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| author | surya <surya@urbanecologycollective.org> | 2026-04-18 14:39:59 -0400 |
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| committer | surya <surya@urbanecologycollective.org> | 2026-04-18 14:39:59 -0400 |
| commit | 40d2a460af1eecb7ccf7f302479a6a7afe410da7 (patch) | |
| tree | 7f8a9a9d51e53cad82e213121f95c692c4ef87ec /public | |
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diff --git a/public/404.html b/public/404.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8be356e --- /dev/null +++ b/public/404.html @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> + <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> + + <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/rss.xml"> + + <title>ecoblog</title> + + <link rel="preload" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css" as="style"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/reset.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/suCSS.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/custom.css"> + + <!-- Add favicon with appropriate sizes --> + <link rel="icon" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/favicon.ico"> + + </head> + <body> + + + <nav id="nav-bar"> + + <a href="/" class=""> + + home + </a> + + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/wiki" class=""> + + wiki + </a> + + </nav> + + <main> + +<article class="center"> + <h1>404 - Not Found</h1> + <p>The page you're looking for doesn't exist.</p> + <a href="/" class="no-style">← Return home</a> +</article> + + </main> + + <footer> + <!-- <hr> --> +<!-- <div id="footer-container"> --> +<!-- <p>Made using <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Speyll/anemone">anemone</a> Zola theme</p> --> +<!-- </div> --> + + </footer> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/public/atom.xml b/public/atom.xml new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9eb367f --- /dev/null +++ b/public/atom.xml @@ -0,0 +1,894 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> +<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"> + <title>ecoblog</title> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/atom.xml" rel="self"/> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org"/> + <updated>2026-04-18T14:35:58-0400</updated> + <id>https://urbanecologycollective.org</id> + + + + + + + <entry> + <title>A Little Forest Floor in a Raised Bed</title> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/"/> + <updated>2025-12-01T00:00:00+0000</updated> + <id>https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/</id> + <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;New York is home to over 550 community gardens, each with their own unique +history, land, and culture. Some focus on food production, some host +art and theatrical events, some serve as a hub for the neighborhood, and still +others create ecologically resilient wildlife habitat. In one +sense, these are all different aspects of the same goal: stewarding a healthy +ecosystem for the local multi-species community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Communities are shaped by their particular environment. During the New York +financial crisis of the 1970s, property owners in the Lower East Side burned +down and abandoned their apartment buildings, leaving behind a pile of rubble +and not much else. Local residents cleaned up the lot, shovel by shovel, and +created spaces to grow food and for their children to play. Other community +gardens were started by an organization such as the New York Restoration +Project, which cleaned up an illegal dumping ground along Harlem River to +create Swindler Cove. Swindler Cove now contains restored wetlands, native +plantings, and a children’s garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our work as community gardeners is informed by both the history of the land and +the history of the people in the neighborhood. And as both are apt to change +over time, we must be flexible and adapt to a changing environment.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Twenty years ago, Green Oasis Community Garden received ample sunlight, and the +raised beds were replete with tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. At the same +time, the trees that were planted when the garden was founded in 1981 were +starting to mature and grow larger. These days, Green Oasis has a high level of +canopy coverage casting shade throughout the garden, making it impractical +to grow fruits and vegetables.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;shade.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A shady garden&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The changes at Green Oasis resemble the natural process of ecological succession. +In the Eastern Temperate Forests ecoregion of North America, land left to its +own devices will be first occupied by grasses, herbs, and shrubs. At this +point, shade-intolerant evergreens such as eastern white pine start to grow larger +and shade out the previously growing herbs, and at the same time, create +habitat for shade-tolerant plants such as Pennsylvania sedge. Finally, +shade-tolerant hardwoods such as white oak and shagbark hickory grow and shade +out the pine trees. Perhaps later, a wildfire or human activity will reset the +cycle back to the beginning.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;succession.png&quot; alt=&quot;Ecological succession&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;University of Chicago newsroom&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Ecological communities, like human communities, are always changing and +adapting to the changing environment. It is true that humans have the ability +to change the local environment, and do so in an ecologically sound manner. For +example, in &lt;em&gt;The Mushroom at the End of the World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing +describes how matsutake (lit. &lt;em&gt;pine mushroom&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;) farmers in Japan use the ancient +coppicing technique to indefinitely maintain a pine forest where matsutakes +grow well. At the same time, we must acknowledge that each kind of environment has +its own advantages and provides habitat to different kinds of flora and fauna +(including humans).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;scoliid.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A scoliid wasp&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While a forest ecosystem is not suited to growing traditional community +gardening crops, they are perfect for growing +mushrooms, leafy greens, and pawpaws. And remember that food production is only +one aspect of a community garden. A shady garden reduces the urban heat island +effect, providing humans a (free) respite from increasing temperatures. A dense +forest of trees filters air pollution and reduces flooding by absorbing +stormwater. Of course, a forest ecosystem is home to countless kinds of +ferns, sedges, spring ephemerals, asters &amp;amp; goldenrods, insects, birds and mammals.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;art.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;An art show at Green Oasis&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As community gardeners, our first instinct may be to prune +large tree branches and bring more sunlight to our raised beds. But an +alternate path exists. What if we embraced the natural process of ecological +succession, accepting change and the passage of time? We can fondly remember +the times when we could readily grow vegetables and fruits, and also look +towards the exciting opportunities now available to us in a forest ecosystem. +And there are always other gardens that are suitable for larger-scale food +production: for example, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.grownyc.org&#x2F;gardens&#x2F;bk&#x2F;mccarren-park&quot;&gt;McCarren Demo +Garden&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; in Brooklyn, which +donates their produce to local community fridges.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In an ecosystem, the environment (climate, precipitation, sunlight, soil type) +shapes the interactions between the fauna and the flora. Part of being a member +of an ecological community is learning to work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; the environment rather than +against it. If we reduce our dependence on constant prunings, regular +watering, laborious weeding, and expensive fertilizers, we can create a more reliable, sustainable, and resilient garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;raised-beds-at-green-oasis&quot;&gt;Raised beds at Green Oasis&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Green Oasis is a large community garden, almost half an acre. Most of the +garden’s plantable areas are communally stewarded grounds full of grasses, +herbs, shrubs, and trees. In addition, we have around 20 raised beds. Most are +allocated to individual garden members; one is used as a community medicinal +herb garden. Some garden members grow shade-tolerant produce such as kale, +chili peppers, and shiso, while others grow an assortment of wildflowers.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Raised beds can be thought of as a opportunity for gardeners to exhibit an +artistic design suited to their unique sense of aesthetics. One +gardener’s raised bed is a microcosm of the ecosystem at Marine Park in +Brooklyn, containing the plants local to that area, as well as found objects +such as broken tiles and lamps. Another gardener plants her favorite ornamental +flowers and includes bee baths made out of a branch and artfully arranged +bottlecaps.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;soft-landings&quot;&gt;Soft landings&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As a woodland garden, Green Oasis is home to many trees, both +native and introduced. Native trees specifically are hosts to an incredible +variety of insects, many of which are adapted specifically to only eat the +leaves of one type of tree. After feeding on the tree foliage, caterpillars +travel to the leaf litter below the host tree in order to pupate and +overwinter. If those trees are underplanted with mowed turfgrass, caterpillars +will lack the habitat to complete their lifecycle. As described by Heather +Holm, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;storymaps.arcgis.com&#x2F;stories&#x2F;7942b55334b349098718a834b6c0503e&quot;&gt;soft landings&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; +are safe, undisturbed plantings of native grasses, ferns, and forbs under host +trees. Soft landings provide food and shelter, allowing butterflies, moths, and many +other insects to pupate and survive the winter.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;At Green Oasis, we have two large littleleaf linden (American basswood) trees, +which are hosts to over 150 species of caterpillars. Currently, these lindens +are on beds of vinca, an invasive vine. We have the opportunity to do much +better. We wanted to create a beautiful, resilient, and low-maintenance forest +floor that would allow our butterflies and moths to thrive in every stage of +their lifecycle.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;However, as beginner gardeners, we weren’t sure what kinds of native plants +would work best in our garden. While online resources list the preferred light +exposure and moisture requirements for each plant, growth patterns depend +greatly on the specific location. What sedges grow best in dappled morning +light? Can a large fern be underplanted with Pennsylvania sedge? What selection +of flowers will ensure continuous blooms throughout the year in our particular +climate? To answer these questions, we decided to make an experiment: a little +forest floor in a raised bed. It’s important to remember that a raised bed is +not the same as the the ground in the garden; in particular, the soil is +completely different. Still, we believe this exercise will be useful, and the +bed will be ecologically beneficial in its own right.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;a-little-forest-floor&quot;&gt;A little forest floor&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our goal for our raised bed was to create a planting that is reminiscent of a +typical New York mature forest floor. We were interested in creating visual +interest through texture and varying heights, rather than focusing on flowers +and color (as is typical of the English gardening tradition). Our design +emphasizes sedges and grasses, which are sometimes considered “uninteresting” +or “filler” plants. Instead of choosing “the most beautiful” plants at the +nursery, we started with the axiom that all plants are inherently beautiful, +and asked ourselves how we could understand each plant’s individual beauty and +how to create an composition that remains ecologically and aesthetically +beautiful throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexsprengelii.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex sprengelii&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While flowers do provide pollen and nectar, insects also need &lt;em&gt;habitat&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;. Sedges +and grasses create dense mats where pollinators and other insects can shelter +and over-winter, while also protecting against the introduction invasive species. They are also crucial in reducing soil erosion and +absorbing stormwater.