exist nowhere else. Its forest hosts the greatest number of bird species on the island, including the Puerto Rican Emerald Hummingbird which pollinates the flowering barrel cacti in the winter months.

In the same region are lush mangroves and coral reefs. Home to manatees, nesting sites for Hawksbill turtles, and crested toads. While we didn't see manatees, we did see many beautiful fish and coral. (Beautiful underwater image of elkhorn coral by my brother Joshua Horwitz) See one of my favorite quirky fish, the Spotted Trunkfish.

Nearby, is a rare Bioluminescent Bay, which we did not visit but heard lots about. In this bay are 720,000 single-celled organisms that glow when they are agitated. This illumination is a defense mechanism by the tiny plankton that will dim and disappear if you hold completely still. These bays are scarcely found internationally because of the delicate ecological balance they require. Unfortunately, visiting this bay and experiencing a bit of it's magic probably damages it more since people wear mosquito repellent and carry other pollutants into the water.

Coral reefs, which take centuries to form, are also damaged by people's visitations. Coral is often broken by careless snorklers, motor boats, and pollution. But the larger threats to reefs are global warming and ocean acidification. According to Environmental Health Perspectives a heat wave starting in 2005 left roughly 60% of the coral cover in the Virgin Islands and 53% in Puerto Rico’s La Parguera Natural Reserve dead. This is an unprecedented tragedy.

Coral reefs consist of a variety of colors shapes and textures. Sometimes they echo the landscape on the ground, looking like a tall cacti , but many of the shapes you never find on land, like coral fans.

For a horticulturist, seeing the varieties of coral and the rich world it creates is like exploring a beautiful botanical garden. The problem is you don't want to get too close; you risk damaging the coral with your flippers and can get burned and scratched by it.

The amazing fish that would swim in and out of the coral were like watching people inhabit a busy building. Sometimes the coral was so busy and full of fish it was like Times Square.

One fish, though very beautiful, is quite dangerous, the Lion Fish. The Lion Fish is originally from the Pacific Ocean and has no known predators in all of the Atlantic. Their introduction is a result of hurricanes and tank releases during the early 1990’s. Due to their population explosion and aggressive behavior, Lion fish have the potential to become the most disastrous marine invasion in history by drastically reducing the abundance of coral reef fishes and leaving behind a devastated ecosystem. In Puerto Rico, the government offers $1 for every dead Lion Fish someone turns in. Also, some restaurants have started serving Lion Fish which is said to be tasty. I think dealing with invasive species through culinary strategies is a great idea!

Photo by Josh Horwitz!

After a week in Puerto Rico, Eric and I traveled to St. Johns for a week. This will have to be a whole other blog, but I do want to share some images of the exciting larger wildlife we saw underwater, such as nurse sharks, reef sharks, spotted eagle sting rays, and green sea turtles. Scary but fun!

A trip to the New Jersey pine barrens:

2011-11-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

About a three hour ride from NYC you will find some very pristine and unusual landscapes in our southern neighbor, New Jersey.

The Pine Barrens consist of about 1.1 million acres of protected land, with extreme environments that range from sphagnum bogs to sandy deserts.

My mother and I went on this beautiful outing lead by Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Uli Lorimer, who has a wealth of knowledge about native plants and knew the pine barrens in and out (amazing job not getting us lost!). We were accompanied by landscape architect and native plant pioneer, Darrel Morrison. He's the designer of many sites in and outside New York City and has also recently worked on the expansion of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Native Flora Garden.

The following images illustrate the type of moonscape that exists in this sandy environment. Some of the plants we saw flourishing here are:

Broom Crowberry Corema conradii mixed with Bearberry Arctostaphylos uva-ursi.

These two species interspersed to create a beautiful low growing mosaic, the glossy leaves of the Bearberry reflected the light and Crowberry was like a red hairy mat.

The dominant species is the Pitch Pine Pinus rigida that surrounded the sandy paths we walked on and provided a unique sense enclosure; trees only slightly bigger than us. The Pitch Pine is accompanied by the Scrub Oak Quercus ilicifolia.

At the next site we visited my feet got pretty wet and muddy, thankfully it was warm and it was so beautiful that I didn't really care. But for people going out there, definitely bring high boots! On the way to the bog we saw pine forests with an undergrowth of blueberries turned bright red.

The bog was beautiful and tasty! I ate tart and refreshing cranberries. It was hard not to step on amazing plants, everywhere we looked there were carniverous Pitcher Plants Sarracenia purpurea . It makes sense there would be so many of these plants here, since the soil level is low in nutrients and high in acid, forcing plants to look for their nutrients elsewhere (namely, in bugs).

This set of Sarracenia are so red it looks like a crime scene!

I think the most beautiful scene we saw was watching the Eel Grass Zostera marina flow in the current of a shallow creek. The grass was so bright in the sun and so graceful. It was very peaceful and quiet at that moment.

Here are some photos of us collecting seeds and enjoying the day.

This little blue flower is the Gentiana autumnal, commonly known as the pine barren gentian!

I also wanted to write about another outing I had, that I believe is somewhat related. This was last week, on another beautifully warm day, to the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, led by the Newtown Creek Alliance's Kate Zidar. I can't believe I've lived in Greenpoint for ten years and not gone on this walk before. I think it had something to do with it lining the sewage treatment plant that's turned me off before, but now I know it's really beautiful. I also think the design, which features many native plants and natural rocks, is partially inspired by the Pine Barrens landscape. Definitely check it out for yourselves and keep your eyes out for it's expansion over the next few years.

And last, though not least, a few weeks ago I spent a day with a reporter from Al Jazeera English on a tour of green infrastructure in the city for a short video piece they were doing. We visited the green wall at Hugo Neu Recycling in the South Bronx, the High Line, Eagle Street Farm, and one of the roofs we installed last year. The video is now online and looks pretty good.

End of Season Projects

2011-10-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

So the season isn't over yet, we're still working hard, but here's one of the most recent projects we've completed that we're super happy with. It's an intensive green roof for a residence in Brooklyn, with soil varying from 2" to 8". It's planted with mostly native grasses and wildflowers using Switchgass, Little Bluestem, Butterfly Weed, New York Ironweed, and the rare New England Blazing Star, all from our favorite Glover Perennials out in Long Island. There's also a vegetable bed, lavender, and lots of Sempervivum.

Here are some pictures of the installation and one of the happy clients enjoying the roof after words!

Rooftop farms and gardens.

2011-10-11T09:58:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at New Green City in Union Square last week. The day was so gorgeous and we were happy to see a lot of interest in green roofs. In particular we noticed interest in rooftop farming, which was to be expected given the crowd and the clear vogue for rooftop farms in sustainability/food justice/urbanist fields at the moment. So here is a little post about rooftop farming that can hopefully answer some common questions on the subject.

Eagle Street Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Rooftop farms require more soil than regular, extensive green roofs. You need over six inches of soil to grow anything productively, so the part of the roof where you are gardening will have to to be intensive. This weighs more and costs more than an extensive roof, which has less than four inches of soil. I know you really want a cost estimate but this depends so heavily on the type of roof, location and size of the building that it is better to just get a quote. It could be somewhere between $25 and $60 per square foot.

Brooklyn Grange Farm in Long Island City, Queens.

The first thing on your agenda should be to find out the load-bearing capabilities of your roof. If there was construction done on your roof or a structural analysis performed in the last five years, you may already have this information. If not, contact a licensed structural engineer. In New York City, you can check the Department of Buildings database to see what documents are on file for your building. This is one of those tools provided by the city, like the NYCityMap that I think everyone should know about because I use them all the time. Maybe it's just me. Anyway, your roof will need to safely carry upwards of 60-100 pounds per square foot.

Frieda Lim's sub-irrigated planters at Slippery Slope Farm in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

If you've got that, you'll need to find a green roof company to do the design and installation. This is the easiest part! Alive Structures is here for you.

We think the best system for green roof gardening is a combination intensive/extensive green roof, where most of the roof has a low soil depth and the gardening plot or plots have higher depths. If you can't install a green roof on your building for whatever reason, other options are planters, sub-irrigated or regular, or hydroponics. For information on how to build sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) yourself, see Inside Urban Green. Keep in mind planters can also weigh quite a bit, so a structural analysis is really necessary for safety whatever you do.

Gotham Greens' hydroponic greenhouses in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Some other potential issues to consider when growing vegetables on a roof are nutrients and wind. The soils that are used for green roofs are engineered to be lighter than regular soil. They have a high amount of shale and are not designed for their nutrient content. Unfortunately, this means your veggies will be less nutritious. Spinach can't be high in iron if there isn't any iron in the soil. You should be prepared to spread a lot of compost or compost tea around your plants, so start saving those coffee grinds. Last, rooftops are windy. Any plant that grows off the ground, like tomatos, will need extra staking and care and if your roof is extra windy due to the location, you may lose soil over time.

This Week: Alive Structures About Town

2011-09-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

So you know how you've been meaning to meet the Alive Structures team and talk to us about how you're dying for an intensive native plant green roof at your 100,000 sf warehouse? Well, luckily for you, we're going to be at two awesome events this week!

This Saturday, Oct. 1st, we will be at The New New York: DIY Green Block Party, after 11am. The block party was a big success last year and has tons of crafts, activities and educational opportunities, including a couple of different green tours, yoga, and a compost bin raffle. You'll probably be too busy admiring our booth to do any of it though.

Schedule of Events

11th St and Wythe

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

L train to Bedford Ave or G train to Nassau Ave.

11 am - 5 pm

Next Wednesday, Oct. 5th, we'll be in Union Square at New Green City. There will be a DIY tutorials, a rainwater capture exhibit, and a scavenger hunt among other sustainable, family friendly entertainment. Come say hi.

Union Square Park - South Plaza

4, 5, 6, N, R, Q, L to 14th St- Union Square

10am - 6pm

Green is still greener than white.

2011-09-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

We really like this Greenpeace ad, which says, "Simply painting your roof white reflects the sun's rays, which helps cool down the environment. In the fight against global warming, one degree cooler in our cities equates to three degrees cooler at the poles, which means a better chance of survival for animals like the polar bear, whose home is melting at a rapid rate."

Run-on sentence aside, the message is cleverly delivered and so important. Man, juvenile charismatic megafauna gets us every time. But we're a green roof company and we have to say, green roofs are much better for the environment than white roofs. White roofs' benefits are that they're less expensive and easier to implement, so we think they should be used as a stop-gap on roofs whose grading is too steep for a green roof, or until a green roof can be installed. Anyway, we made our own version:

To contrast, check out the actual map of NYC green roofs here.

Green roofs cool the roof, the building underneath it and the surrounding area; protect the roof structure from the elements, thereby prolonging its life up to an additional 50%; create habitat for butterflies and bees (without whom our urban ecosystems would collapse); and most importantly, capture stormwater! New York City alone releases about 27 billion gallons of untreated sewage and wastewater into the harbor every year.

Not only does all that water contain tons of bacteria and pathogens, but it also contains tons of trash. Much of the plastic trash you see on the street every day, from bottle caps to plastic bags, gets washed into the sewer system during a storm. A lot of it will end up in the harbor, and some of it will be eaten by sea turtles and other marine life. You saw that photo series by Chris Jordan that made its way around the internet last year, right?

