May 23, 2006
The Color Purple
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Is purple or mauve a particularly fashionable color this year? May is generally a purple month. The pale purple Wisteria has just bloomed, it comes in pink and white as well, but mauve is the default color. NYC has some amazing wisteria, not only draped over stately landmarks like the pergola at the Conservatory Garden or the Osbourne Terrace at BBG, but eating townhouses from the Upper East Side to Greenwich Village! In the fight between man and nature, wisteria often wins.
It is also lilac season. Although the common lilacs have finished blooming, their peak was the first week of May this year, the little leafs continue the cycle. Lilac "Miss Kim" and Lilac meyeri, Palibin although not as well known, are both exceptionally fragrant, and still blooming in parks.
In addition to these old stanbys, this year we have noticed a craze, a wave, of giant Alliums. Alliums of course, are onions and it's the purple flowered ornamental ones we're talking about here, not garlic, leeks, or scallions. Purple spheres are hovering over plantings from the Bronx to Brooklyn. Used to be that Alliums were quite recherche, and knowledgeable gardeners would include a few in their annual bulb order, and the following spring, less knowledgeable gardeners would exclaim at the sight of softball size flowers held up by a single slender 3-5 foot stem. Well, you know a plant has arrived when it is the featured spring planting around Columbus Circle. John Scheepers' bulb catalogue offers 29 different varieties of ornamental Allium, they come in white, greenish white and all shades of purple. There is clearly an Allium for every occasion, but the purple balls have become ubiquitous.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2006
WEEDS!
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What's blooming in May along with a brilliant tulip display, the early perennials and the first annuals, is a healthy crop of Weeds. Two particularly ubiquitous varieties are all over our park woodlands, Garlic Mustard and Celandine Poppies. Although if you are pulling them up they are both thugs, one, the Garlic Mustard, is an invasive species, and univerally condemned as a threat to our environment, the other, the Celandine Poppy, is a native woodland plant that "self sows and naturalizes readily". The old saw that a weed is just a plant you don't want is proved once again.
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is a European import. It is a biennial, rosettes of heart shaped leaves appear to be followed in year two by the small white flower atop a tall (2 to 3-1/2ft.) stem. We have never found it particularly fussy, but its preferred habitat is moist, shaded soil and disturbed areas. Blooming in May and June, it can rapidly take over a woodland or field, out-competing both natives and introduced species. The seed, which is copious, can remain viable for up to 5 years, so the goal should be to remove the plant before it sets seed. Annoyingly deer, which can be relied upon to eat any number of desirable species, are not fond of Garlic Mustard. Luckily it does pull up quite easily especially when it is young.
The Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) is a very different case. It has an attractive yellow flower and lobbed blue green foliage. Garden in the Woods, the magnificent woodland created by the New England Wildflower Society in Framingham MA, sells it in its nursery- with no disclaimer or warning. It spreads very easily and looks sad and weedy the minute it stops blooming, not to mention the fact that it has a knack for infesting many areas where its color or habit is wrong- wrong- wrong. Remember, when you are struggling to pull it out of your garden or woodland, and the fat, brittle, orange root has broken off in your hands and stained them deep orange, that this is not a weed, it is a precious native wild flower.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2005
What's Blooming 5/18
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One of the most romantic and poetic moments in the City's garden calendar is here. The Bluebell Wood at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is at its peak. At this moment, 45000 bluebells are creating a sapphire carpet in the wood just south of the Cherry Esplanade.
Another bluebell display, though not nearly as dramatic, occurs at the Heather Garden in Fort Tryon Park. There the bluebells have naturalized in the perennial beds. This is a mixed blessing for the park's gardeners whose job is to keep the beds under control, and visitors often see them yanking up the bulbs. But they are definitely an enchanting sight in May.
The English bluebell of legend is Hyacynthoides non-scripta. What we generally find in our gardens is the Hyacynthoides hispanica, which is more vigorous. So vigorous in fact, that it is classed as an invasive in the United Kingdom as it is threatening the native blue bell.
Links:Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NYC Parks
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 02, 2005
Plant Sale
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As if Brooklyn Botanic Garden wasn't enticing enough right now with its spectacular spring displays of cherry trees, lilacs and tulips, the garden is holding its famed plant sale on May 4 and 5. Even if you only have a windowbox, or a tree pit, it is worth a trip out to Brooklyn this week to check out the sale tables. Not only will you find unusual plants, but lots of your old favorites as well--this is the largest benefit plant sale in the Northeast--and you can be sure that all the plants are well-grown, because, for the first time, all the material is being provided by Monrovia Growers. Experts will be on hand to answer questions. The event takes place rain or shine.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)