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a previous blogpost, we wrote about the &lt;a href=&quot;&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;&quot;&gt;design process for our first native plant garden&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, which +was largely inspired by reading &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. +It focuses on the idea of designed plant communities and a relational approach to +garden design, which we’ll refer to below. Briefly, we focus on how the different plants relate to each other, both aesthetically and ecologically. For example, the idea of planting a soft landing under a native tree, or surrounding tall flowers with a diversity of groundcover plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-selection&quot;&gt;Plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We used the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;pagefiles&#x2F;203&#x2F;NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__679cf96177b6b.pdf&quot;&gt;New York City Native Planting Guide&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; to understand the different +kinds of upland forest ecosystems in New York (such as mixed oak-hickory forest +and rich mesophytic forest), and the plants that are typical to those +ecosystems. It also offers excellent guidance on planting in altered urban lots +such as most community gardens.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;From the catalogs at our local native plant nurseries, we filtered for the +shade-tolerant and dry-to-medium moisture, drought-tolerant offerings in order +to decide what to plant.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;structural-layer&quot;&gt;Structural layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The structural layer consists of long-lived plants +providing year-long structure and clarity of form. We chose bottlebrush grass (&lt;em&gt;Elymus hystrix&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), +slender woodoats (&lt;em&gt;Chasmanthium laxum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), eastern woodland sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex blanda&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and interrupted fern (&lt;em&gt;Osmunda claytonia&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Bottlebrush grass is a cool-season grass (meaning that it grows actively in the +spring and fall), features spectacular seedheads and is the host for the +northern pearly eye butterfly.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bottlebrush.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bottlebrush&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;mowildflowers.net&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;pearlyeye.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pearly eye&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Illinois Department of Natural Resources&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Slender woodoats is a warm-season grass, growing actively in the summer, and +features staccato, delicate seedheads, and is the host for various skipper +butterflies. Both grasses’ seeds are an important food source for birds.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;slenderwoodoats.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Slender woodoats&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Gowanus Canal Conservancy&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;cloudedskipper.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Clouded skipper&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Gary L. Spicer&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Eastern woodland sedge is a large, clumping evergreen sedge, resilient to a wide variety of environmental conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexblanda.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex blanda&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, interrupted fern is a large fern with prominent fiddleheads and a unique texture.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;interruptedfern.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Interrupted fern&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;James St. John&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;seasonal-theme-layer&quot;&gt;Seasonal theme layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While flowers were not the main visual focus of our design, they are still important aesthetically as well as for pollinators. +We were interested in flowers that are not usually considered “ornamental,” but provided outsized benefit to insects. +We chose spiderwort (&lt;em&gt;Tradescantia virginiana&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), slender mountainmint (&lt;em&gt;Pycnanthemum tenuifolium&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), late figwort (&lt;em&gt;Scrophularia marilandica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and white wood aster (&lt;em&gt;Eurybia divaricata&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), a selection that ensures blooms throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Spiderwort produces purple flowers in spring. They only bloom for one day, but the plant has so many buds the blooms are continuous. They provide abundant nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as pollen for bumblebees, little carpenter bees, and sweat bees. The leaves of spiderwort are remarkably grass-like, adding to the overall visual effect of the planting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;spiderwort.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Spiderwort&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;theplantnative.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Slender mountainmint produces small but showy white flowers in the summer and is a veritable magnet for bees and butterflies. It features a strong mint aroma.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;slendermountainmint.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Slender mountainmint&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;nativeplantsasheville.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Late figwort produces small red cup-shaped flowers in the summer that are full of nectar for leaf-cutter bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and ruby-throated hummingbirds.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;latefigwort.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Late figwort&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NC State Extension&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, white wood aster produces white daisy-like flowers in the fall, providing pollen and nectar to insects at a time when little food is otherwise available. The seedheads are also an important food source for birds through the winter.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a deciduous forest, the summer is characterized by intense shade, making it so few flowers can grow. Therefore, plants that bloom in the early spring (we will discuss spring ephemerals below) and fall, such as asters and goldenrods, are critical components of the ecosystem. Forest insects have co-evolved with the flowers and wake up from hibernation at the same time their preferred flowers are in bloom.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;whitewoodaster.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;White wood aster&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Wild Seed Project&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;groundcover-layer&quot;&gt;Groundcover layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The groundcover layer consists of competitive and clonal-spreading plants that provide soil fertility and structure, erosion control, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, biodiversity, pollutant uptake, moisture retention, and wildlife habitat. We chose a variety of sedges and ferns for this layer: field oval sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex molesta&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), long-beaked sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex sprengelii&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Pennsylvania sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex pensylvanica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), low woodland sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex socialis&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), eastern narrow-leaved sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex amphibola&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), rosy sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex rosea&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Christmas fern (&lt;em&gt;Polystichum acrostichoides&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and broad beech fern (&lt;em&gt;Phegopteris hexagonoptera&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;). The large number of species is to maximize the biodiversity, but also act as an experiment to see which ones do well and which do poorly. Below, broad beech fern and Pennsylvania sedge are pictured.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;broadbeechfern.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Broad beech fern&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Katja Schulz&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexpensylvanica.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex pensylvanica&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;dynamic-filler-layer&quot;&gt;Dynamic filler layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The dynamic filler layer consists of short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding plants that fill in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasive species take over. We chose Jacob’s ladder (&lt;em&gt;Polemonium reptans&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), which has blue flowers in spring that are a favorite of many native bee species.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;jacobsladder.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jacob’s ladder&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Ryan Kaldari&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;spring-ephemeral-layer&quot;&gt;Spring ephemeral layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In forests, spring ephemerals flowers bloom before trees leaf out in the spring and then die back completely when summer starts and the garden becomes shady, reappearing the next year. They are critical food sources for many kinds of insects, and are unfortunately in danger due to the proliferation of invasive species in New York. For this layer, we chose bloodroot (&lt;em&gt;Sanguinaria canadensis&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), trout lily (&lt;em&gt;Erythronium americanum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Dutchman’s breeches (&lt;em&gt;Dicentra cucullaria&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), spring beauty (&lt;em&gt;Claytonia virginica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and mayapple (&lt;em&gt;Podophyllum peltatum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;). Below, Dutchman’s breeches and mayapple are pictured.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;dutchmansbreeches.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dutchman’s breeches&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NYC Parks&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;mayapple.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Mayapple&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Jay Sturner&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Bloodroot is a pollen source for early-season native insects such as sweat bees, cuckoo bees, small carpenter bees, bee flies, mining bees, and beetles. It is used as a red natural dye by Native American artists.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bloodroot.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bloodroot&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NYC Parks&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bloodrootdye.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bloodroot dye&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;ithacawaldorf.blogspot.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;on-plant-selection&quot;&gt;On plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Although we tried to choose plants with properties suitable for the different +layers as described by Rainer and West, plants do not fit so neatly into +human-created categories. We were not always able to find a plant that +satisfied all of the properties, both because of the small selection available +to non-professional gardeners, and also because plants exist on a spectrum in +terms of longevity, aggressiveness, structure, and so on, all of which are +impacted by the particular local conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For example, some native plants are labeled as “aggressive.” This can be good +in the sense that they form a groundcover that suppress invasive species, or +bad because they outcompete all the other native plants in the area. It is hard +to know a priori what will be &lt;em&gt;too&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; aggressive (or perhaps not aggressive +enough). Similarly, online resources disagree on whether interrupted fern is +long-lived, making it unclear whether we should use it in the structural layer. +In the end, the particular site conditions have an enormous influence and it is +impossible to predict the exact behavior of plants beforehand. We expect that +not everything will go according to plan and we will need to make changes in +the future.