It's pretty sad.

Point being, consider a green roof if you haven't already. There are low-interest loans and tax abatements to help with the cost, or if you're a business or non-profit, we may be able to get you a green roof for free. Just ask us how.

Bulbs for Spring!

2011-09-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

Alive Structures is offering the following selection of native and unusual bulbs to be planted in the next month. Call or write to place an order and set up an appointment!

Eranthis hyemalis (order btwn. 25-100) $.62 each:
Commonly known as Winter Aconite, has a native range of Southern France
to Bulgaria. It blooms a buttercup yellow in part shade in March/ April. Attracts
honeybees when nectar is rare.

Allium cernuum (order btwn. 10-25) $2.10 each:
American Nodding Pink Onion has delicate pink blossoms hanging by tendrils.
Blooms in late summer. Best in full to partial sun.

Camassia quamash (order btwn. 15-50) $1.15 each:
A stunning violet color in early spring. Enjoyed as a delicacy by Native
Americans, for it’s starchy bulb. Likes a moist sunny spot if you have it, but can tolerate some drought as well.

Alive Structures will order and plant your bulbs for $200.
Call us at 718-488-5927 or email your order at info [at] alivestructures.com.

Labor Day Party New York Style

2011-09-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

We were quietly enjoying Labor Day weekend at my mother's upstate home in Warwick, NY, which has an AMAZING rock garden, when....

New York Ironweed Vernonia noveboracensis and the Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis became so loud, attracting attention from the neighboring hummingbirds, and in general causing quite a stir while most perennials had calmed down long ago.

These plants were totally intoxicated by the recent amounts of water and sun, and were intoxicating to behold. Such bright colors!! Especially together, really a party not to be missed.

You can also appreciate the other beautiful plants in the garden, the Yucca, the white Allium tuberosum, and the stark seedheads of Verbascum blattaria or Moth Mullein.

The Plant Behind the Monarch

2011-08-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what holds Kingdoms together? Often enough it's a plant.

Take for instance, the Monarch, Danaus plexippus, perhaps the best known of all North American butterflies, if you truly want to understand it you need to know about the plant genus Asclepias, that supports it. People love Monarch Butterflies but few know of the one plant that the pupa of monarchs, caterpillars, require to survive; Asclepias, commonly known as Butterfly Weed or Milkweed.

The reason Monarchs are so keen on this genus of plant is because of the chemical it contains; cardiac glycosides. As the monarch caterpillars eat the milkweed leaves they store the cardiac glycosides in their exoskeleton, making themselves toxic to predators such as birds. So birds in search of a meal quickly learn that the monarch is a unpalatable food that can make them vomit.

Few gardeners grow Asclepias, few landscape architects spec it in their designs, and few nurseries sell it, and yet it is crucial to the survival of this much loved wandering butterfly.

Friends of mine recently bought cut flowers of Ascelpias tuberosa, with showy orange blossoms, at the Green Market only to find a luminous green sac hanging from one of the stems. A week later a monarch butterfly shimmied out, though it didn't survive. Nonetheless, it was an inspiring process which they witnessed in their own Brooklyn apartment. Here are the pictures they sent.

I've often bought Asclepias tuberosa, only to realize the plant is hosting several caterpillars. What a wonderful gift to give to a garden, a rooftop, and to nature, more monarchs! And a plant they can return to every year to lay their eggs and feed upon as well as enjoy the nectar of the milkweed blossoms. Asclepias is also a diverse and beautiful genus with many species worthy of being in a garden.

Asclepias tuberosa is a late summer bloomer that is extremely drought tolerant, making it perfect for lazy gardeners or gardens with sandy dry soil. Here is it in one of our terrace projects combined with Yucca filamentosa.

Other Asclepias prefer more water, like the showy A. incarnata, which can get quite tall, and can be found by lakes or swamps. Here are a few pictures of it towering in my mothers garden.

What happens to a suburban dream deferred?

2011-08-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

What happens when there isn't enough water to sustain a landscape? Does it shrivel up in the sun until there's nothing left? What about suburban populations faced with the realities of an arid climate met by climate change?

Photo via NPR.

We caught two harrowing NPR morning edition segments on the drought in Texas today. One discussed the effect the drought is having on local ecologies. The earth is dry so the plants are dry, so insect populations are decimated, so the bat colonies don't have anything to eat, and squirrels and deer don't have enough milk to feed their babies, and on and on. Desert ecosystems are fragile, supporting life with severely limited resources. Human development is one of the main causes of desertification, and the Southwest experienced a boom in population growth in the last decade.

Areas in red are high vulnerability of desertification. Credit USDA.

Texas started recording meteorological data in 1895 and in 116 years, this is the driest it's ever been. This year has been marked by extreme weather across the states, from a record-breaking snowstorm in the northeast last winter, to the record-breaking heatwave in July, to the hurricane currently approaching the east coast.

As climate change progresses over the next century, extreme weather will become far more frequent. We've had above-average yearly rainfall in New York City every year for the past 10 years. At the same time, the West is getting drier. Our climate is polarizing, and these changes are going to take a toll on wildlife across the board as it struggles to adapt biologies developed over thousands of years within the span of a few decades. One might think it would be easier for humans to adjust our consumptive industries and aggressive colonization customs, but perhaps the instincts behind these habits are as much a product of evolution as the drought-tolerant nature of Sunset Hyssop (native to Arizona and New Mexico).

Agastache rupestris is a fragrant member of the mint family and a hummingbird favorite. Photo via.

Native plant shout-out accomplished, I wish you a good (and safe) weekend.

Native Appreciation: Divine Edition

2011-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Photo via Marie Laser.

Yesterday morning Marni and I took a tour of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights. If you live in NYC and you haven't been, put it on your to do list. I found myself wondering if I had somehow taken the 1 train to France, England, or similar gothic cathedral territory (if you've ever sat on the train from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side you know it feels plausible). St. John is huge; it is the fourth largest Christian church in the world, and the architecture is stunning, though perhaps doomed to be eternally unfinished. The 11 acres of grounds that surround the cathedral are beautifully landscaped, dotted with sculpture, and home to three peacocks.

A peek into the Biblical Garden.

Surprise peacock.

Perhaps more incredible than the interior and grounds is the roof. We hiked up a dark stone spiral staircase and out onto this:

Plants growing on the roof!

Under the buttresses.

A few blocks away is the rain garden we recently completed at Columbia's Teachers College. We headed over there to do see what's blooming and take some photos.

In the above photo you can see a cultivar of Joe Pye weed called "little Joe" (tall, pink and in the center), latin name Eupatorium dubium, and fameflower, or Talinum calycinum. Joe Pye weed is native to the east coast.

Fameflower is a favorite at Alive Structures. It's such a champ! It has been blooming for a month now and just keeps going. We love the way it looks against the rocks, and we often use it on green roofs as well. Fameflower is very drought tolerant, versatile, and one of the few succulents native to North America.

Last is this Great Blue Lobelia, or Lobelia siphilitica. This is in the bellflower family and just looks like it belongs in swampy habitats (it does) - perfect for rain gardens. Unfortunately it is listed as endangered in Massachusetts and exploitably vulnerable in New York.

Native Appreciation: Swamp Beauties

2011-08-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

This gold and orange firework of a flower is the Turk's cap lily, or Lillium superbum. Surperb. It's native to swamps and wetlands in the eastern half of North America. You can eat the bulbs, but please don't; it's classified as Endangered and Expoitably Vulnerable by the USDA.

Lillium superbum reminds us of a shooting star by its shape, but it's colored like a fireball; bright yellow in the center, turning orange and then red at the tips of the petals. Other notable features include the whorled leaf pattern, shown in the illustration below. In phyllotaxis, whorled means that leaves circle the stem at the same levels.

A botanical drawing circa 1816. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Of course, the first thing one wonders when seeing Lilium superbum in nature, is where can I get one? Why don't most people grow these in their gardens instead of all the asian tiger lillies and day lillies? As it turns out, this lily can take up to seven years from seed to bloom, which might make it expensive or discouraging for many nurseries and gardeners to grow. Since we're young and adventurous we're going to give it a try. Look for an update in 2018!

Turk's cap lily in the wild.

I bet you didn't know there are hibiscus native to New York. The flower in the above photo is Hibiscus moscheutos, common name rose mallow. Its territory is similar to that of the Turk's cap lily, but extends as far west as Utah.

Rose mallow and swamp milkweed at dusk.

Our last moisture-loving flower is Asclepias incarnata, or swamp milkweed. It blooms little pink flowers like crested jewels, and as a milkweed, is a favorite food and breeding habitat for monarch butterflies. It's native to almost the whole of North America, barring the west coast.

All of these photos were recently taken by Marni during some nature spelunking in Little Compton, RI. Tragically the flowers were mostly surrounded by phragmites, Japanese honeysuckle, Russian olive, wild grape, and many more invasive species. One has to wonder what coastal Rhode Island looked like two hundred years ago, and what gems we've lost since invasives started crowding everyone out.

Truman Capote's Green Roof

2011-08-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

In early June, Alive Structures collaborated with the sustainable Hamptons-based architecture firm Modern Green Home to install a green roof in Southampton. We used ultra light-weight green roof soil by The Gaia Institute and pre-grown sedum mats intermixed with native dune grass and prickly pear on this 500 square foot green roof in Sagaponack.

Technicolor sedum mat.

The house's current owner told us that while clearing the invasive honeysuckle and japanese knotweed plants that had taken hold of the property he had unearthed a number of aged Veuve Clicquot bottles nestled in the undergrowth. We can only wonder how they got there, but to fuel your imagination, the beach house originally belonged to Truman Capote. It was an honor to do a green roof on the house that Mr. Capote occupied from 1961, when he commissioned it, until his death in 1984. We just got these photos of the roof in bloom.

In a 1976 profile of the house, Architectural Digest described the surrounding landscape as "a stretch of rolling potato fields and lush farmlands married to the nearby Atlantic Ocean." In the same article, Capote described it as “Kansas with a sea breeze.”

Capote at home. Photo via Architectural Digest, kind of.

Both the dune grass and the prickly pear (seen peeking out from the blooming sedum in the photo at the top) we planted on the roof are native to the area. We used dune grass as a nod to both the location and the spirit of the beach house. Many people find it hard to believe that eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa), a cactus, is native to the Northeast, but in fact it grows as far north as southern Ontario.

Some photos from the installation, below.

Marni and Orlando with a prickly pear.

July S.W.I.M. Meeting

2011-07-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Monday morning was cool, overcast and a little windy. After the sweltering soup we waded through last weekend, this was beautiful weather. I was thrilled to be out in it, and excited to attend the Storm Water Infrastructure Matters Coalition meeting. S.W.I.M. is a group of New Yorkers dedicated to improving water quality in the city's rivers and estuaries through equitable distribution of green infrastructure.

The chickens and Annie Novak, Eagle Street's head farmer. Via The Atlantic.

