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!))

Before and After: Windsor Terrace Backyard

We are very excited to share this Brooklyn backyard transformation. We custom built the fence, planter box and storage bench with western redcedar. We installed the bluestone patio, sod and plantings. It's by far one of our favorite backyards yet. It was our first project of the season and we are super happy with it. It was quite the process so we have many photos! Check them out

Before: ,

Everything had to be removed from the yard. The old stairs and the concrete were torn out. The back of the neighbors fence faced into the yard so we built a new one on the inside.

During:

Building the fence

Colin- Let's do this!

Dana excited to start her carpentry career

Fence Complete!

Building planter and bench

Lady carpenters- game planning

Excited and tired- almost done!

Bench and planter complete!

Adding bluestone patio

Plants added! It's starting to look like a real yard!

After:

 

DIY Kokedama

What is Kokedama?

Kokedama, meaning "moss ball", is a Japanese form of garden art. The moss ball can be secured to a platform or hung by a string. They make great additions to any room(and save floor space!).

Materials

• Small plant of your choice
• Sphagnum moss
• String
• Bowl
• Scissors
• Sheet moss
• Soil

Step 1:

Get your materials ready. We mixed some clay into our soil because I've heard that Kokedamas have a problem of drying out too fast. Clay holds moisture so we thought we'd try to add some to the mix. Add water to soil mix. Soak mosses too if they're dried.

Step 2: 

Take your plant from its container and remove excess soil from around the root ball. Be careful not to damage the roots too bad. 

Step 3:

Wet the sphagnum moss and wrap a handful around the roots. 

Step 4:

Press moistened soil mix around the sphagnum into a nice round ball shape.

Step 5:

Wrap your sheet moss around your ball and secure with string.

Step 6:

Hang and enjoy!

We liked our first ones so much we went back to the store and bought a bunch more little plants to do! Mimosas and Kokedamas, sounds like a great Sunday to me. 

Dana and our Kokedama factory

Staghorn teammates Dana and Colin with their new Kokedama

To keep your new creation happy, spray with a water bottle frequently or take down and give a good soak once or twice a week. The amount of water you give will depend on the specific plants' requirements.

We made a lot.