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-layout&quot;&gt;Plant layout&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The raised bed is 8 feet by 3.5 feet, for a total of 28 square feet. We planted in staggered rows to maximize the planting space (and minimize bare soil), as shown below. This diagram uses the diameter of the circle to represent a plant’s projected maximum breadth, which is useful when planning out the layout. Most are given a 1’ diameter circle. Approximate expected heights are listed as well. Pennsylvania sedge underplants the large interrupted fern as well as in tight spots.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;forestfloor.png&quot; alt=&quot;Forest floor diagram&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The structural plants are placed first at prominent locations. Drifts of seasonal theme plants are interspersed throughout, then groundcover and dynamic filler plants are used to fill in all the gaps. Because they don’t directly compete with other plants, spring ephemerals are scattered throughout (we planted 2 of each). We tended to place taller plants on the north side so as not to shade out shorter plants, but as all the plants are shade-tolerant anyway, this was not a primary consideration.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-acquisition&quot;&gt;Plant acquisition&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We acquired plants from the city-run &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;natural-resources&#x2F;pecan&quot;&gt;PECAN&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; nursery, the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nbkparks.org&#x2F;&quot;&gt;North Brooklyn Parks Alliance&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; native plant giveaway, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plantbuyingcollective.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Plant Buying Collective&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gowanuscanalconservancy.org&#x2F;nursery&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Lowlands Nursery&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, and the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kingslandwildflowers.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Kingsland Wildflowers&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; nursery.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In general, forest ecosystem natives are hard to come by even at native plant +nurseries, especially for hard-to-grow species like sedges, ferns, and spring +ephemerals. We were grateful to find nurseries that recognized the important +ecological value of these plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN) in Staten Island has a +wide selection of native plants, including various sedges and ferns. They only +work with city-affiliated organizations, and the plants they grow for +ecological restoration projects are also suitable for community gardens. PECAN +ethically sources all of their seed from within 100 miles of New York. Even +within a particular species of plant, genetic material varies considerably, and +plants that are sourced locally are most well adapted to local insects. In +general, it is extremely difficult to find nurseries that even mention the +ecotype of their offerings, so PECAN is an invaluable resource in this regard. +Additionally, PECAN is quite affordable, selling most plugs for $2.50, whereas +other nurseries might charge up to $10.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Ordering from PECAN is not straightforward; there is no readily accessible +online catalog. First, email the address on the PECAN website, and they will +send back an order intake form where you can input your project details. They +will send you a spreadsheet with the current inventory and you can make +selections from there. Be quick, because inventory changes rapidly. Finally, +you can arrange a pickup time at the nursery. PECAN does not deliver, and it is +inconvenient to get to the nursery by public transit. We took the ferry from +Battery Park to Staten Island, and then the S62 bus to Victory Blvd&#x2F;Baron +Blvd. We are planning to place a much larger order next year, and will likely +rent a car or truck for transport.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This year, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance ran a native plant giveaway at +Under the K Bridge Park in September and October, giving away over 10,000 +plants for free (we found out on the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycpollinators.org&#x2F;&quot;&gt;NYC Pollinator Working +Group&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; mailing list). Their selection was +excellent, covering a wide range of site conditions and including grasses and +rarer plants such as late figwort. The nursery operator was incredibly kind and +helpful when we visited. If they repeat the giveaway next year, be sure to +check it out.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We purchased spring ephemerals online from Plant Buying Collective. We +placed the order in September and the plants were delivered in November +as bare roots, rhizomes, or corms. We were unable to find a local source for spring +ephemerals, but purchasing from Plant Buying Collective was straightforward and +affordable.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We also got a few plants at Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus as well as the nursery +at Kingsland Wildflowers in Greenpoint. Both have excellent volunteer programs +for those who are interested in learning some nursery skills.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-preparation&quot;&gt;Site preparation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This raised bed didn’t need much preparation. The soil level was topped off +with soil from a local garden store. Before planting, we briefly watered the +soil so it could settle a bit.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-installation&quot;&gt;Site installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Installation, like layout, occurs by layer. We first planted the structural +layer, then the seasonal theme layer, filled in any gaps with the groundcover and +dynamic filler layers, and finally, interspersed the spring ephemerals. The +placement of the structural layer is most critical; after that, it is better to +place the other plants more freely, using the layout as an approximate guide +rather than an exact specification. We planted in late September. Fall planting is +ideal for native plants because it reduces the need for watering and allows the +plants to settle in over the winter before starting to grow next spring.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;littleforestfloor.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Little forest floor&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;post-installation&quot;&gt;Post-installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We watered the plants thoroughly after the inital installation, and then kept +watering for a few weeks. The weather got cold quite quickly, so we have paused +watering until the spring. We expect to need to water occasionally for the +first year or so, and then the plants should be mature enough to not need +watering unless in extreme drought conditions. One issue we had was the +disappearance of a white wood aster, presumably due to a squirrel or rat. We +have found that they often like to dig up newly planted young plants, though +they don’t usually eat them or carry them away. In the future, it could make +sense to encircle young plants with hardware cloth for a few weeks while they +get established.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;a-sign-of-the-times&quot;&gt;A sign of the times&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;One of my favorite parts of living in New York is getting to visit other +community gardens and learning from their efforts. Hand painted signs are a +common sight, identifying different areas of the garden, the plantings in +raised beds, instructions for composting, and more. These signs are important +as a marker of human activity and creative expression.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For our raised bed, we made a sign by sanding and oiling a piece of scrap wood, +then painting with a brush and calligraphy ink. Beneath the sign is an NFC tag +that links to this blog post. We hope that visitors appreciate the ecological +and artistic intent of our little forest floor in a raised bed.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;littleforestfloorsign.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Little forest floor sign&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +</content> + </entry> + + + + <entry> + <title>Designing a Native Plant Garden</title> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/"/> + <updated>2025-09-23T00:00:00+0000</updated> + <id>https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/</id> + <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;When I first joined Green Oasis Community Garden in 2024, I had essentially zero knowledge of gardening. More than that, I didn’t really understand what the &lt;em&gt;purpose&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; of a public garden was. Was it supposed to be an artistic expression of the gardeners? Provide beauty for the community? Or perhaps offer a refuge from the concrete jungle? How do we choose what sort of plants to plant?&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Over the last two years, through a great deal of reading, conversation, and visits to other gardens, the concepts of “community” and “garden” started to merge. A “community” began to include not just the human garden members, but also the plants, insects, birds, other wildlife, and even the microbes in the soil. At the same time, the “garden” began to include the human gardeners themselves, not as external imposers of will, but as just another part of the ecosystem. The focus was no longer only on &lt;em&gt;which&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; plants and animals and humans are in the garden, but on how they &lt;em&gt;relate&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; to each other spatially, temporally, ecologically, and communally.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In order to provide food and shelter for wildlife, as well as beauty and education for humans, we decided to create a new native plant garden at Green Oasis. Native plants are those plants that are indigenous to the area, which have co-evolved with the local fauna for millions of years.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;pond.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Garden&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;learning&quot;&gt;Learning&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;reading&quot;&gt;Reading&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The first step was to read and learn as much as we could. As amateurs, we had little to no formal training or even practical experience. The following resources were tremendously helpful. &lt;em&gt;Bringing Nature Home&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; explained that the best way to support our local ecosystems is through planting native plants. &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; explained how to combine those native plants into a &lt;em&gt;designed plant community&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; that would be beautiful, resilient, low-maintenance, and full of life.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;resources&quot;&gt;Xerces Society resources&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;guidelines&#x2F;organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment&quot;&gt;Site preparation for wildflower establishment&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;plant-lists&#x2F;native-plants-for-pollinators-and-beneficial-insects-mid-atlantic&quot;&gt;Mid-Atlantic native plant lists&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;static.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;images&#x2F;pagefiles&#x2F;203&#x2F;NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__6787ce9c83f47.pdf&quot;&gt;New York City Native Planting Guide, 4th edition&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;NativePlantGardening&#x2F;&quot;&gt;reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;nativeplantgardening&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;GrowitBuildit (&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;growitbuildit.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;website&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; and &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@growitbuildit&quot;&gt;YouTube&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=biPEpjFx6do&quot;&gt;Native Landscape Design and Implementation video&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;observing&quot;&gt;Observing&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Before planting anything, we spent a long time just observing the garden as it is. How does it look in each season? What areas get lots of sun and which are shaded throughout the year? Where does water collect during a heavy rainstorm? What areas are most visited by humans? We tried to identify as many plants, bushes, trees, insects, and birds as possible (iNaturalist, Plant.net, and Merlin smartphone apps help, in addition to standard dichotomous keys). We shared our knowledge and observations with each other, as well as the history of the plants in the garden over the decades. We took hundreds of pictures of the garden as a whole as well as of individual flowers, birds, and insects.