The July meeting was held at Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We sat on a small platform in the midst of a lovingly farmed green roof. Behind our group, chickens scratched in their coop and troops of city kids toured the farm. In front of us, midtown towered gray and reflective. The meeting opened with a presentation by Tyler Caruso and Erik Facteau about their research project, Seeing Green: The Value of Urban Farms, recently funded on Kickstarter. If they hadn't already raised the amount they were looking for I'd tell you to go donate; the project hopes to determine whether rooftop farms are equivalently efficient at capturing stormwater as traditional green roofs. This research could be used to make New York's green roof tax credit applicable for rooftop agriculture, which it currently isn't.

A still from the Seeing Green Kickstarter video showing Tyler and Erik on the roof at Brooklyn Grange farm.

The rest of the meeting centered around the previous week's combined sewer overflows, discussed in our last post. S.W.I.M.'s members were not happy.

The July meeting, from the S.W.I.M. blog.

They had reason. Notification of the CSOs was insufficient, and many of the boaters were either out on the water themselves or had groups of people (including high schoolers) in the water while sewage was being released nearby. The NYC DEP sent some representatives, though if they were trying to do damage control they weren't very successful. The unlucky, besuited bureaucrat who took questions was evasive and non-commital. The scene could easily be caricatured: clean-cut government employee yelled at by environmentalists over inadequate response to emergency. But the passion exhibited by the members of S.W.I.M. wasn't amusing, it was awesome. I left thinking that New York is lucky to have such people looking out for our waters and our health.

For in-depth notes on the points covered in the meeting, head over to the S.W.I.M. blog.

Sewage in New York's Rivers

2011-07-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

A sewer outfall a few blocks north of Christopher Street in Manhattan on the morning of July 22nd. | Photo credit SeaAndSkyNY

If you live in New York City, you probably know by now that a pump engine fire shut down the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant at 125th St. last Wednesday night. Over the following two days, raw sewage was diverted from the plant into the Harlem and Hudson rivers, to the tune of about 200 million gallons.

Smoke from the fire fills Riverbank Park nearby. | Photo credit @phlpp7r

It was particularly unfortunate that the sewage outfalls contaminated New York's waterways the same weekend that temperatures in the city reached 104, a record high. The city issued an advisory warning against swimming at three beaches in Staten Island and one in Brooklyn, but it wasn't clear how effectively the warnings reached New Yorkers. The New York Times reported visitors with small children at two of the beaches who were unaware that the water was unsafe, and people were seen fishing in Staten Island and the Harlem river. Both activities carry serious health risks, and it may be that we need better systems for informing the public of CSOs (combined sewer overflows). As someone pointed out at this morning at a S.W.I.M. Coalition meeting, subsistence fishermen in East Harlem probably don't read press releases.

A floating barrier near the treatment plant. | Photo credit NYTimes

While this event was unusual in its scale and origin, the sad truth is that CSO events are not uncommon. They happen at various outfalls around the city almost every time it rains.

Manhattan's Newest River

2011-07-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

We are so excited that the New York Times featured our rain garden at Teachers College in the Home section in the Thursday, June 30 issue. If you missed it, you can still access the article online. Enjoy the photos from the installation!

Bloodroot vs. Godzilla

2011-04-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Something so delicate and beautiful recently enraged me. Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis, is poking it's head out of the ground, at first shy and ruffled up, and then slowly unfurling it's unique shaped leaves and exposing a small white bud that transforms itself into a stunning flower. These pix are from my garden:

As beautiful as it is, you might not notice it under the tall and bright daffodils and tulips that are planted in every single garden that exists. Sadly, you won't see it in many gardens nor will you see it much in nature, although it is native to the Northeast American woods.

Seeing the little Bloodroot reminds me of how precious woodland flowers are and my commitment to native plants redoubles. Why is this plant endangered? Why does no one plant this in their garden? How come no one even knows what this plant is? This is when I start getting upset.

I was in Vermont with my mom a few springs ago, and I remember we saw a couple of white trilliums and excitedly started looking for more when I saw a mass of Japanese Barberry, Berbis thunbergii. Once my eyes took in the shape and look of the barberry I realized that it was everywhere in the woods. They had formed thickets. No wonder I wasn't finding many spring ephemerals, many of them are shaded out by this incredibly invasive shrub! Japanese Barberry is one of the first shrubs to leaf out in spring, so it prevents the badly needed sunlight from reaching the forest floor where our little woodland gems are waiting to sprout. Barberry is as ubiquitous as boxwoods in most landscaped gardens so few nurseries have ventured to stop selling it yet it should really be illegal to sell or to plant it (as it is in Canada).

From Home and Garden Ideas:
Although charming, with its small, red berries, Japanese barberry is one of the most invasive plant species in the north east part of the United Space, especially in areas like New Jersey and Pennsylvania.....This plant is considered invasive because it quickly takes over forests and wipes out the native plants that make up the understory of the forest. This inevitably leads to a disruption in the availability of food for animals that depended on the species of plants the barberry displaced. Besides wiping out food supplies, the barberry plant also alters nitrogen levels, pH levels, and destroys certain biological activities that occurs in the soil. Because they can grow in less than ideal conditions and are drought-tolerant, it gives them an edge compared to native plants.

According to the Connecticut Botanical Society: Japanese barberry is an invasive plant, and probably one of the most destructive invasive plants in Connecticut. It can form thick stands that exclude nearly all native plants. The seeds are spread over long distances by birds.

Sad but true. See these forests, forever altered:

and there's more.....From Scientific American:
...And here’s the kicker for those of you who’d still consider planting it in your backyard: The prevalence of ticks infected with the Lyme disease–causing spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) is greater in areas with Japanese barberry than areas without....

If you're interested in reading more about the connection between Japanese Barberry and Lyme's Disease click here: Barberry, Bambi, and Bugs

If nothing else, realize that not all plants that are green are necessarily good. Invasive species don't just shade out cute flowers, they effect the whole food chain and our health. Please don't buy one this season and tell your nursery you would appreciate it if they stopped selling it!

Spring in Paris in Philadelphia in Winter

2011-03-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

The tradition of The Philadelphia Flower Show begun in 1829 by The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The Show was held in a small building called Masonic Hall where Twenty-five people showed off their horticultural treasures to each other.

The show has moved locations a few times since then and is currently in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, a 33 acre space, with the exhibit taking up 10 of those. It's the largest indoor Flower Show in the world, entertaining crowds over 250,000 people annually.

They have themes each year and this year the theme was 'Paris in Spring'. This included many overweight Americans wearing berets, hot dog stands being called Boulangerie, lots of misspelling, and a replica of the lower third of the Eiffle Tower with swaths of tulips and roses on each side. Paris never looked so good!

How to describe it: shock and awe, surreal, extravagant, artificial, beautiful, and completely unsustainable. The flowers in the tulip display had to be changed out three times during the ten days the exhibit was open. All the bulbs, perennials, and huge trees, are forced into bloom in giant greenhouses, whole houses and small forests temporarily constructed, and all this big production is made so we can just feast our eyes on the fluorescent beauty of nature months in advance. Green walls, packed tight with tropical ferns and orchids, were already starting to fade on this last weekend, and I can only imagine the plants fate after the show comes down.

The best part of the show are the rare specimens entered into the contests. Here you can see the real horticultural skill of obsessed people. They have nurtured some of these plants into the fantastic form they're now in for perhaps the last twenty years. I mean how often do you have to mist a fern to get it to thrive like this?!

This is a creation of both nature and man and this is the real stunning part of the show.

Tropical Worlds in Winter

2011-02-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

In a time when most landscapers have no work, we're luckily keeping busy. We just installed a temporary green wall for Lacoste, the clothing company. They're having a big soirée Feb.8 (with lots of good looking French people! ) to celebrate the launch of their new line. The Quebec company La Prod was really cool and organized an awesome design for the shop. We were happy to be part of the whole production. Here are some pix of the installation:

Also, another indoor installation of ours was just mentioned with a picture in The Architect's Newspaper in 01/19/2011. Check it out:

Plant-O-Rama

2011-01-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

This silly sounding event is Metro Hort's annual trade show that takes place January 25th, 9am-4pm, at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It's located in the luxurious Palm House that keeps everyone warm regardless of the weather outdoors. Just to come visit all the vendors, Alive Structures being one of them, is free. The vendors include over 40 businesses and many cool not-for-profit organizations. There are lots of nurseries represented - come and tell them how you want more native plants offered!

To hear speakers and take part in the Symposium a ticket costs $55 for the day. This year the speakers include, Tony Avent, Adam Wheeler, and Bob Hyland (who will talk all about what it's like to run a nursery).

There are always a lot of great people and plant enthusiasts there so you should all definitely come check it out, warm up and get excited about Spring, I know hard to imagine!

See: metrohort.org for more details and check out these pix I found on line of Plant-o-Ramas years past... See you there!

Iceland In December

2010-12-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Recently, on a flight from NYC to Paris, we took a three day layover in Iceland. I feel compelled to share my experience on this underpopulated moonlike island and describe the amazing landscapes we saw. The sun comes up around noon and ducks back down around 4. But really the sun never comes up very far. It stays pretty close to the horizon casting a slanted light onto the land and a sense of sunrise or sunset throughout the day. The history of Iceland is marked with several volcanic explosions which have destroyed much of the old buildings we would have liked to see. Apparently, the island used to be lush with birch trees but now there were hardly any to speak of. Erosion is a serious problem and establishing new trees is challenging with such thin soil. But a layer of moss covered up much of the rocky black earth intermixed with low growing heather, saxifrage, and alpine flowers and grasses. One tall plant which caught my attention is the Angelica Herb that grows indigenously throughout the island. Even though the plant had gone dormant long ago, it's attractive seed head and tall stalk was left to silhouette against the sky and decorate the landscape.

But now to our adventure. Firstly, we stopped at a spa called The Blue Lagoon. This is a naturally occurring bay of blue geothermally warmed water. The mud on the bottom of the lake is white with Silica, which you can put on your face and body for 10 minutes and after words come out like a movie star! Or so they say. But one thing is for sure, the lagoon is one of the most relaxing experiences I have ever had. The temperature of the water is around 90 deg. F and the air is about 30. The water did feel healing and the experience is pretty magical and looks a bit apocalyptic.

The second day we explored Reykjavik, which turned out to be pretty dull, except for the fishing docks and the view of the mountains one could see from there. Also, of interest is the National Museum, which was fascinating, and we got to try on viking outfits!

We ate an excellent meal of fishy things and then traveled in the dark afternoon onto Þingvellir National Park and stayed in a hotel where we were the only occupants. The sky was completely clear and that evening and the air was freezing. The hotel had an outdoor hot tub which was a dramatic change from the air. We enjoyed "Gull" the Icelandic beer and saw a shooting star! The next day we explored what's called "The Golden Circle". This consists of a beautiful valley where the first Icelanders met to create a Parliament, a Geyser, and waterfalls (Gullfuss). The parliament valley is very picturesque and I could easily imagine viking-like men wearing fur vests on horseback galloping between the fjords.

The geyser we saw was very active-it erupted three times in a row for us! The waterfalls are huge and partly frozen and the chasm they fall through seemed to have no bottom.

