Field Trip Report: The Cloisters

Quince Tree
Citrus
Espalier Pear
The Cloisters

The Cloisters is a museum devoted to medieval art. Part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is located in the Upper West Side of New York City in the Fort Tyron Park area (a quick skip and a hop away from the George Washington Bridge. And you can see my hometown, Englewood Cliffs, NJ across the Hudson). I visited there on Fathers' Day. I was not able to explore the Museum and gardens like I would otherwise, as I was accompanied by small children, but the kids did the best they could and I fully intend to go back (though the 10 year olds and 14 year old loved it).
The Cloisters has a medieval garden and I had the opportunity to speak to a garden volunteer of 10 years for a few minutes- too bad I did not get his name. A lovely person, he took his time, despite the beating sun and heat, to talk to me about the standout quince trees in the garden (photo above). I love people with that level of enthusiasm and generosity of spirit! These 45 year old trees apparently produce only some usable fruit in the cool climates of New York, with the cool September and October breezes off the Hudson, but they are lovely and the flowers and fruits are highly fragrant. The volunteer also took the time to show my very bright nephew Ethan the candelabra-shaped espaliered pear tree (photo above) and explain how it was done -quite lovely.
The garden tries to be historically accurate, but, like all historic gardens, there is some guesswork involved. They have a lovely arum (the same I have posted on, Dranunculus vulgaris, that I also grow) and some interesting citrus fruits of the era (photo above) and a variety of herbs. The Director has an interesting garden blog, worthy of a visit (learn about skirret!) at:
http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens
Happy gardening!

Basil Blight!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watch out basil (and pesto) lovers- there is an outbreak of basil blight! If you see signs, act quickly!

Read about it at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128061773&sc=emaf

Happy gardening! No blight!

4th Annual National Pollinators Week: Part 2

[Photo Credit: SRV]
Save the Pollinators!
I hope you have been a busy bee and engaged in National Pollinators' Week activities! What, you haven't? It's not too late. Pollinators, and other wild creatures, need just a few things to thrive, so here goes:
1. Plant something that flowers. A yard of regularly mown grass is as useless as a desert to a bee. Most flowers will do, though some are better, like native plants. Plants that I see abuzz with activity for bees, birds and butterflies include salvias, asclepias, buddelias, African blue basil and many fruiting plants and shrubs. Even a few well cared for pots of flowers will help!
2. Walk on the wild side- is there any area of your yard or garden that you can allow to grow a little wild? We have a small copse of trees and brush that is a habitat for many critters.
3. Provide a shallow basin of water (changed regularly) with a rock in it that stands above the water line and butterflies will thank you! They cannot go into water to drink, but can land on the rock and drink. They like natural seeps as well, where they get minerals along with their water.
Protecting pollinators is important- as I wrote last time, no pollinators, no food.
Happy gardening and pollinator protection!

A Lagniappe: Orchid

This is an orchid (cattleya?) from the conservatory at Ginter gardens. They have some lovely specimens, sometimes more quantity than others, but always enjoyable.

4th Annual National Pollinators Week

(Photo credit: SRV)
Happy 4th Annual National Pollinator's Week! June 21-24, 2010 is the week set designated by the USDA to honor and encourage those hard working insects, birds and mammals (think bats) that pollinate all pollen-bearing, sexually-reproducing plants! Like ALL our major food crops! No pollinators, not food! What have you done for them today? More on this topic this week! In the meantime, go to:

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/!ut/p/c4/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os_gAC9-wMJ8QY0MDpxBDA09nXw9DFxcXQ-cAA_2CbEdFAEUOjoE!/?contentidonly=true&contentid=2010%2F06%2F0333.xml

Happy gardening! And, thank you, pollinators!

Chocolate and Zucchini Muffins

A solution to too much zucchini!

Chocolate and Zucchini Muffins from the Christian Science Monitor:

2-1/2 C flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 C buttermilk
1/2 C butter, softened
1-3/4 C sugar
2 C grated raw zucchini (or other summer squash)
1 C chopped nuts

3/4 C miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin tins (small ones?) generously with butter or line with paper muffin cups. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and cocoa and set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. In a large bowl, with electric beater, blend the sugar and butter until well mixed. Add the oil mixture to this and blend well. Stir in zucchini, followed by the dry ingredient mix. Scoop the batter into the muffin tins. Sprinkle top with nuts and, if desired, with mini chips. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops feel firm when gently pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes about 2 dozen muffins depending on size.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0620/p19s01-hfes.html/(page)/2

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

It is odd that I have been to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens (LGBG) at least 100 times and have never written a blog post on it. I like Ginter. When we first moved here, it was a great place to go with a 4 year old. And I obviously love plants. LGBG has some really lovely features, especially water features, and a great collection of plants. I adore their Sarracenia collection, an assortment of bug-eating pitcher plants. I fell in love with Hinoki False Cypress, Japanese lilies and lotus there, and grew to appreciate ferns and other green plants that thrive in the shade. Their conservatory is lovely, and, at times, is just stuffed full of orchids (below).
I am not a fan of roses, but if you like them, the Rose Belvedere is great (not as big as some rose gardens, but more human-scaled).

But there is one area at Ginter that I do not like, their relatively recently re-done Children's Garden. The old Children's garden was a garden, first and foremost, and focused on dirt, plants and the life cycle. Kids could dig, pick and eat tomatoes and figs, search for earthworms. The new garden suffers from too much hard scape (pavement; walkways; a tree house that is not in a tree, that goes to nowhere and has nothing to do in it but look out; and a water play area-not that I am against water play, but it is not a living garden- it is a rubber and asphalt installation)(though maybe I am in the developmental stage of curmudgeon and wrong?). And is area has too much manicured grass (quel horreur!) (hardscape and grass example below):
Are are other new features to Ginter I do like- some Japanese architectural elements (a screen and circle gate, though the circle gate is somewhat over sized), but a new large concrete and steel bridge over the lake is very urban, too large in scale and, again, too much hardscape.

Ginter Gardens is worth a visit, so I recommend it. I just wish it was all garden.
Happy gardening!