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We discovered that the garden struggled with &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;agriculture.ny.gov&#x2F;plant-industry&#x2F;prohibited-and-regulated-invasive-plants&quot;&gt;invasive species&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; such as multiflora rose, porcelainberry, white mulberry, goutweed, and vinca. Different invasive species require different methods of control. For tree saplings or bushes, we decided to remove them immediately if possible. But for groundcover vines such as goutweed and vinca, we realized it was best to plant something in their stead rather than simply removing them.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As a woodland garden, we were quite shady throughout the year as soon as trees leafed out in spring. There were essentially no areas of full sun conditions (over 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;outsidepond.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Shade&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Yet we also found many native plants that did quite well, such as white snakeroot (late-blooming woodland wildflower), Virginia bluebells (spring ephemeral), swamp milkweed, and lady fern. Looking at the site conditions for the plants that already do well was useful during plant selection where we looked for plants that grow in similar circumstances. Moreover, we already had a rich population of wildlife: leaf-cutter bees, green sweat bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, yellowjackets, fireflies, house flies, monarch butterflies, mosquitos, squirrels, rats, robins, bluejays, cardinals, migrating warblers and sparrows, and the occasional Cooper’s Hawk.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;snakeroot.webp&quot; alt=&quot;White snakeroot&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;hawk.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Cooper’s Hawk&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In addition, we visited several other native plant gardens in the area for inspiration and research, including the High Line, the southeast corner of Tompkins Square Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Kingsland Wildflowers, and Seward Park, often several times throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;designed-plant-communities&quot;&gt;Designed plant communities&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World discusses the concept of &lt;em&gt;designed plant communities&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;. Plant communities are a way of thinking about a group of plants in a particular place, so we can observe how they interact with each other and with the environment. Like any other type of community, plant communities change over time through processes of ecological succession or disruptions caused by floods, wildfires, or humans. A designed plant community is a plant community that is intentionally created by a garden designer.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As humans, we have certain design goals, such as wanting to maintain visual legibility throughout the year. At the same time, the idea of a designed plant community acknowledges that the planting will evolve throughout the years in ways we may not have predicted. Plants will move around, some may die out, and others may be introduced spontaneously. Our goal is to achieve our design goals but without insisting that the planting remain in stasis indefinitely; we must accept, and celebrate, that the plant community will change. Indeed, while we will make great efforts to select plants that are adapted to the particular site conditions, we can never be perfect. Allowing plant communities to evolve by themselves leads to a resilient garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Of course, resilient and aesthetic plant communities already exist. We need only look at our beautiful meadows, shrublands, and forests. These ecosystems have developed over millions of years under intense competition and environmental stressors. In order to create designed plant communities, we first take inspiration from nature. Planting in a Post-Wild World offers five principles of designed plant communities:&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Relations, not individuals. Thinking about how plants interact and compete with each other is instrumental. For example, while perennials are long-lived but slow-growing, annuals are short-lived but fast-growing. Having a few annuals helps automatically fill in empty spaces when perennials eventually die, before invasive species have the chance to take root.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Choose plants based on the existing site conditions, rather than trying to alter site conditions (such as light exposure, moisture levels, or soil texture) to fit the plants we desire. Changing the environment is usually extremely costly and laborious while not being particularly effective in the long-term.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Plant a dense groundcover layer composed of several species (sometimes called a “green mulch”). Groundcover plants enhance the strength of the planting by suppressing invasive species and retaining soil moisture, which allows us to minimize weeding (which damages the soil structure) and watering (which is time-consuming and costly). Groundcovers do not “take resources” from taller plants because their root systems and leaf morphologies have evolved to complement, rather than compete, with each other.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Design for legibility. For most gardens (especially public-facing ones like a community garden), it is important to convey a sense of intentionality and care. Neat borders and frames work well, in addition to signage explaining the intent behind the planting. If plants grow into pathways, they can be cut back. Plants may need a yearly cutback to maintain legibility (even if this is not ecologically “optimal”).&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Focus on management, not maintenance. A designed plant community tries to minimize routine (often costly and laborious) maintenance tasks such as watering, mulching, spraying and pruning. Instead, we focus on more infrequent, bigger-picture goal-driven management, such as a yearly cut-back, selective additions, or selective removals. This allows us to preserve our design goals while also allowing the planting to evolve by itself.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The authors describe a four-layer framework to creating designed plant communities.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 1: Structural plants are long-lived and offer year-long legibility and clarity (10-15% of the plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 2: Seasonal theme plants are selected to bloom continuously throughout the year, offering pollen and nectar for pollinators and beauty for humans (25-40% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 3: Groundcover plants are low-growing, competitive, clonal-spreading and provide soil fertility, soil structure, erosion control, moisture retention, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, phyto-remediation, and wildlife habitat (50% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 4: Dynamic filler plants are short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding, filling in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasives take over (5-10% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This framework was quite helpful in simplifying an initially daunting task. It is generic, usable in meadow, shrubland, and woodland settings, and is not specific to any one region. Our job is to understand the characteristics of the available plants and assess them for site suitability and arrange them into the four layers. But first, an aside about what it means to garden at a community garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;community-gardens&quot;&gt;Community gardens&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;the-nature-of-community-gardens&quot;&gt;The nature of community gardens&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Community gardens in New York operate in a very different way compared to public parks and private homes. Although the land is generally owned by either the city parks department or a community land trust, the garden is managed and maintained entirely by volunteers (the garden members).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Unlike a city-managed park, we are not mandated to design for public concerns. We are free to design a garden that may be deemed too “untidy” for a park, and we don’t have to design for clear sightlines. On the other hand, often the pathways in community gardens are not accessible to wheelchair users or the elderly, and elements like ponds may not have adequate safety features to protect unattended children.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In the end, it is up to the garden members to create a design that preserves a unique style and artistry, while maintaining legibility and usability for the community we serve. We must do this as amateurs with little professional expertise, and very limited budget and labor resources. Community garden activity fluctuates throughout the years and turnover can be high; there are times when it’s just one or two gardeners maintaining the entire garden. We try to plan for these lulls by creating designs that minimize the need for watering, weeding, and other maintenance.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a community garden, vision is not directed from above, but instead created jointly and over time. Without a single designer, gardens often lack a unified and straightforward aesthetic that is preserved throughout the decades. Nevertheless, unity of composition is achieved exactly through the cooperative nature of such communities. Each new gardener brings with them their own unique experiences and style but is always working in conversation with the hundreds of gardeners before them. Consider a wildflower meadow which has developed through individual plant species competing and co-evolving. The meadow might later undergo succession, in which it slowly becomes a deciduous forest—again, without a single designer leading the effort. Out of individuals and relations emerges community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, gardeners disagree about what a community garden should mean. Is the “community” that the garden serves the members of the garden, the surrounding block, all New Yorkers, or anyone who happens to be passing by? Should the garden move towards a style that is formal and manicured, or wild and “overgrown”? Should we focus on food production, ornamental flowers, or wildlife habitat? These concerns are often directly conflicting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Part of being a community gardener is learning to embrace transience and multiplicity. We effect change regarding what matters to us, and we try to convince other garden members of the same. But eventually there will be new community gardeners with new concerns. Our role is to develop a garden that can evolve and adapt over time in ways we cannot predict.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;our-garden&quot;&gt;Our garden&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Green Oasis Community Garden is rather large, as far as New York community gardens go. It is an almost half-acre woodland garden, featuring a covered gazebo, stage, pond, meeting tables and a stone grill. We raise money through membership fees ($25&#x2F;year), donations from the public, donations from event organizers, and grants. The garden is organized into committees such as the gardening committee, events committee, composting committee, and social media committee. Each committee can present a budget request, which is voted on by the entire garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Because of the size of our garden, it was okay for us to have a 50 square foot section to run this experiment (although a native plant garden could be as small as 10 square feet). But larger scale changes require buy-in from the garden members voting democratically. Unlike a public park, there is no president or board of directors, and so we must often respond to a multitude of conflicting opinions. A successful small-scale experiment allows us to gain experience and understand the particularities of our own garden, and lets the other garden members slowly get used to new ideas before we can expand our project.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of the 2025 garden season, the gardening committee was given a $800 budget for the year. We decided to allocate $500 towards a native plant garden. However, this decision only came about after much reading, education, knowledge-sharing, debate, and compromise. To many, native plants carry a connotation of being “weedy.” Further, commercial nurseries and the garden industry heavily market exotic ornamentals such that most people are unfamiliar with the very plants that are native to our own soil.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;But we have discovered that genuine excitement is contagious. And when people see a drift of goldenrods ablaze with bumblebees and butterflies, they start to appreciate the kind of garden that is full of life—indeed, the very life that sustains us humans. In New York, ecological garden design has become more popular in the recent years. Public parks such as the High Line, Stuyvesant Cove, Seward Park, and Tompkins Square Park are all embracing native plant gardens for their beauty, ecology, and maintainability. And because of their intentional designs and educational outreach, the public is getting on board as well. We are optimistic that in the near future, the native plants indigenous to our land will no longer seem foreign to us.