After that we headed back towards the airport, and enjoyed the last hours of sunlight from the car. We saw fields full of small horses that huddled together in the cold, and a rare house here and there. After three days we really felt like we had seen a lot, but one thing is for sure, we're going to come back in summer!

(didn't take horse picture!)

Search ResultsReykjavik

Alive Structures Holiday Wishes

2010-12-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

Wildflower Center

2010-10-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It has been incredibly busy and our postings have been skim. But it's time to share with you some of the cool things we have been up to.

A couple of weekends ago I was down in Austin, Texas. With just 30 minutes to spare I very speedily ran through the grounds of the Wildflower Center. The Muhlenbergia capillaris was in full bloom and yes the photo with the butterflies is real! Also in prime season was the Callicarpa americana. This was stunning in person. The great thing about the Wildflower Center is that everywhere is a demonstration garden, showcasing plants and how to use them. And take note of the interesting ways to collect water by actually revealing the water's path from source to container. Great educational tool!

GREEN ROOF WORKSHOP

2010-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

At long last we'll be giving a green roof workshop for all of you to cheap or broke :) to hire us and want to go it alone. So please sign up for this guaranteed fun event Saturday September 11 at the President St. Community Garden at 222 5th Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn 1pm- 4pm.

We'll be installing a small green roof for the community garden in collaboration with GrowNYC using a mixture of edibles, wildflowers, and succulents. We'll also discuss safety concerns, waterproofing, and general costs. Beware there is a tax deductible fee of $50 which is going to the community garden and all the good causes GrowNYC pursues
(think farmer's markets y'all...yumm).

I hope to see you there!!

Register by Contacting: gardens@grownyc.org

President Street Community Garden:

A Caterpillar is a Picky Eater

2010-09-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of talk about Butterfly Gardens and the flowering plants that provide the nectar for our flying friends, but what about caterpillars? It's not the nectar they crave but the green leaf, and not just any green leaf--caterpillars can be rather picky about their diet. Take, for example, our striped Danaus plexippus or Monarch Buttefly, it spends most of its time feeding on a singular diet of poisonous milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. This consumption of milkweed builds up in the caterpillars system so as an adult, the Monarch is poisonous to those that eat it – its one defense against predators. Although, Asclepias tuberosa is a stunning native wildflower and the sole larval host for the Monarch Butterfly in it's pupating stage, it's rarely found in gardens, even in some "Butterfly Gardens". What is often in "Butterfly Gardens" is the ubiquitous Butterfly Bush, Buddleia, which attracts many butterflies but doesn't provide a source of food for the young Danaus and is also an invasive exotic. A female Monarch will only lay an egg where it knows it's offspring will find food, therefore Butterfly Weed is crucial to the Monarch population. Here are some images of the Danaus plexippus munching away on the Asclepias we have in our nursery on the roof as well as some of the other natives we have up there like Black Cohosh and thistles.

Coastal Plant Palette

2010-08-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

Little Compton, Rhode Island, not to be confused with Compton, LA, is a beautiful
fairy land with swans on a salty pond, big waves, an historic lighthouse, and little cottages placed on top of rocky cliffs. Thanks to my Great Aunt Mary we're able to stay in one of these little cottages every summer for one week. What a week! The sound of the waves at night mixed with the crickets is so beautiful as are the wild roses and twisted bayberry shrubs that survive the constant breeze from the ocean. The plants that grow in this part of the world truly make me happy (except for the Japanese Honeysuckle, Russian Olive, and a few other thugs taking everything over). The birds also seemed happy to have the plants; there was a wet meadow full of blooming Joe Pye Weed and Hibiscus that teemed with birds, butterflies, and insects all day and night. Yellow Finches would perch on cattail reeds, Swallows would swoop down for an insect and then return to the sky.

Some of my favorites are the Beach Pea Lathyrus japonicus

It's amazing how it can grow in pure sand and bloom with so little water.

The Bayberry Myrica pensyvanica has crisp leaves and dense foliage. Many gardens had old Bayberries as their specimen tree in the middle of their lawn. It has lovely bark and an elegant, ghost like form.

the Shining Rose Rosa nitida (I think...)

Here are some more pictures of the landscape....

Heaven is on a Rooftop in Chinatown

2010-07-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

The USGBC recently gave a tour of Chris and Lisa Goode's green roof located in the heart of Chinatown. Chris and Lisa designed and installed the roof themselves after buying the building. During the tour they shared some interesting stories about the process, like bringing giant trees onto the roof by using the top of the elevator. Since the installation of their own roof they started Goode Green, a green roof company.

The Goode's roof is a very dynamic outdoor living space. The roof is multi-tiered and has a small house in the center of the main roof which serves as a sheltered lounge space. We didn't get to see the inside of the little house but I imagine it has a kitchen, bathroom, and is heated during the winter. They have a lush green lawn with a formal garden border surrounding it, they have large shade trees one can sit under on a comfortable chair, fruit trees espaliered onto a trellis, vines hanging everywhere, tomatoes and other vegetables, wildflowers, chicken, and fish.

They use a variety of materials to create both a modern and a rustic atmosphere. They have aluminum planters and reclaimed wood paths with grasses and sedum growing in between planks. They use steel troughs to store rainwater and grow aquatic plants.

Coy swim in a small pool. Two chickens have their own little house and runway neatly hid behind the border garden. An irrigation system and a good gardener keeps everything looking great, better than most gardens I've seen this summer after a one month drought and on going heat.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Enjoy!

HEAT = ENERGY ?

2010-07-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

Those of you in the know need no introduction to Terreform One. They are urban ecological innovators, inventors, architects, scholars, teachers, and hopefully can save us all with their treehouses and soft bubbly cars. Mitchell Joachim won the 2010 TED fellowship award, has been featured in many magazines, and was a guest on The Colbert Report (really funny!) Every summer, at least for the last two, they've held international workshops for young architects at their headquarters at MEx Metropolitan Exchange Building (33 Flatbush Ave) also our headquarters. The event is called Terrefarm; it consists of a seminar series, field trips, and an intensive charrette. This year there have been lectures given by many worthies such as Dickson Despommier, Vito Acconci, and even yours truly got a word in. Some of these images are of the workshop activities and of the MEx building.

Part of what I discussed in my lecture about green roofs was the energy savings, or lack of, green roofs produce based on the recent research. This portion of my lecture got some attention after words in the blogosphere. I'm a passionate green roofer; believing it is one of the crucial solutions to urban pollution and climate issues. I bring up flaws in the industry in my lectures only to promote ways to improve the green roof industry not to put it down.

In 2006 Columbia University's Center for Climate Systems Research published a report on green roofs stating that surface temperatures at the roof membrane on standard roofs can be more than 72 F higher than on green roofs at midday in the summer. The study is filled with great information about hydrology, urban heat island effect, air pollution, and how green roofs are a viable part of the solution to these challenges. This year Columbia came out with another study based on a green roof on The Con Edison learning facility in Long Island City, Queens. A key finding of this study shows that the green roof, consisting of 21,000 plants, on The Con Ed Learning Center reduces summer heat gains by up to 84 percent and winter heat losses by up to 37 percent, compared to a black roof. The white roof reduces summer heat gains by up to 67 percent. The report also stated that this translates into an estimated annual cost savings of $330 to $350 for heating and $225 for cooling. Hhhhhhmmmm.... that’s not too big of a yearly savings.

Today I read a press release discussing the findings of a study on various types of green roofs taking place in Texas by the Lady Bird Johnson Center. The study used metal boxes as mini-roofs to test out the green roofs.During one 91-degree day of the study, for example, a black topped box without air conditioning reached 129 degrees inside. Meanwhile, the green roof replicas produced indoor temperatures of 97 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

An even greater temperature difference was found on roof surfaces where black-top roofs reached 154 degrees Fahrenheit on that 91 degree day. By comparison, the soil temperature of the green roofs was between 88 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

There is overwhelming data that green roofs significantly lower temperatures in the summer and retain heat during the winter. And yet this hasn’t translated into cost savings nor is there any significant incentive program by NYSERDA, a state agency that offers funds for solar panels and insulation but not for green roofs ☹
So why are green roofs not saving us more energy if they reduce the temperature of the roofs so much during the summer??
I DON”T KNOW…..to be continued…..

STAYIN' ALIVE

2010-07-12T06:28:00.000-07:00

If it doen't rain by this weekend it will be a month since it last rained.

I don't count the short drizzles we've had as rain-they're just teases

that slightly wet the surface of the earth but don't come near to the

saturation plants really need right now.

I've seen some well established trees and shrubs wilting and dropping

their leaves. I've passed many a dehydrated garden full of yellow crispy

yews, shriveled lilacs, needleless pines, and completely wilted

perennials. If this is happening to established gardens with roots deep

into the earth, you can imagine how newly planted gardens and container

gardens are doing...badly to say the least. If you have a container garden

or have plants newly installed you must be thoroughly watering them

everyday and put a layer of mulch around them if you want them to survive.

Even so, these plants are vulnerable and a one month drought may just be

too much for them-expect to lose a few ferns.

If you can't water your plants everyday and can't get a neighbor or

someone to water your plants for you, then you must have an irrigation

system that's on a timer.

BE PATRIOTIC AND PLANT A WILDFLOWER

2010-07-04T16:30:00.000-07:00

Americans should be proud of our country...or at least of our native fauna. I know those of us lucky enough to have a backyard will be using it for BBQs and parties. Fair enough. But a garden party to plant wildflowers could be fun too.

But those of us too tired to plant or do much of anything may just be sitting back and wondering on this July 4th, 'What does it mean to be American?' (maybe not so much as pondering who's getting the next six pack). But nonetheless a relevant questio

n. How can we define our country? Lady Bird Johnson famously said "I want Texas to look like Texas and Vermont to look like Vermont."

I think one of the greatest aspects to this country is it's diversity and tolerance of differences--at least in NYC ! 'So if diversity is so great why do we need to stick to native plants? What's wrong with planting Japanese Barberry?' you may be asking. Well diversity is great and necessary on many levels. That's why we have to be so wary of monocultures. Speaking of culture, a good example of a culturally invasive species is McDonalds. It

comes into a foreign place with unique cuisine and traditions and flattens it into a hamburger that tastes the same as the hamburgers they serve in Sweden, Chile, Japan, and Kansas. Do we really want the people of Kabul to eat the same as the people of Kansas? W

hen I travel I see the same stores next to highways all over the globe; McD's, H&M, Burger King, Starbucks, Target, etc....Not only is culture being eroded by commercialism but so is language. The rate of language extinction has now reached the unprecedented worldwide level of 10 every year. Some people predict that 50 to 90 per cent of today’s 6,000 spoken languages will disappear during this century.

All of this is just a way to help you understand that celebrating what's native, and what's unique is celebrating diversity. Just as McDonalds can be found almost anywhere on the globe, displacing completely unique and culturally important cuisine, Japanese Barberry can be found almost anywhere displacing native woodland species, both beautiful and ecologically important. The tragedy of invasive species is that what's displaced now may never be able to come back. It may also take many other aspects of life down with it. For example, the Spicebush Swallowtail needs the Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) to feed its larvae. So if the spicebush is displaced by the Barberry then no more Spicebush Swallowtail. This insect disappearance can seriously effect the whole ecological food chain.

