What's Blooming Now: July

Happy hot hot days of summer everyone!

It should cool down a bit after this lovely rainy day we are having.. hopefully!

It has been a scorched, so I'm sure the plants are very happy about this rain.

We've been snapping some photos around town to share with everyone what's blooming now:

We spotted this tall Rudbeckia laciniata towering over the sidewalk in Carrol Gardens. It's a member of the sunflower family and is an annual like it's cousins.

I found this beautiful Delphinium elatum 'guardian blue', at Crest in Williamsburg. Ooo I love it so much!

Bee Balm, Monarda, is easy to grow and will attract pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden.

Milkweed! Asclepias syriaca spotted in BedStuy and Asclepias tuberosa spotted at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.  This milkshake brings all the Monarchs to the yard. lol Sorry, I had to. But for real, milkweed is the Monarch butterfly's only host plant.

This Pale Purple Coneflower, Echinacea pallida, was spotted at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. <3

Check out these other varieties at Gowanus Nursery! 

Double Scoop Cranberry Coneflower, Echinacea x 'Balscanery' (omg sooooo awesome!) and Cheyenne Spirit Coneflower, Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ 

Butterfly bush, Buddleia x 'Podaras, with a beautiful Tiger Swallowtail spotted at Kings County Nursery

This lavender is going strong in one of our gardens in Williamsburg.

Sunflowers! are going strong all over Brooklyn! The left is in Carrol Gardens and the right was spotted near my house in BedStuy. I love those clusters of them.

(All photos by Dana Boyd)

5 Beautiful Birds to Spot in Your NYC Backyard

When we think of birds in New York City, we mainly think of the sky-rat, I mean, the pigeon. But there are so many more birds here if we stop to look around. We are surrounded by water so there are shore birds a plenty. Our large parks provide habitat for many who live here year round or are just passing through as they migrate north or south. Creating gardens in your backyard, balcony or rooftop provides additional habitat and food sources. So go plant some things and maybe you’ll get a few of these lovely visitors.

Scarlet Tanager, Piranga oliveacea

Male,
Photo: AnimalSpot.net 

Female,
Photo: Flickr:Daniel J. Field

These beautiful birds pass through for spring migration, April to May, and fall migration, August through October. The male has a striking red body with black wings. The female has a greenish-yellow body with darker wings. They feed on berries and new leaf buds, along with many types of insects.

Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata

Adult,
Photo:Wikimedia

Young Jay,
Photo: A White Washed Cottage Blog

Blue Jays are in the same family as crows and ravens, the corvidae family. I just learned that from my awesome new bird book, Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City(it’s an awesome book!). This book has also informed me that the corvidae family “are the most intelligent of all birds, and recent research compares their intelligence with that of apes and just below humans”. That is pretty amazing. These smart birds can be spotted all through the five boroughs.

Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum

Male,
Photo: Cornell University

Female,
Photo: Terry Sohl

This is an incredibly beautiful native bird. They have little black masks across their eyes, yellow tail tips and red wing tips. Usually male and female birds look quite different but these can only be told apart by their throat color. The males have a black throat and the females are brown. Cedar waxwings hang out near running water and love fruit trees.

Magnolia Warbler, Setophaga magnolia

Male,
Photo: Allaboutbirds.org

Female,
Photo: Allaboutbirds.org

It was hard to pick which warbler I wanted to feature here. They are all so cool looking and all kinds come through NYC. This guy has an awesome yellow and black striped belly with black and white wings. They can be found in backyards when they migrate through in the spring and again in the fall. They primarily feed on insects.

Baltimore Oriole, Icterus galbula

Male,
Photo: Legend.az

Female,
Photo:Birdfellow.com

Ok, I may have partly picked this one because I am from Baltimore and I like to represent whenever possible but you have to admit, they are pretty beautiful. You can spot the orioles spring through fall. They come in the spring to breed and then head back to Central and South America in the fall. ((Go O’s!))