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;planning-and-planting&quot;&gt;Planning and planting&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-selection&quot;&gt;Site selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The best time of year to plant native perennials is in the fall (approximately between September 1 and October 15 in New York City, depending on the weather that year). This allows us to minimize watering and gives the plants the winter to settle in before they start growing next spring.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the site, we chose a partial-sun area in the front of the garden with high visibility. The hope is that it will encourage visitors to learn more about the native plants and how they support wildlife in our garden. Another factor was that this area was initially covered almost entirely in vinca major and vinca minor: we could simply remove everything that was currently there. With rhizomatous invasive species such as vinca, it is very difficult to remove all parts of the rhizome, and even moreso if we have to work around plants we do want to keep (which often hide vinca rhizome fragments in their roots).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-pre.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Initial state of the site&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;soil-testing&quot;&gt;Soil testing&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We obtained a soil test from Brooklyn College’s &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.brooklyn.edu&#x2F;usl&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Urban Soils Lab&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, which is always a good idea especially in the disturbed urban sites most community gardens are on. You can also do an &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;growitbuildit.com&#x2F;mason-jar-soil-test-clay-sand-silt&#x2F;&quot;&gt;at-home soil texture test&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; using a mason jar and detergent powder.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For a community garden, our soil is pretty decent, with a high percentage (8%) of organic matter and a sandy loam texture. It is a bit alkaline, probably because there used to be a building on the land, but likely not enough to affect plants other than acid-loving blueberries and the like. The soil is also somewhat low in nitrogen&#x2F;phosphorus&#x2F;potassium, but native plants in New York actually prefer relatively nutrient-poor soils (indeed, excessive nitrogen can prove detrimental by promoting invasive growth and foliage overgrowth). Salinity levels were not concerning either.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Because we are growing native plants, we did not find it necessary to amend the soil. We will likely limit future soil treatments to occasionally top-dressing with compost produced by the garden’s composting committee, and of course, leaving the leaves. In fact, the high quality of our soil is likely because we have left the leaves every winter for decades.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-selection&quot;&gt;Plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;There is unfortunately a dearth of native plant nurseries in New York. The main one is &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gowanuscanalconservancy.org&#x2F;nursery&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Lowlands Nursery&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; in Gowanus, operated by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy as a non-profit.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We estimated that our $500 budget would purchase around 50 plants from Lowlands Nursery. Spacing between plants varies greatly depending on whether one is looking at a vegetable garden, agricultural farm, ornamental flowerbed, or the wild. We’ve followed &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;’s advice by planting densely and underplanting groundcover. For most plants, their size at maturity is about one square foot (one can research spacing for each plant online); so we opted for a one foot spacing throughout the planting in order to minimize bare soil. This means that we could plant an area of approximately 50 square feet.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Using the four-layer framework above, we decided to plant 2 structural plants, 30 groundcover plants, 15 seasonal theme plants, and 5 dynamic filler plants. In addition, because we are a woodland garden, we additionally interspersed 15 spring ephemerals (described below), for a total of 65 plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Lowlands Nursery allows us to filter by various site conditions but we found that all nursery websites are inconsistent with regards to light exposure, moisture needs, and bloom times, which are more complicated than a discrete categorization. It’s best to just research every single plant offered by the nursery, cross-referencing multiple sources. It took a lot of time but was worth it in the end.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the structural layer, we decided to transplant 2 New York ironweeds that were already in the garden. Ironweed has a remarkable structure even when it is not blooming, reaching 6-8 feet tall with a strong silhouette created by clearly defined leaves and seedheads. In the future, we could have used a few more ironweeds to reinforce that structure.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;ironweed.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Ironweed&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the seasonal theme layer, our candidate plants were hairy beardtongue, monarda fistulosa, hoary skullcap, woodland sunflower, sweet goldenrod, hoary mountainmint, monarda didyma, and calico aster. We looked at the bloom calendar for each and decided on three each of the first five plants, which would provide a continuous bloom throughout the year. Having at least three of each plant is important so pollinators don’t have to wander too far to get a full meal.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;goldenrod.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Sweet goldenrod&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the groundcover layer, our candidate plants were foam flower, creeping phlox, three-leaf stonecrop, Pennsylvania sedge, and rosy sedge. For this planting, the garden committee decided not to use any sedges, so we decided on 13 foam flower, 13 creeping phlox, and 4 three-leaf stonecrop. In future projects, it would be better for us to use a greater biodiversity in this layer. Sedges, ferns, and plants like heuchera, geranium and large-leafed aster are also good groundcover plants for shady areas.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, for the dynamic filler layer, we chose wild columbine.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For woodland ecosystems, there’s actually an additional secret spring ephemeral layer. &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;learn&#x2F;trees-and-plants&#x2F;native-plants-of-new-york-city-spring-ephemerals&quot;&gt;Spring ephemerals&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; are plants that bloom before forest trees leaf out in early spring and then completely die back in just a few weeks. They’re critical food sources for pollinators awakening from hibernation and unfortunately in decline due to invasive species such as Japanese barberry. Because these spring ephemerals die back so quickly, they don’t really compete with the other plants, allowing us to interplant them without worrying too much about overcrowding the area: another opportunity to add even more biodiversity. We found it very difficult to find spring ephemerals for sale in New York City, and ended up purchasing them online from &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plantbuyingcollective.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Plant Buying Collective&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;. Let us know if you know of a local dealer! Our choices were three each of bloodroot, spring beauty, mayapple, dutchman’s breeches, and trout lily.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-layout&quot;&gt;Plant layout&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For this step, we researched the height of each plant in order to make sure the taller plants don’t shade out the shorter ones. Observe the path of the sun throughout the year; generally, taller plants will shade out plants north of them (though this may not be a problem if those are shade tolerant).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The following graphic was made in Inkscape. We’ve since printed it out and posted it on a signboard near the planting for curious visitors.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;sumacgarden.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Garden plan&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The placement of structural plants is the most important. Next time, a central cluster of 3-5 New York ironweeds might be better. The exact placement of the structural plants doesn’t matter as much, but we try to create horizontal-ish “drifts” of 3-5 plants. The dynamic filler layer is scattered so the soil’s seed bank evenly fills up with columbine seeds. Finally, groundcover plants are placed to fill in all the gaps; their exact location is determined on planting day. Spring ephemerals can then be interplanted; they don’t need much room.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-preparation&quot;&gt;Site preparation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-pre.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Initial state of the site&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +The area was initially covered almost entirely in non-native vinca and liriope, which are both notoriously difficult to remove. Because vinca is rhizomatous, methods like sheet mulching are not effective. Due to the small scale of the planting, we decided on mechanical removal, and we went out during a rainstorm and weeded the area for 4-5 hours. The rain makes it much easier to ensure we remove all the parts of the plant, as vinca can grow back from just a few inches of remaining rhizome. However, rain also increases the danger of human-induced soil compaction, so we had to be careful to minimize how much we stepped into the bed. Three indispensable tools were a mattock (my love), hori hori knife, a CobraHead weeder, and a garden kneeler. We continued to do a few passes for the next week to catch any remaining roots.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-prepped.webp&quot; alt=&quot;The site after weeding&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;One method of mechanical site preparation is to leave the bed alone at least for a few weeks and up to several months to see what grows back to continue weeding. However, because we are a public-facing community garden and this area was front-and-center, this was infeasible: we needed to minimize the time the site was bare soil. This is another reason why methods like sheet mulching or solarization are difficult in practice at community gardens. In general, the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;guidelines&#x2F;organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment&quot;&gt;Xerces Site Preparation guide&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; is invaluable for evaluating site preparation methods.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;A further downside to mechanical removal to this extent is the damage to soil structure by essentially tilling the first few inches of soil. This also brings up dormant weed seeds to the surface, which could overwhelm the planting next spring if we are not diligent about weeding regularly. But in this case, we found no other alternative.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Luckily, the soil was not particularly compacted, which can be an issue especially on urban sites. If it was, we would’ve used a core aerator to aerate the soil (as opposed to more destructive and less effective methods such as tilling).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;buying-the-plants&quot;&gt;Buying the plants&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, we sourced most of the plants from Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus. We e-mailed the nursery to get our 25% discount as a community garden and sales tax exemption as a registered 501(c)(3) organization. A few of us took shopping bags and made the journey on the F train. It was convenient to go by subway (a taxi would be very expensive), but requires bringing several people: plants can’t really be stacked, so there’s a limit on how much one person can carry.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;plants.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Plugs from the nursery&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For our next planting, we will consider the city-run PECAN nursery (formerly the Greenbelt Center). They only work with government entities (including community gardens), but are almost four times cheaper than Lowlands, offer a wide selection, and collect much of their seed themselves from local wilderness, ensuring biodiversity and a local ecotype. The downside is that it is incredibly inconvenient to get to their Staten Island nursery, and they don’t offer delivery service. If we order from PECAN, we’ll likely ask a fellow gardener with a car to help with transportation (or just rent a car).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We purchased columbine online from Prairie Moon Nursery and the spring ephemeral plants online from Plant Buying Collective, though they haven’t arrived yet.