One species I always appreciate on the Fourth of July, more than the fireworks, are the fireflies in the backyards of Brooklyn. I hope those lights will never go extinct.

URBAN COOL

2010-06-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's in heat waves like this that I wonder why I'm living in NYC and not on the sandy soils of somewhere far far away, or next to a lake surrounded by old pine trees. Of course, I'm not going to move, because my whole raison d'etre is to create the pine forest within the city. So, if we're bringing nature back into the city through planting native species in backyards, rail road lines, and rooftops, can't we also create a natural lake or something in our backyards? There are few outdoor pools in the city, and probably none that offer the serenity and natural settings that I crave. One outdoor pool is right next to the 3500 SF green roof we just installed on Pitt Street in the Lower East Side, the historic Hamilton Fish Park

is only one out of 54 outdoor pools in the city's parks. According to the parks dept. website the pools officially open on June 29th and close on Labor Day. Other more luxurious / unusual options got me excited. Check out some of what I found on the web:

Some of these pools are experiments with dumpsters in a Brooklyn lot and others are high-end sustainable pools using plants to filter out bacteria as opposed to chlorine. I don't know how much any of these pools would cost or how feasible they are for the average New Yorker with outdoor space, but if I had an inch of property to my name I would be investigating the options.

Other ways to stay cool: some ways to stay cool indoors is to keep the curtains drawn and the windows closed during the day and then open all the windows at night letting in the cooler temp. night air in. Our eco minded office doesn't have AC but we do have over ten fans going at once. Ceiling fans are a must. Also good, if possible, is to grow an enormous tree next to your building to create shade.

VOLUNTEERS ROCK!!

2010-06-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!!! What a great response to our call for volunteers!!! Because of you, we managed to plant approximately 7,000 sedum plugs in 3 days! YOU ROCK! A big thank you to all those who came out because we couldn't have done it without you.

We won't be needing anymore volunteers for this week, but if you'd like to stay updated on our next volunteer effort, please email dary@alivestructures.com and I'll keep you in the loop.

THANKS AGAIN!

VOLUNTEERS!!! and more

2010-06-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, here's an opportunity:
over the years many people have approached me wanting to gain first hand experience installing a green roof. Now is your chance!! Come help! We're installing a 3,500 SF green roof in the lower east side this week (June 21-25). It's on top of a new construction destined to be mixed income housing-great views of the city and excellent tanning potential. We have over 100 trays of sedum and other species meaning over 7200 individual sedum plugs. So want to earn that beer at the end of the day? We can help :)
Call Marni 917-743-7735 or Eric 646-322-3330 to volunteer. Thanks!

Union Square Green(roof)market

2010-06-10T07:09:00.000-07:00

Native plants and green roofs have taken over NYC! Well, we hope so at least. Two Fridays ago Alive Structures had an education stand at the Union Square Greenmarket educating New Yorkers and visitors to New York about the benefits of using native plants in gardening and reasons why considering green roofs for their homes and businesses is a great solution for our city.

Marni in front of the Alive Structures van

We loved talking to everyone that stopped by the stand. Some were just curious and others had their own personal native plant gardening and green roof knowledge to share.

Don't worry if you missed us that day, we will be heading to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket this Saturday, June 12. We will have some our region's best native plants being showcased along with a sample of a green roof! Native plants sometimes have a reputation for looking weedy, but stop by and you'll see that New York native plants are gorgeous, and we think quite stunning. Feel free to look through our books or photographs of gardens that we have on hand. See you there!

Happy Rain

2010-06-09T18:21:00.001-07:00

I know it isn't that pretty and it causes our sewers to overflow, but I'm so happy it's raining!
Anyone who installed a garden in the last month, knows how vulnerable those plants are --
uprooted and traumatized, shy, uncomfortable, and many other feelings we've all had at one time or another. And here comes this late May / early June week and a half long heat wave without rain. Established perennials, shrubs, and trees with at least 2' of soil underneath them may be able to handle this weather but the newbies are dropping like flies. Preventable? Yes.

An irrigation system or a maintenance plan with a landscape company are helpful, but sometimes keeping plants alive really depends on the client. Yes, the clients can save the day- my heroes, clients who water after noticing it hasn't rained for the 10th day in a row. And water deeply, because wetting the surface of the soil or the leaves of a tree is not watering.

On top of the recent heat, many of the gardens we've just installed are in very windy and sunny conditions on roofs and terraces. This is a stressful situation for most plants even in cool and wet weather, but this is also a very common urban garden setting. So, some things that can help in a situation like this:

1. Frequent and deep watering.
2. Loosely wrapping shade cloths around newly planted shrubs.
3. Keeping plants in a sheltered area - if there is one- until they've adapted more.
4. Choose appropriate plants for the tough conditions.No matter how drought tolerant the plant, when it's first planted, it needs special care. But once it's established it will fare much better than it's less drought tolerant plant friends. But, we have to remember this is an artificial environment-we're on a NYC terrace here, so all the plants are in containers, not soil that's 3' or more feet deep. This means their resources are limited. So no matter how tough plants are, keep an eye on them. But, here are some great tough plants to use:

Prunus maritima

Myrica pensylvanica

Pinus strobus 'nana'

Rhus aromatica

Boltonia asteroides

Coreopsis verticillata

Asclepias tuberosa

Here are images that show coastal inspiration.

Driving Through Harriman State Park

2010-05-31T20:04:00.001-07:00

I was driving through Harriman State park the other day, fomenting against the awful presence of thousands of Japanese barberries and was impressed with how certain native species have held their own despite barberries disturbingly close by.

One image shows barberries in the middle and broom (Cytisus scopariu

s), another happy invasive, in the distance. But a little further along the road was this wonderful slope of hayscented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula),so comfortable amidst

rocks at the edge of the woods, one of the barberry's favorite sites. Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) and Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina)

are frequently seen along the road, close to stands of barberry, yet somehow resistant to being pushed out. And huge standing trunks of dead hemlock are there to remind us that this tree was a giant of Eastern forests. It was touching to see seedlings starting their lives at the feet of one such giant.

The showiest native in Harriman, to my mind, is Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). It was just starting to bloom, and if you drive through the park in early June you'll be able to enjoy all the shades of the species - white, pink, deep pink, and almost red. In honor of the day (May 30, 2009) when Marni Horwitz became Marni Majorelle, I offer a last close up of this favorite of hers, Kalmia latifolia, taken in Seth's garden in Brooklyn, and looking like some fantastic candy. Bravo to Alive Structures, Eric and Marni!

Field Trip!

2010-05-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself and to say how happy I am to be the newest member of Alive Structures. This is officially my first blog EVER and I look forward to many many more. This past weekend I was visiting our nation's capital and the weather and people couldn't have been better. First stop was the United States Botanic Garden. The National Garden, in particular, showcases plants native to New Jersey south to North Carolina in their Regional Garden.

Definitely stop by here if you are in the DC area and then stop in at the National Museum of the American Indian if you get hungry, best food ever. You will NOT be disappointed!

For more info about the garden and its sustainability practices go here.

And just for irony. . . here was a green roof right on top of the exxon across my friend's gym!

Strange May

2010-05-12T12:01:00.001-07:00

(Symbol for Cold Front)

Cold May. I'm sorry to have been MIA from the blogosphere for several weeks-I wish I could say it's because I've been planting so many green roofs, but it's really because I've had a horrible on going cold. Anyway, I'm going to make up for it by overloading readers with random pieces of information, events, and pretty pictures.

Some things that have happened in the past few weeks are Wildflower Week where we gave tours all weekend (May 1-2) of the green roof we installed 3 years ago in the East Village, The Wild Project Theater. We had beautiful weather. Here are some pictures of the roof and it's visitors:

For those of you that missed Wildflower Week don't miss it next year! It's a great opportunity to learn about the beautiful wildlife not too far from home. And the opening party at Environmental Furniture rocks.

Then there was the Brooklyn Designs Show, which showcased many of the innovative young designers in our wonderful borough. Seeing all the cool furniture made me really want to have a house to put it in. There were some designers from our very own office building (33 Flatbush)
Rock Paper Robot which had a display of a contracting and expanding chandelier and a levitating table!

Then we started selling our papercrete planters at the Bklyn Flea and did pretty well, as many people bought gifts for their moms. We're also starting to sell our latest product Mannahatta-in-a-Box. There are some pictures of the reclaimed wood planters than contain an assortment of native wildflowers on the last blog I posted. For those of you not familiar with the Mannahatta Project check it out: themannahattapro ject.org. We're also selling gorgeous native plants sans planters that would be hard to find anywhere else in the city. Especially at the low price we're selling them for! So, come to Bklyn Flea on Saturdays to find us!

Last but not least, we have a new addition to Alive Structures! Dary Thach-who's awesome.

Some events coming up:
Urban Green is now accepting proposals in conjunction with the Urban Green Expo 2010 theme: Pushing the Envelope.

The Cooper-Hewitt Museum is having it's National Design Triennial Exhibit on view starting May 14.

Also, we'll be setting up an Educational Table at The Union Sq. Green Market on Friday, May 29th, so come check us out! We're going to be showcasing green roof models and discussing their benefits as well as presenting beautiful native plants focusing on the edible ones like Blueberry and Blackberry Shrubs-my two favorites.

See you soon and in warmer weather!

Small Gems in a Box

2010-04-22T17:31:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row Alive Structures made the centerpieces for The American Institute of Architects' Gala Awards. It's a grand event with lots of champagne and of course many great architects. We thought our centerpieces could be a good way to educate the big builders about little, but important, plants. So the theme of this year's centerpieces was indigenous species, particularly spring ephemerals, such as Trilliums, Virginia Bluebells, Creeping Phlox, Meadow Rue, Marsh Marigold and other beauties. In addition we had 70 planters made by local carpenter Julie Fuchs using reclaimed Ipe wood from Coney Island's Boardwalk. We're so happy with these rustic gems we think we'll make

more...keep an eye out for them.

Overwhelmed by Blossoms

2010-04-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

You don't have to go to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to see trees in bloom (it seems every street in Brooklyn is lined with blooming Callery Pears) but you do have to go there if you want to feel completely overwhelmed and inundated by early spring. I was there this week around 6pm and took these pictures of the Magnolias and Pears in bloom.

Almost as enjoyable as appreciating the trees and blossoms was seeing so many other Brooklynites enjoying them.

Paris in Spring

2010-03-24T16:19:00.001-07:00

OK, I'm pretty lucky because I'm here in Paris. It's my mother-in-law's 70th Birthday and today we celebrated with many bottles of champagne and cassis. But I'm working too! And I'll blog to prove it. (By the way I haven't turned off my phone-I swear! But it's mysteriously not working....)

So a couple of places that are real favorites of mine are the Musee du quai Branly, which is a museum that I've actually never gone into but have always enjoyed it's gardens and it's famous green wall by the artist and horticulturist Patric Blanc. And the second place is the Rodin Museum that has a lovely garden full of his sculptures. Both these gardens are beautiful but they're very different. The gardens of Branly are quite modern, informal, and naturalistic, sort of like the Highline (by the way the first Highline was made in Paris, and I've yet to see it but it's on my to-do list). The Branly gardens are filled with tall grasses, an interpretive wetland, reclaimed metal gates and arbors, and beautiful magnolia trees.

The green wall which covers the one side of the building is now a few years old and I think it looks pretty good. But nonetheless there are some noticeable bare spots where you can see the fabric and pockets used for the installation.

And the gardens at Rodin are classic formal garden estates, with a highly manicured lawn and border gardens with yews that are meticulously controlled to be perfect spheres. Check them out:

Even though the garden is rigid in it's format, it's serene and a wonderful way to escape the city's mass of tourists, cars, and Parisians rushing about and appreciate art.

So that's my Paris Review. Hope it hasn't made any one too jealous, besides it's raining here!

I'll be back in NYC on the 29th, but until then please call the office :) Cheers

Grazing over a Big Topic

2010-03-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

In the 3 countries, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, that I just visited it was evident that their wild landscapes are being regularly grazed by flocks of sheep and goats. At first, I was moved by the sound of the lambs frequent bleating for their mothers and the mothers' (or fathers') deep-toned answers. It was a strangely musical background to my groups' search for flowers.
Herding animals has gone on since time immemorial.They eat the green stuff and we eat them. Only now we wish they would be more selective about what they eat: not delicate narcissi or rare orchids!Not the alpines in our own western states! But when we put animals into feedlots away from precious plants,we run into new problems.
I have no solutions. Maybe if there were a growing industry of plant tourism farmers would make some changes.
The thing about plant/flower tourism is that the local people, especially the children, need to know that it's not the plucked flower that we're after. It's heart-wrenching to turn one's back on a child holding a colorful bouquet. Our tour leader told of a field of rare orchids having been picked by children for their bouquets.
The good thing is that all 3 countries had national parks or preserves which we visited. They know they have wonderful landscapes to preserve. We must help them however we can to succeed.

Three Countries in Two Weeks: Lots of Plants

2010-03-14T07:20:00.000-07:00

The mistress of this blogspot said I had to write something about my
recent trip, so here goes: I signed up for a Greentours.com tour of Iberia and Morocco focusing primarily on the many species of narcissi that are native to that region. There were 7 members, plus 2 leaders, in our group and we were all intent on getting up close to every interesting plant we saw. Some narcissi were hanging from steep rock faces, many were hugging the asphalt of roads, others were in soggy wet streamsides. The leaders knew what they were leading us to and they made sure to go over the botanical names of just about everything we saw (including butterflies, birds and one snake) from a long check list every other evening . I hope to get up to speed with labeling all the plant species that I photographed (yikes, that's a lot!).
Morocco was an experience in itself. The Atlas Mountains are magnificent and we did a lot of single lane, dirt road, hairpin turn and wash-out navigation up and down the slopes - Not for those with vertigo. Often, we were wearing all the clothes we brought for warmth, but fortunately we were never forced to leave the slopes due to rain, hail or freezing temperatures.
I leave you with an image of the only plant we saw of this species and one that our leaders had never before seen in Morocco: Androcymbium gramineum

Hey Brooklyn!

2010-02-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

Our borough now faces critical cuts in service that will negatively affect the commutes of thousands of Brooklynites each day. Please click here to sign our petition and oppose these cuts!

Also, please attend the MTA’s public hearing in Brooklyn next month and let your voice be heard. Details are below:

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
6 p.m.
Brooklyn Museum
Cantor Auditorium
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn

Among the proposed cuts to your borough are:

Elimination of Student MetroCards
$40 million in cuts to Access-a-Ride
Buses to be eliminated: B23, B37, B39, B51, B71, B75, B77, X29, X37 and the X38
Weekend elimination of the B2, B24, B69, X27 and X28
The following trains face reduced service, which will result in longer waits and more crowded subway cars: D, F, G, A, L and M trains. The M will be replaced by the V train.

Take Action!

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Help us collect signatures for our petition, which we plan to deliver to each of the MTA’s public hearings. You can find our petition online by clicking here.

Sign up to volunteer! If you would like to volunteer, please contact Nick Rolf at NROLF@council.nyc.gov

Urge the MTA to find alternative ways to prevent these terrible cuts. To contact the MTA by phone, dial (212) 878-7483. To contact them by e-mail, click here.

The New York City Council and the Straphangers Campaign have proposed an alternate budget solution that will allow us to avoid these painful service cuts. To read more about our plan click here.

With your help we can stop these drastic cuts and ensure greater input from Brooklyn residents in the MTA’s budget process.

Farm City

2010-02-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter and I have to say it's making me want a pig. And also grow a lot of food without having to leave Brooklyn. I really appreciate the helpful hints Novella gives, in case I ever do get a pig, and I also love how funny and unpretentious she is. There is tons of great info in the book, but what I find particularly pertinent info to share is that cities can really change themselves to being self-sustaining. Did you know that in Shanghai they grow 85% of their own produce? Wow! In Polish cities, over 25% of families raise their own food and in Dar es Salaam, a city in Tanzania, the government encourages the cultivation of every piece of open land. Other cities active in urban agriculture are Cuba, Caracas, Tokyo, and of course many US cities. So it's not just idealist hippies growing food or the latest trend, but whole cities, hungry for food independence and accessibility.

What we need to get urban farming really taking off in NYC is a little leadership and support
(cheaper land could help too). One leader who has made urban farming a key issue for him is Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Check out his vision of a sustainable and bountiful NYC. FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainabl e Fo od Syste m

Here are some inspiring photos of urban farms all over the world. Many of the photos are from a cool blog called www.cityfarmer.info

We're So Excited!

2010-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Because we met Martha Stewart! OK, so it was just for 30 seconds, but still she is sort of the Queen of it All, so it was thrilling none the less. We were on set helping our friends at Woolly Pocket set up a green wall on the stage. It looked great! Here are some pictures of the process and a peak inside Martha's world. Check it out on March 5th when it wil l be screened.

People's Garden

2010-02-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Who Farm is at it again, now in NYC campaigning for an organic vegetable farm in front of our own City Hall.
This campaign has yet to enlist the double-decker-upside-down-farm school bus that it crossed the country in to raise awareness of local food, but I'm sure it will find another way to build up the excitement for a City Hall farm. Check out the People's Garden website and sign their petition if this is something you'd like to see.

And while you're getting involved with city politics, do attend this:

DEP is holding meetings in each borough to discuss "water rates, new services, and what the future holds for DEP’s customers.” Will water rates factor for stormwater management in our future?

I know this meeting could sound a bit dry (no pun intended) but this is a crucial part of reducing water pollution in our city. To find out about the meeting in your borough and more about the subject matter visit: DEP and / or SWIM

If you're already well aware of the stormwater problem NYC has and you have an idea on how to reduce it, draw a sketch of what you have in mind and submit it to mindsinthegutter.org

Your Lands, Your Wildlife

2010-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

Check Out the Interactive "Your Lands, Your Wildlife" Map

The Your Lands, Your Wildlife Campaign is working to protect the nearly 3,000 wildlife species and 10,000 plant species that inhabit the 449 million acres managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

Shake that Snow

2010-02-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Happy President's Day. You have today off, right? Well if you do, I have a little garden activity for you-if you have a garden. Although the white blanket looks pristine and it's cold out, you really should put on boots and wade through the snow. Why? Because if you're like me, and have small trees and shrubs in your backyard, some of those trees and shrubs may be damaged by the snow. As I walked through my garden today I saw some of my favorite Kalmia's branches burdened by snow to the point of almost breaking.

If you don't shake off the snow on these tender branches, then they could break, become bent, or just cause strain to the plant. I brushed away the snow surrounding my young River Birch, Inkberry, Rhododendrons, Kalmias, and Dwarf Conifers and saw their branches enthusiastically spring up from the weight of the snow. Great! Good deed done. But I hear it might snow 3"-4" tonight, so prepare to repeat!

take action

2010-02-09T13:26:00.000-08:00

This year, hundreds more wolves in Idaho and Montana could be killed -- unless we win back their federal protection. So please take an important wolf-saving action by sending a message to Interior Secretary Salazar while there is still time to stop the next hunt.

Tell the Interior Secretary to "Call off the Guns! Put Wolves Back on the Endangered Species List." Please ta ke a second to sign this quick petition.

new flickr photos!

2010-02-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

We've added lots of new photos on our flickr page, check them out and add them to your favorites, leave a comment, and tag a favorite flower. We'd love to hear your feedback.

New York City-Rebooted

2010-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

NYC Green Codes Task Force (who knew we had one?) announced 111 recommendations that they suggest be introduced into NYC's building codes. On the USGBC website the full proposal can be downloaded, I highly recommend it. The NY Times did a story on it on Feb. 1

I read the Executive Summary, and it offers NYC ways to reduce toxicity levels indoors and outdoors, improve out health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy efficiency, build more durable buildings, conserve water and improve it's quality, reduce Combined Sewage Overflow, and increase the amount of biodiversity and open green space. They propose the necessary environmental improvements in our construction and renovation become integrated into the Department of Buildings codes as opposed to remaining outside concerns. They also propose several retrofits for existing buildings to make them more energy efficient and to fast track building permits for green building construction. They have several points about native plants and reducing the use of invasives, monocultures, and turf.
Here are just a few excerpts from it:

"....75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and 85 percent of water use in New York are attributed to buildings."

"...indoor air quality has a greater [negative] impact on the health of New Yorkers than does outdoor air."

"The New York City Climate Change Adaptation Task Force [ another task force I had no idea existed ] predicts that by 2030 sea level rise in New York will reach 7-12 inches, average daily temperature will be 3-5 F degrees hotter, precipitation will be 10% greater and there will be more frequent extreme weather events."

Nursery trip

2010-02-02T12:17:00.000-08:00

It is freezing out!! Our trip last week to Angel Plants was a welcome break from the cold- a momentary glimpse into summertime warm, plant loving weather, and I want to go back this second. Too many pictures were taken, but here are my favorites.

AVATAR - What We Can Learn

2010-01-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

Regardless of what you've heard said about James Cameron's Avatar, (and for the record, I loved it!) everyone agrees that the visuals were amazing. And if you ask us, the PLANTS totally stole the show.
We at Alive Structures were big fans of the gorgeous array of life Mr. Cameron depicted, and wanted to share with you the similarities the plant systems found on Pandora have with our own green planet. Below is an excerpt from Mother Nature (Saturday, December 26, 2009) by Mike Adams:

“One of the more interesting elements in Avatar is the neural connection fibers that each living creature is born with on the planet. Animals, humanoids and even the trees have these neural connection fibers, allowing all living creatures to “plug in” to each other’s neural networks. Once connected, they can feel each other’s emotions and thoughts. They are, in essence, operating as one single being with expanded sensory awareness.

This plot element is largely thought of as fiction, but in reality, it is merely a representation of something that’s very real in our world: The interconnectedness of all living systems through methods that science hasn’t yet identified. Although science won’t admit it, there does exist some medium of communication between living things right here on planet Earth.