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-installation&quot;&gt;Site installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Installation is also done in layers. First the structural plants, then seasonal theme plants, dynamic filler plants, and finally groundcover plants to fill in all gaps. Our spring ephemeral plants haven’t arrived yet, but when they do we will intersperse them between the groundcover plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-structural.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Structural layer&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-seasonal.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Seasonal theme layout&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-groundcover.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Everything planted&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;After all of our efforts in the plant selection and site preparation phases, installation was relatively straightforward. The important thing is to loosen the roots of the saplings and plant at the same height they were at in the container in order to avoid excessively burying or exposing the plant crown. Next time, we will try using an auger drill attachment, but it wasn’t necessary this time for such a small planting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;post-installation&quot;&gt;Post-installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;cardinal.webp&quot; alt=&quot;A cardinal cheering us on&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +One great benefit of planting in the fall is that we don’t have to water that much (especially because it is a shady area). We gave the site a very thorough initial watering and again every few days for two weeks. Now, we water as necessary only if the soil is dried out. Hopefully by next year, the plants will be healthy enough to not need watering except in drought conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our most important task for the next year is regular and thorough weeding, at least every few weeks. Other than that, we can think about higher level concerns. Are the groundcovers filling in nicely, or do they need to be supplemented? Are the flowers providing continuous bloom throughout the year or does the composition need to be amended? In a few years, we can consider whether we need to do a cutback in spring to preserve visual legibility (however, we’ll try to leave it alone if possible in order to preserve wildlife habitat). We will be sure to observe our visiting bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators and wildlife, as well as create more educational material to share our work and learnings with the community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Any questions or comments can be emailed to surya at modalduality dot org. If you’re ever in the New York area, come visit us at Green Oasis Community Garden in the East Village! We’re open weekends and have many &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.greenoasisnyc.org&#x2F;events&quot;&gt;exciting events&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; including theatre, concerts, and volunteer workdays.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +</content> + </entry> + + + + + + + + <entry> + <title>A Little Forest Floor in a Raised Bed</title> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/"/> + <updated>2025-12-01T00:00:00+0000</updated> + <id>https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/</id> + <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;New York is home to over 550 community gardens, each with their own unique +history, land, and culture. Some focus on food production, some host +art and theatrical events, some serve as a hub for the neighborhood, and still +others create ecologically resilient wildlife habitat. In one +sense, these are all different aspects of the same goal: stewarding a healthy +ecosystem for the local multi-species community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Communities are shaped by their particular environment. During the New York +financial crisis of the 1970s, property owners in the Lower East Side burned +down and abandoned their apartment buildings, leaving behind a pile of rubble +and not much else. Local residents cleaned up the lot, shovel by shovel, and +created spaces to grow food and for their children to play. Other community +gardens were started by an organization such as the New York Restoration +Project, which cleaned up an illegal dumping ground along Harlem River to +create Swindler Cove. Swindler Cove now contains restored wetlands, native +plantings, and a children’s garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our work as community gardeners is informed by both the history of the land and +the history of the people in the neighborhood. And as both are apt to change +over time, we must be flexible and adapt to a changing environment.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Twenty years ago, Green Oasis Community Garden received ample sunlight, and the +raised beds were replete with tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. At the same +time, the trees that were planted when the garden was founded in 1981 were +starting to mature and grow larger. These days, Green Oasis has a high level of +canopy coverage casting shade throughout the garden, making it impractical +to grow fruits and vegetables.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;shade.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A shady garden&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The changes at Green Oasis resemble the natural process of ecological succession. +In the Eastern Temperate Forests ecoregion of North America, land left to its +own devices will be first occupied by grasses, herbs, and shrubs. At this +point, shade-intolerant evergreens such as eastern white pine start to grow larger +and shade out the previously growing herbs, and at the same time, create +habitat for shade-tolerant plants such as Pennsylvania sedge. Finally, +shade-tolerant hardwoods such as white oak and shagbark hickory grow and shade +out the pine trees. Perhaps later, a wildfire or human activity will reset the +cycle back to the beginning.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;succession.png&quot; alt=&quot;Ecological succession&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;University of Chicago newsroom&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Ecological communities, like human communities, are always changing and +adapting to the changing environment. It is true that humans have the ability +to change the local environment, and do so in an ecologically sound manner. For +example, in &lt;em&gt;The Mushroom at the End of the World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing +describes how matsutake (lit. &lt;em&gt;pine mushroom&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;) farmers in Japan use the ancient +coppicing technique to indefinitely maintain a pine forest where matsutakes +grow well. At the same time, we must acknowledge that each kind of environment has +its own advantages and provides habitat to different kinds of flora and fauna +(including humans).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;scoliid.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;A scoliid wasp&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While a forest ecosystem is not suited to growing traditional community +gardening crops, they are perfect for growing +mushrooms, leafy greens, and pawpaws. And remember that food production is only +one aspect of a community garden. A shady garden reduces the urban heat island +effect, providing humans a (free) respite from increasing temperatures. A dense +forest of trees filters air pollution and reduces flooding by absorbing +stormwater. Of course, a forest ecosystem is home to countless kinds of +ferns, sedges, spring ephemerals, asters &amp;amp; goldenrods, insects, birds and mammals.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;art.jpeg&quot; alt=&quot;An art show at Green Oasis&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As community gardeners, our first instinct may be to prune +large tree branches and bring more sunlight to our raised beds. But an +alternate path exists. What if we embraced the natural process of ecological +succession, accepting change and the passage of time? We can fondly remember +the times when we could readily grow vegetables and fruits, and also look +towards the exciting opportunities now available to us in a forest ecosystem. +And there are always other gardens that are suitable for larger-scale food +production: for example, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.grownyc.org&#x2F;gardens&#x2F;bk&#x2F;mccarren-park&quot;&gt;McCarren Demo +Garden&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; in Brooklyn, which +donates their produce to local community fridges.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In an ecosystem, the environment (climate, precipitation, sunlight, soil type) +shapes the interactions between the fauna and the flora. Part of being a member +of an ecological community is learning to work &lt;em&gt;with&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; the environment rather than +against it. If we reduce our dependence on constant prunings, regular +watering, laborious weeding, and expensive fertilizers, we can create a more reliable, sustainable, and resilient garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;raised-beds-at-green-oasis&quot;&gt;Raised beds at Green Oasis&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Green Oasis is a large community garden, almost half an acre. Most of the +garden’s plantable areas are communally stewarded grounds full of grasses, +herbs, shrubs, and trees. In addition, we have around 20 raised beds. Most are +allocated to individual garden members; one is used as a community medicinal +herb garden. Some garden members grow shade-tolerant produce such as kale, +chili peppers, and shiso, while others grow an assortment of wildflowers.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Raised beds can be thought of as a opportunity for gardeners to exhibit an +artistic design suited to their unique sense of aesthetics. One +gardener’s raised bed is a microcosm of the ecosystem at Marine Park in +Brooklyn, containing the plants local to that area, as well as found objects +such as broken tiles and lamps. Another gardener plants her favorite ornamental +flowers and includes bee baths made out of a branch and artfully arranged +bottlecaps.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;soft-landings&quot;&gt;Soft landings&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As a woodland garden, Green Oasis is home to many trees, both +native and introduced. Native trees specifically are hosts to an incredible +variety of insects, many of which are adapted specifically to only eat the +leaves of one type of tree. After feeding on the tree foliage, caterpillars +travel to the leaf litter below the host tree in order to pupate and +overwinter. If those trees are underplanted with mowed turfgrass, caterpillars +will lack the habitat to complete their lifecycle. As described by Heather +Holm, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;storymaps.arcgis.com&#x2F;stories&#x2F;7942b55334b349098718a834b6c0503e&quot;&gt;soft landings&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; +are safe, undisturbed plantings of native grasses, ferns, and forbs under host +trees. Soft landings provide food and shelter, allowing butterflies, moths, and many +other insects to pupate and survive the winter.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;At Green Oasis, we have two large littleleaf linden (American basswood) trees, +which are hosts to over 150 species of caterpillars. Currently, these lindens +are on beds of vinca, an invasive vine. We have the opportunity to do much +better. We wanted to create a beautiful, resilient, and low-maintenance forest +floor that would allow our butterflies and moths to thrive in every stage of +their lifecycle.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;However, as beginner gardeners, we weren’t sure what kinds of native plants +would work best in our garden. While online resources list the preferred light +exposure and moisture requirements for each plant, growth patterns depend +greatly on the specific location. What sedges grow best in dappled morning +light? Can a large fern be underplanted with Pennsylvania sedge? What selection +of flowers will ensure continuous blooms throughout the year in our particular +climate? To answer these questions, we decided to make an experiment: a little +forest floor in a raised bed. It’s important to remember that a raised bed is +not the same as the the ground in the garden; in particular, the soil is +completely different. Still, we believe this exercise will be useful, and the +bed will be ecologically beneficial in its own right.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;a-little-forest-floor&quot;&gt;A little forest floor&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our goal for our raised bed was to create a planting that is reminiscent of a +typical New York mature forest floor. We were interested in creating visual +interest through texture and varying heights, rather than focusing on flowers +and color (as is typical of the English gardening tradition). Our design +emphasizes sedges and grasses, which are sometimes considered “uninteresting” +or “filler” plants. Instead of choosing “the most beautiful” plants at the +nursery, we started with the axiom that all plants are inherently beautiful, +and asked ourselves how we could understand each plant’s individual beauty and +how to create an composition that remains ecologically and aesthetically +beautiful throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexsprengelii.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex sprengelii&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While flowers do provide pollen and nectar, insects also need &lt;em&gt;habitat&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;. Sedges +and grasses create dense mats where pollinators and other insects can shelter +and over-winter, while also protecting against the introduction invasive species. They are also crucial in reducing soil erosion and +absorbing stormwater.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a previous blogpost, we wrote about the &lt;a href=&quot;&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;&quot;&gt;design process for our first native plant garden&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, which +was largely inspired by reading &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. +It focuses on the idea of designed plant communities and a relational approach to +garden design, which we’ll refer to below. Briefly, we focus on how the different plants relate to each other, both aesthetically and ecologically. For example, the idea of planting a soft landing under a native tree, or surrounding tall flowers with a diversity of groundcover plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-selection&quot;&gt;Plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We used the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;pagefiles&#x2F;203&#x2F;NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__679cf96177b6b.pdf&quot;&gt;New York City Native Planting Guide&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; to understand the different +kinds of upland forest ecosystems in New York (such as mixed oak-hickory forest +and rich mesophytic forest), and the plants that are typical to those +ecosystems. It also offers excellent guidance on planting in altered urban lots +such as most community gardens.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;From the catalogs at our local native plant nurseries, we filtered for the +shade-tolerant and dry-to-medium moisture, drought-tolerant offerings in order +to decide what to plant.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;structural-layer&quot;&gt;Structural layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The structural layer consists of long-lived plants +providing year-long structure and clarity of form. We chose bottlebrush grass (&lt;em&gt;Elymus hystrix&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), +slender woodoats (&lt;em&gt;Chasmanthium laxum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), eastern woodland sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex blanda&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and interrupted fern (&lt;em&gt;Osmunda claytonia&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Bottlebrush grass is a cool-season grass (meaning that it grows actively in the +spring and fall), features spectacular seedheads and is the host for the +northern pearly eye butterfly.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bottlebrush.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bottlebrush&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;mowildflowers.net&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;pearlyeye.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Pearly eye&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Illinois Department of Natural Resources&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Slender woodoats is a warm-season grass, growing actively in the summer, and +features staccato, delicate seedheads, and is the host for various skipper +butterflies. Both grasses’ seeds are an important food source for birds.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;slenderwoodoats.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Slender woodoats&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Gowanus Canal Conservancy&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;cloudedskipper.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Clouded skipper&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Gary L. Spicer&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Eastern woodland sedge is a large, clumping evergreen sedge, resilient to a wide variety of environmental conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexblanda.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex blanda&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, interrupted fern is a large fern with prominent fiddleheads and a unique texture.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;interruptedfern.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Interrupted fern&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;James St. John&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;seasonal-theme-layer&quot;&gt;Seasonal theme layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;While flowers were not the main visual focus of our design, they are still important aesthetically as well as for pollinators. +We were interested in flowers that are not usually considered “ornamental,” but provided outsized benefit to insects. +We chose spiderwort (&lt;em&gt;Tradescantia virginiana&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), slender mountainmint (&lt;em&gt;Pycnanthemum tenuifolium&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), late figwort (&lt;em&gt;Scrophularia marilandica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and white wood aster (&lt;em&gt;Eurybia divaricata&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), a selection that ensures blooms throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Spiderwort produces purple flowers in spring. They only bloom for one day, but the plant has so many buds the blooms are continuous. They provide abundant nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as pollen for bumblebees, little carpenter bees, and sweat bees. The leaves of spiderwort are remarkably grass-like, adding to the overall visual effect of the planting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;spiderwort.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Spiderwort&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;theplantnative.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Slender mountainmint produces small but showy white flowers in the summer and is a veritable magnet for bees and butterflies. It features a strong mint aroma.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;slendermountainmint.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Slender mountainmint&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;nativeplantsasheville.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Late figwort produces small red cup-shaped flowers in the summer that are full of nectar for leaf-cutter bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and ruby-throated hummingbirds.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;latefigwort.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Late figwort&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NC State Extension&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, white wood aster produces white daisy-like flowers in the fall, providing pollen and nectar to insects at a time when little food is otherwise available. The seedheads are also an important food source for birds through the winter.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a deciduous forest, the summer is characterized by intense shade, making it so few flowers can grow. Therefore, plants that bloom in the early spring (we will discuss spring ephemerals below) and fall, such as asters and goldenrods, are critical components of the ecosystem. Forest insects have co-evolved with the flowers and wake up from hibernation at the same time their preferred flowers are in bloom.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;whitewoodaster.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;White wood aster&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Wild Seed Project&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;groundcover-layer&quot;&gt;Groundcover layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The groundcover layer consists of competitive and clonal-spreading plants that provide soil fertility and structure, erosion control, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, biodiversity, pollutant uptake, moisture retention, and wildlife habitat. We chose a variety of sedges and ferns for this layer: field oval sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex molesta&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), long-beaked sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex sprengelii&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Pennsylvania sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex pensylvanica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), low woodland sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex socialis&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), eastern narrow-leaved sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex amphibola&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), rosy sedge (&lt;em&gt;Carex rosea&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Christmas fern (&lt;em&gt;Polystichum acrostichoides&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and broad beech fern (&lt;em&gt;Phegopteris hexagonoptera&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;). The large number of species is to maximize the biodiversity, but also act as an experiment to see which ones do well and which do poorly. Below, broad beech fern and Pennsylvania sedge are pictured.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;broadbeechfern.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Broad beech fern&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Katja Schulz&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;carexpensylvanica.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Carex pensylvanica&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Mt. Cuba Center&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;dynamic-filler-layer&quot;&gt;Dynamic filler layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The dynamic filler layer consists of short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding plants that fill in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasive species take over. We chose Jacob’s ladder (&lt;em&gt;Polemonium reptans&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), which has blue flowers in spring that are a favorite of many native bee species.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;jacobsladder.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Jacob’s ladder&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Ryan Kaldari&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;spring-ephemeral-layer&quot;&gt;Spring ephemeral layer&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In forests, spring ephemerals flowers bloom before trees leaf out in the spring and then die back completely when summer starts and the garden becomes shady, reappearing the next year. They are critical food sources for many kinds of insects, and are unfortunately in danger due to the proliferation of invasive species in New York. For this layer, we chose bloodroot (&lt;em&gt;Sanguinaria canadensis&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), trout lily (&lt;em&gt;Erythronium americanum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), Dutchman’s breeches (&lt;em&gt;Dicentra cucullaria&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), spring beauty (&lt;em&gt;Claytonia virginica&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;), and mayapple (&lt;em&gt;Podophyllum peltatum&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;). Below, Dutchman’s breeches and mayapple are pictured.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;dutchmansbreeches.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Dutchman’s breeches&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NYC Parks&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;mayapple.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Mayapple&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;Jay Sturner&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Bloodroot is a pollen source for early-season native insects such as sweat bees, cuckoo bees, small carpenter bees, bee flies, mining bees, and beetles. It is used as a red natural dye by Native American artists.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bloodroot.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bloodroot&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;NYC Parks&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;bloodrootdye.