Plants, for example, really do talk to each other through their roots and other sensory systems. The study of this field of science is called Plant Neurobiology, and the world’s top research facility is the International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology in Italy. There, it has long been established that plants are, in fact, intelligent. (note - see signal transduction for more info)

Recent research actually demonstrates that plants communicate over their own “chat networks” where important information is exchanged about what’s happening in their immediate environment.

The world depicted in Avatar also demonstrates the healing power of Mother Nature as the key character Jack Sully has his consciousness transferred from his broken human body to his much stronger alien body through the help of a healing tree (into which all the natives are neurologically plugged in, too).

The concept of Gaia is also unleashed in the film, although it’s never referred to as Gaia. At one point in the film when all hope seems lost for the natives, Jack Sully prays to Gaia to help save them, at which point the female character Na’vi says, “[Mother Nautre] doesn’t take sides. She only maintains the balance of life.” This demonstrates a much deeper understanding of the role of nature than most modern humans grasp.

Much of what takes place in Avatar could be described as a very accurate reflection of the struggle between petroleum companies and the indigenous populations of the Amazon rainforest.

As someone who lives in Ecuador full time, I am particularly aware of some of the local details of this struggle. It is essentially the same setup as Avatar: Native people live in harmony with the environment, respecting the life around them, and then a western corporation shows up and destroys their ecosystem, poisons the people and exploits the land in order to mine it for valuable natural resources. The people fight back and they’re met with military force.

This reflects the very modern story of the indigenous Ecuadorian Indians versus Chevron and its oil drilling agenda.

What’s satisfying about Avatar, of course, is that the natives fight back. Rather than allowing their lands to be destroyed by corporate greed, they fight the imperialists with intelligence and a network of willing animals operating via land and air — animals who ultimately allow the natives to defend themselves against the invaders.

Here’s where Avatar really becomes fiction, because in the real world, spears usually aren’t victorious over bullets. And hoards of large bullet-proof animals don’t stampede to your rescue. But that’s Hollywood, and it makes for a great story even if it’s not an accurate reflection of what happens in our world.

Jodie Holt, Botanist at The University of California- Riverside, helped build Avatar's botanical paradise and made a short list of her top five choices for adventurous gardeners who are eager to create their own Pandora:

1) DRAGON ARUM Also known as the Dracunculus vulgaris. Great name. It's a close relative to Holt's favorite outrageous plant the titan arum, which has the largest inflorescence, or flower cluster, in the world. But titan doesn't grow outdoors here, so she suggests this smaller relative. It is called the "Voodoo Lily" and "Old Smelly" because of its distinct odor during part of its growing cycle.

2) PONYTAIL PALM Also known as Beaucarnea recurvata, or any other large succulent desert plant that stores water in its tissues. It looks like it is part palm tree and part onion, and when its branches droop, it looks pretty eerie, she says.

3) RUSCUS HYPOGLOSSUM A bit more tame, but its stems look like leaves so that its flowers look like they grow right out of those leaves. Its nickname is the "horse tongue." Enough said.

4) BLACK TOMATO "For the home gardener, I would recommend an heirloom tomato that comes in black." Gothic garden, anyone?

5) SQUASH If you want different, even downright strange plants in your yard, look no further than the squash family, which is the most outrageous of all, Holt says. Plants have crooked heads, bumps and veins. There even is a blue pumpkin, variety jarrahdale, that makes a lovely table display and is also good to eat.

I'd also suggest TILLIANDSIA BERGERI, or EUPHORBIA TIRUCALLI for exciting looking plants, that won't require too much space.

Why are Alaskan politicians so messed up?

2010-01-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

The new year is here, and a new decade. We have a new president, things are going to change for the better, and supposedly we're making progress and moving forward in some way. What throws this all in question are events like the amendment to the Clean Air Act proposed by the Senator of Alaska and backed by many coal and oil lobbyists. This amendment would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate carbon pollution, letting the worst polluters completely off the hook. For decades, the Clean Air Act has kept millions of tons of pollutants out of our air and water and it's a law that polluters can't buy their way out of--or so we thought.

Why do we always regress? Remember when Reagan moved into the White House, the first thing he did was take down Jimmy Carter's Solar Panels? Remember Al Gore saying over 8 years ago how he wanted to put Detroit back in business building electric cars? We could be so far ahead. Instead the Clean Tech Revolution is passing us by while we're still fighting tooth and nail for the last drops of petrol. This is so embarrassing and uncivilized!

And whose behind it all? These messed up Alaskan politicians.
They want to shoot baby wolves and pollute the air and stop us from moving forward with new jobs and new industries. People like Lisa Murkowski and Sarah Palin would be for nuking the world if it would financially benefit oil/coal/Alaska. We need real leadership to put these crazy Alaskan ladies and the lobbyists that support them in a cold cave somewhere with wolves :)

Woodstock

2009-12-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend, we've been lucky enough to get out of the city and visit friends in Woodstock, NY. We've been enjoying tromps in the snow next to a frozen reservoir and watching the mist on the Catskill Mountains in the morning and the red sunset in the afternoon.

My friend is collecting wood branches to make a raised bed for growing vegetables in spring that will provide an extra level of protection against the groundhogs. He's also planning to create a sound buffer against the road by planting native shrubs in between the existing trees. I recommended he use Kalmia latifolia, Ilex glabra, Ilex verticillata, and Ilex opaca, all attractive native shrubs that can be easily found in the woods surrounding the property. When we went for a walk we saw small trees heavy with red berries, creeping winterberry, and kalmias throughout the woods.

The pristine quality of the water and all the forests in Woodstock reminds me of the source of New York City's drinking water. NYC and NY State have both worked together to keep the land surrounding the Catskill reservoirs undeveloped and free of industrial activity in order to maintain clean unfiltered water. Now, NYC and the State have a disagreement over the extraction of Natural Gas in NYC's drinking watershed. The system of extraction of natural gas is called "Fracking". According to NPR the issue is like this:

"Environmentalists and the natural gas industry are getting ready for a battle in Congress over something known as "hydraulic fracturing." "Fracking," as the industry calls it, involves injecting a million gallons or more of water and chemicals deep underground to pry out gas that's locked away in tight spaces. Environmentalists want the federal government to regulate the practice because, in some cases, fracking may be harming nearby water wells. The industry says regulation should be left up to the states."

Companies practicing fracking don't have to report what chemicals they're injecting into the ground and are exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act. After decades of protecting the land and the water in our watershed it could become seriously compromised by lobbyists such as the Independent Petroleum Association of America and pioneers of hydraulic fracturing like Halliburton. Of course the leaders of those organizations probably only drink bottled water.

The Beauty of Virgin Snow in the City

2009-12-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

The Alive Mobile standing out in the snow.

When snow falls on this city it's as if everything is clean and white, covered in a beautiful blanket. It gently reminds us of nature, as it forces us to cancel alternate side parking (yeah!) schools to close (yeah!) and trains, subways and cars to stop running (not so yeah! if you have to get somewhere- but not bad if you just want to go sledding in the street). I enjoy the way colors and textures stand out against the white background. I see things differently when they're surrounded by a crisp white, and everything seems special and new. But by the end of the week everything is dirty slush, oh well. Here are some images when it first snowed a week ago.

Some images of the snow in our backyard and the brittle stems and seed heads that still remain.

Fire Escape Forest

2009-12-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

This is a great privacy screen using evergreen dwarf conifers, native wildflowers, bulbs, sedum, and several other ground covers. Making the most of little space - this provides a garden right in front of your window that will also attract birds and butterflies! So lovely.

To Superfund or not to Superfund

2009-12-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

It's hard to understand why the Mayor's office is against Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal from potentially receiving Superfund status. I've lived in Greenpoint, close to Newtown Creek, for eight years and have been somewhat involved in the movement to clean up that place and make the polluters (Exxon and friends) pay for the mess they made. The Greenpoint Community and the non-profit Riverkeeper have worked hard to raise awareness about the pollution levels in the creek and in the ground beneath us. After so much hard work, finally Newtown Creek is being considered for the most rigorous environmental clean up process there is in this country. Bloomberg, doesn't want the Superfund program implemented, but says that through a collaborative effort with the EPA, the city will be in charge of the clean up. After attending a meeting this evening where his office spoke to the community about the issue, I'm still confused about why they don't want the Superfund.

What I could understand is that the Mayor's office doesn't want EPA running the show. And while it considers cleaning up water pollution important, it doesn't want it to impede development and business growth in the area. It's true that the Mayor has a city to run and many issues at hand, so he needs to look at how the Superfund will effect everyone. Having a Superfund site in your backyard reduces property value, increases business insurance, can slow down or terminate development projects, and they are a very slow process. To clean up Newtown Creek, the EPA estimates about 16 years, most of that time will be spent on research. So the Superfund process isn't flawless, and perhaps the city will have to make sacrifices in order to have cleaner water. But surely the Mayor should remember from the controversy over Congestion Pricing, that even if the right decision has problems it's still the right decision. What may be bothering Bloomberg most is the idea of someone else calling the shots.

Good Times

2009-12-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

Last week I took at class at Sprout, where they have free monthly green-thumb classes. Last week's class covered how to make a holiday wreath and seasonal bouquet. It was a blast! We listened to a mix of oldies, early 90's chick rock, and classic hip-hop while we weaved our bits of juniper and pine into our wreathes. The class was laid back, straight-forward, and small - so when i needed help with my floral arrangement I was given great advice and a lot of attention.
Total blast. Below are pics of my finished wreath and Christmas bouquet. :)

Evergreens We Love

2009-12-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

It's actually freezing now and it slushed on the weekend, so we're in winter. Every year it comes as a shock how cold 32 degrees is. I think plants feel the same shock, except they react to winter with greater wisdom than humans; they go dormant for a few months. Many perennials look as if they're "dying" in fall/winter but they're just going into dormancy and will shoot back up in the spring. So if you're looking around for flowering lush green plants right now, you're not going to find many. You might be feeling bad for gardeners, since all of our beloved plants are just reduced to roots below the surface of the ground, but it just gives us something to look forward to and adds an element of suspense to gardening. But there are some lovely evergreens around to keep us company. Here are some native evergreens that you might spot in Central Park or Inwood or in many of the other wilds spots and gardens in the city.
Three Ilexs:

Ilex opaca, American Holly is a sharped leaved Holly decorated with red berries that birds love. You'll see it as a shrub but it can grow to be a very tall tree (over 80'). It's a very festive winter tree.

Although Ilex verticillata, Winterberry, is not evergreen, it's loaded with red berries so there's not much to complain about. This is another shrub birds love and it's heavily used in Christmas decorations.

Ilex glabra, Inkberry doesn't have bright red berries, but does have wonderful green foliage and a lovely shape. It's beautiful in the wild and is commonly used in landscaping as a hedge. Use it instead of Privet!

So enough about plants, I'm looking forward to attending a few good Christmas Parties in the next couple of weeks. And besides partying I may do something useful. You can too! Here is relevant information to our NYC environment and how politicians are changing it:

The New York City Council has scheduled a stated meeting for Wednesday,
December 9 and one of the year's most important pieces of environmental
legislation is expected to come up for a vote. The Greener, Greater Buildings
Plan would dramatically reduce our energy consumption and create green
jobs -- a win-win for the economy and for the environment.

Please ask your elected officials to act now and dramatically shrink the Big Apple's carbon footprint!

Take Action Here: http://nylcv.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=4371

The Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009
Excerpts from this press release is from the sponsors of a new bill in Congress -- proposed federal legislation that would be focused entirely on "green infrastructure".

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 3, 2009

Contact:

Dan Weber (Edwards)
(202) 225-8699
Jim Hubbard (Carnahan)
(202) 225-2671
Tim Mulvey (Driehaus)
(202) 225-2216

Reps. Edwards, Carnahan, Driehaus Introduce ‘Green’ Water Infrastructure Bill That Will Create Jobs, Reduce Costs

Washington, D.C. – Representatives Donna F. Edwards (D-MD), Russ Carnahan (D-MO), and Steve Driehaus (D-OH) today introduced the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009. Green Infrastructure is a stormwater management technique that preserves the natural hydrology of an area to help reduce stormwater runoff from hard surfaces.

Green infrastructure techniques rely on natural systems to absorb and filter stormwater in a way that relies on soil and plant life to remove toxins and recharge ground water supplies. Implementing green infrastructure provides numerous benefits, which include enhancing water resources, protecting the environment, reducing the urban heat island effect, increasing community health, creating green jobs, and saving money through reduced capitol costs.

“Access to clean water is a necessity and must be protected to ensure the future prosperity and well-being of the United States,” said Rep. Edwards. “A growing threat to water quality throughout the U.S. is due to polluted stormwater runoff from highly urbanized areas flowing into surface waters without being treated. .... If we do not begin to address this problem, water quality gains made over the last forty years will be lost. Green infrastructure is a proven method that can help address this challenge. The Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009 is an innovative, environmental and economically cost-effective approach to manage storm water flows and improve water quality throughout the nation. ....”

###

Copenhagen :( or ):

2009-11-30T18:50:00.000-08:00

The UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme)has just released an update which says that no matter what we do at this point we've committed the planet to 1.4°C warming by 2100. However, if we don't cut emissions quickly and drastically (25-40% from 1990 levels by 2020) we will commit the planet to 4.3°C [or approx. 7.74 deg. F] warming by 2100.

I don't think I need to go into the types of changes that would occur if the planet warmed 8 F degrees. Despite how corrupt the system is, the politics, the corporations, the money, it still amazes me that our leaders are so paralyzed when it comes to climate change. So many times we, people and our leaders, have made drastic and courageous changes in politics, culture, the environment, human rights, food, peace, democracy, etc... And yet with climate change we're like a deer in headlights, unable to move forward out of the way of danger.

I am trying to brace myself for an event in Denmark that should be monumental but could actually be very lame. Copenhagen should be the start of a fundamental change in the way we live. It should be the change we've all wanted and voted for. It should be the event that our grandkids will be proud to learn about. I hope it will be an event that lets our eyes adjust to the light in time to see the other side of the road--before the car comes crashing into us.

SHOPAPOCALYPSE!?

2009-11-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Shopping is fun.

I remember living in the Czech Republic almost ten years ago and no one was shopping. There were lots of other fun things to do, like drinking, and going to concerts, but there was something essential missing from Prague's city streets. When I visited Paris during that same time, I felt the streets buzzing with activity, people going in and out of different stores, a variety of everything-fashion, cheese, avante garde furniture, whatever-tons of stuff we don't need. Now Czech people shop a lot at H&M, Tesco, McDonalds, and Starbucks :(

So, my feelings towards shopping is mixed. Shopping has serious consequences for the world. As an environmentalist, consumerism is one of the great evils. There are many other reasons to be wary of shopping fever, it costs a lot of $, $ we probably don't have. If you visit Reverend Billy's great website , you can enlighten yourself about the sins of shopping.

But what if you shop responsibly? For example, I recently turned 30 (hooray!!) and received my own seltzer maker from my parents. This may not sound that exciting, but I love bubbles but hate bottles, so this is a perfect gift and it reduces the amount of plastic in our waste stream. I also received a coffee maker from my husband, so that I would stop spending all of our money on stupidly expensive cappuccinos and using tons of coffee cups a day (although you should use your own mug). There are tons of gifts like these that you can buy at Green Depot located on Bowery and Prince. It's a great store. You can also check out Tree Hugger's Holiday Gift Guide for more ideas. Of course none of these stores or websites will have the best gift, and that's the gift you make yourself for someone you love.

Turkey: a Wild History

2009-11-25T06:02:00.000-08:00

A turkey....is a living species of large birds in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America.

The domestic turkey is a descendant of the Wild Turkey and features prominently in the menu of the Canadian and U.S. holidays of Thanksgiving and that of Christmas in many countries.

-Wikipedia

While the domestic turkeys currently fill our supermarket aisles, the Meleagris gallopavo is roaming the North American Jungles much as he was three hundred years ago. As opposed to our domesticated Turk., Wild Turkeys can fly up to 100 yards to avoid predators. Nonetheless, Turkeys find it hard to avoid habitat destruction, so in the early 20th Century they fell on the brink of extinction. But our Turk. is a comeback kid! In the 1960s restoration programs and research by state agencies lead to the Wild Turkey once again having healthy populations in almost every state in this country.

Wild Turkeys forage on the ground in flocks, occasionally flying onto the limbs of shrubs and small trees. Acorns, beechnuts, cherries, and ash seeds are primary food sources. Seeds, berries, grasses, sedges and insects are important summer foods. In winter turkeys feed on sensitive fern fertile stalks and persistent fruits such as Winterberry, rose hips, and dried apples.

And now for some random events where you can drink and think:

The Horticultural Society has some great lectures and events coming up:

Friday, December 4
Ken Smith: Landscape Architect
Lecture, book signing & reception

December 9 - February 12, 2010
Hiroshi Sunari
Leur Existence - Tree Project

Thursday, December 10
Succulent Wreath
Design Workshop

and.....

Tuesday, December 15
Hort Library Book Club:
Farm City by Novella Carpenter !

Also:

MUSIC, COCKTAILS, & A PRESENTATION ON

BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION, & ECOTOURISM:
PERU'S NORTHERN BIRDING ROUTE & BEYOND - DEC 3

find out more: Audubon Society

LANDMARK WEST! presents:

A way to rethink stormwater and energy solutions

Energy Efficiency and Existing Buildings

Friday, December 4th, 2009

8:45am-5pm

Check out website for more info

Some good Holiday Appeals if you can give:

Support CENYC this Holiday Season - and find out where to get the best turkeys!

See you post turkey fatigue!

Vote for Wildflower Week NYC!

2009-11-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Wildflower Week is one of the best events to hit NYC. It always has beautiful tours and educational programs and has a really fun opening party! So to help them get the support they need-vote for them to get a community grant: If you’d like to participate, register here: http://youtopia.uservoice.com/signup
Vote here (give all 3 of your votes): http://tiny.cc/NQVDO Thank you!

In case you didn't know why wildflowers are so amazing-here are some things to think about:
Using native plants is crucial in habitat restoration, they're drought and disease tolerant, require little maintenance once established, attract butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and beneficial insects, help restore biodiversity, help stabilize and restore soil, and finally Native plants serve vital functions in filtering pollution in the air and water.

This diagram illustrates how much deeper the roots of native plants reach in comparison to many non-natives. Can we have native plants in the urban environment? Yes! Just take a look at

The Highline as an example of a wildly popular and beautiful public park. Most of the species used in The Highline are native North American grasses.

SOME EVENTS!
Don't Miss the SBNYC Holiday Party!
If You're a Member of Metrohort, come to their Holiday Potluck and learn how to turn

Herbs into Weeds: Medieval Medicinals Naturalized in New York State

Stay tuned!

Sewers at Capacity, Waste Poisons Waterways

2009-11-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

In 1849, NYC was ahead of the curve, installing an extensive sewer system with pipes made with hand laid bricks and tiles. Now more than 150 years later we use those same pipes to treat the sewage of a city 8 million strong and growing. Today's front page article in the NY Times discusses the problems of treating NYC's sewage during wet weather. It amazes me how few people know where our waste water goes and the consequences of our lack of infrastructure. Due to our overflows, NYC spills 27 billion gallons of raw untreated waste every year into our waterways, causing damage to aquatic ecosystems, endangering our own health, and violating The Clean Water Act of 1972.

An outdated sewer system and a rapidly expanding city are two of the main reasons why we are causing so much water pollution. But it's also the way we have chosen to construct our cities; choosing concrete as the material streets, buildings, parking lots, walls, and roofs are made from creates a surge of water runoff each time it rains. If cities would reduce their Concrete Footprint we would be closer to solving this problem. Permeable Pavement, Green Roofs, Trees, Parks, Bioswales, and Rain Barrels are all part of the solution. NYC needs to support these solutions by making them affordable and mandatory. It will also be supporting an industry that could provide thousands of jobs while greatly improving the environment.

To read the whole NY Times article click here.

more pix of fall

2009-11-15T16:58:00.000-08:00

Highlights in my garden now are the river birch, the Sumac, and the seed heads of the Black Cohosh.

November's Indian Summer

2009-11-15T16:30:00.000-08:00

This past week has been lovely weather despite the rain-last night it was almost balmy. I'm sure this won't last long, but while it does, all the more opportunity to go outdoors and admire the changing colors. Prospect Park is truly a blaze with colors right now, and my own garden isn't too bad either. One tree I have appreciated this fall for it's bold red and palmate leaves, is the native Sumac pictures here.

2009-11-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

Our green roof sample is a great way to show people the basic layers involved in a green roof installation. Its looking lovely today as the cooler temperatures kick in and the sedum changes color...

(click through for larger img)

2009-11-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

Those lovely pink clusters are Armeria maritima, one of my favorites! We use them in our planters quite often.

Green Roof In Fall

2009-11-05T20:47:00.001-08:00

Our green roof in the East Village is a patchwork of changing colors. The Alpine Strawberry is tinged with red, white fall blooming Crocuses are in bloom, Little Bluestem is red, and butterfly weed is yellow and orange.

Halloween Weekend in Nature

2009-11-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from a trip to Warwick, NY where my mother created a large scale rock garden. The fall colors are incredible! For some the transition to winter is a depressing one, but to see the process gives me great joy. The colors now are rich and subtle: there are auburns, crimsons and yellows that you can't see in the summer. And the colors are all the more vivid in front of a gray sky.

In Praise of Fall

2009-11-04T20:08:00.001-08:00

Fall is a wonderful time to explore NYC’s parks and natural areas. In Redhook’s Ikea park the grasses catch the light.

We recently planted Little Bluestem in window boxes that we bolted onto a roof's parapet. Tall grasses can make elegant and natural looking screens that sway in the breeze.

Make-over!

2009-10-30T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
Have you seen our sweet ride, on its way to bring the streets of Brooklyn some lush plant life lately?
She is looking pretty lovely these days - next time you see her feel free to blow kisses and say hello.

Bonus Q: Anyone know the Alive Structures favorite native species that is painted on the sides? :)