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Bloodroot dye&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +&lt;em&gt;ithacawaldorf.blogspot.com&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h3 id=&quot;on-plant-selection&quot;&gt;On plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h3&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Although we tried to choose plants with properties suitable for the different +layers as described by Rainer and West, plants do not fit so neatly into +human-created categories. We were not always able to find a plant that +satisfied all of the properties, both because of the small selection available +to non-professional gardeners, and also because plants exist on a spectrum in +terms of longevity, aggressiveness, structure, and so on, all of which are +impacted by the particular local conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For example, some native plants are labeled as “aggressive.” This can be good +in the sense that they form a groundcover that suppress invasive species, or +bad because they outcompete all the other native plants in the area. It is hard +to know a priori what will be &lt;em&gt;too&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; aggressive (or perhaps not aggressive +enough). Similarly, online resources disagree on whether interrupted fern is +long-lived, making it unclear whether we should use it in the structural layer. +In the end, the particular site conditions have an enormous influence and it is +impossible to predict the exact behavior of plants beforehand. We expect that +not everything will go according to plan and we will need to make changes in +the future.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-layout&quot;&gt;Plant layout&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The raised bed is 8 feet by 3.5 feet, for a total of 28 square feet. We planted in staggered rows to maximize the planting space (and minimize bare soil), as shown below. This diagram uses the diameter of the circle to represent a plant’s projected maximum breadth, which is useful when planning out the layout. Most are given a 1’ diameter circle. Approximate expected heights are listed as well. Pennsylvania sedge underplants the large interrupted fern as well as in tight spots.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;forestfloor.png&quot; alt=&quot;Forest floor diagram&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The structural plants are placed first at prominent locations. Drifts of seasonal theme plants are interspersed throughout, then groundcover and dynamic filler plants are used to fill in all the gaps. Because they don’t directly compete with other plants, spring ephemerals are scattered throughout (we planted 2 of each). We tended to place taller plants on the north side so as not to shade out shorter plants, but as all the plants are shade-tolerant anyway, this was not a primary consideration.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-acquisition&quot;&gt;Plant acquisition&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We acquired plants from the city-run &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;natural-resources&#x2F;pecan&quot;&gt;PECAN&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; nursery, the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nbkparks.org&#x2F;&quot;&gt;North Brooklyn Parks Alliance&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; native plant giveaway, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plantbuyingcollective.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Plant Buying Collective&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gowanuscanalconservancy.org&#x2F;nursery&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Lowlands Nursery&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, and the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.kingslandwildflowers.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Kingsland Wildflowers&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; nursery.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In general, forest ecosystem natives are hard to come by even at native plant +nurseries, especially for hard-to-grow species like sedges, ferns, and spring +ephemerals. We were grateful to find nurseries that recognized the important +ecological value of these plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN) in Staten Island has a +wide selection of native plants, including various sedges and ferns. They only +work with city-affiliated organizations, and the plants they grow for +ecological restoration projects are also suitable for community gardens. PECAN +ethically sources all of their seed from within 100 miles of New York. Even +within a particular species of plant, genetic material varies considerably, and +plants that are sourced locally are most well adapted to local insects. In +general, it is extremely difficult to find nurseries that even mention the +ecotype of their offerings, so PECAN is an invaluable resource in this regard. +Additionally, PECAN is quite affordable, selling most plugs for $2.50, whereas +other nurseries might charge up to $10.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Ordering from PECAN is not straightforward; there is no readily accessible +online catalog. First, email the address on the PECAN website, and they will +send back an order intake form where you can input your project details. They +will send you a spreadsheet with the current inventory and you can make +selections from there. Be quick, because inventory changes rapidly. Finally, +you can arrange a pickup time at the nursery. PECAN does not deliver, and it is +inconvenient to get to the nursery by public transit. We took the ferry from +Battery Park to Staten Island, and then the S62 bus to Victory Blvd&#x2F;Baron +Blvd. We are planning to place a much larger order next year, and will likely +rent a car or truck for transport.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This year, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance ran a native plant giveaway at +Under the K Bridge Park in September and October, giving away over 10,000 +plants for free (we found out on the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycpollinators.org&#x2F;&quot;&gt;NYC Pollinator Working +Group&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; mailing list). Their selection was +excellent, covering a wide range of site conditions and including grasses and +rarer plants such as late figwort. The nursery operator was incredibly kind and +helpful when we visited. If they repeat the giveaway next year, be sure to +check it out.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We purchased spring ephemerals online from Plant Buying Collective. We +placed the order in September and the plants were delivered in November +as bare roots, rhizomes, or corms. We were unable to find a local source for spring +ephemerals, but purchasing from Plant Buying Collective was straightforward and +affordable.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We also got a few plants at Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus as well as the nursery +at Kingsland Wildflowers in Greenpoint. Both have excellent volunteer programs +for those who are interested in learning some nursery skills.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-preparation&quot;&gt;Site preparation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This raised bed didn’t need much preparation. The soil level was topped off +with soil from a local garden store. Before planting, we briefly watered the +soil so it could settle a bit.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-installation&quot;&gt;Site installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Installation, like layout, occurs by layer. We first planted the structural +layer, then the seasonal theme layer, filled in any gaps with the groundcover and +dynamic filler layers, and finally, interspersed the spring ephemerals. The +placement of the structural layer is most critical; after that, it is better to +place the other plants more freely, using the layout as an approximate guide +rather than an exact specification. We planted in late September. Fall planting is +ideal for native plants because it reduces the need for watering and allows the +plants to settle in over the winter before starting to grow next spring.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;littleforestfloor.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Little forest floor&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;post-installation&quot;&gt;Post-installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We watered the plants thoroughly after the inital installation, and then kept +watering for a few weeks. The weather got cold quite quickly, so we have paused +watering until the spring. We expect to need to water occasionally for the +first year or so, and then the plants should be mature enough to not need +watering unless in extreme drought conditions. One issue we had was the +disappearance of a white wood aster, presumably due to a squirrel or rat. We +have found that they often like to dig up newly planted young plants, though +they don’t usually eat them or carry them away. In the future, it could make +sense to encircle young plants with hardware cloth for a few weeks while they +get established.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;a-sign-of-the-times&quot;&gt;A sign of the times&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;One of my favorite parts of living in New York is getting to visit other +community gardens and learning from their efforts. Hand painted signs are a +common sight, identifying different areas of the garden, the plantings in +raised beds, instructions for composting, and more. These signs are important +as a marker of human activity and creative expression.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For our raised bed, we made a sign by sanding and oiling a piece of scrap wood, +then painting with a brush and calligraphy ink. Beneath the sign is an NFC tag +that links to this blog post. We hope that visitors appreciate the ecological +and artistic intent of our little forest floor in a raised bed.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;little-forest-floor&#x2F;littleforestfloorsign.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;Little forest floor sign&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +</content> + </entry> + + + + <entry> + <title>Designing a Native Plant Garden</title> + <link href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/"/> + <updated>2025-09-23T00:00:00+0000</updated> + <id>https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/</id> + <content type="html">&lt;p&gt;When I first joined Green Oasis Community Garden in 2024, I had essentially zero knowledge of gardening. More than that, I didn’t really understand what the &lt;em&gt;purpose&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; of a public garden was. Was it supposed to be an artistic expression of the gardeners? Provide beauty for the community? Or perhaps offer a refuge from the concrete jungle? How do we choose what sort of plants to plant?&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Over the last two years, through a great deal of reading, conversation, and visits to other gardens, the concepts of “community” and “garden” started to merge. A “community” began to include not just the human garden members, but also the plants, insects, birds, other wildlife, and even the microbes in the soil. At the same time, the “garden” began to include the human gardeners themselves, not as external imposers of will, but as just another part of the ecosystem. The focus was no longer only on &lt;em&gt;which&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; plants and animals and humans are in the garden, but on how they &lt;em&gt;relate&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; to each other spatially, temporally, ecologically, and communally.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In order to provide food and shelter for wildlife, as well as beauty and education for humans, we decided to create a new native plant garden at Green Oasis. Native plants are those plants that are indigenous to the area, which have co-evolved with the local fauna for millions of years.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;pond.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Garden&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;learning&quot;&gt;Learning&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;reading&quot;&gt;Reading&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The first step was to read and learn as much as we could. As amateurs, we had little to no formal training or even practical experience. The following resources were tremendously helpful. &lt;em&gt;Bringing Nature Home&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; explained that the best way to support our local ecosystems is through planting native plants. &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; explained how to combine those native plants into a &lt;em&gt;designed plant community&lt;&#x2F;em&gt; that would be beautiful, resilient, low-maintenance, and full of life.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;resources&quot;&gt;Xerces Society resources&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;guidelines&#x2F;organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment&quot;&gt;Site preparation for wildflower establishment&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;plant-lists&#x2F;native-plants-for-pollinators-and-beneficial-insects-mid-atlantic&quot;&gt;Mid-Atlantic native plant lists&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;static.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;images&#x2F;pagefiles&#x2F;203&#x2F;NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__6787ce9c83f47.pdf&quot;&gt;New York City Native Planting Guide, 4th edition&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;NativePlantGardening&#x2F;&quot;&gt;reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;nativeplantgardening&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;GrowitBuildit (&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;growitbuildit.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;website&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; and &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;@growitbuildit&quot;&gt;YouTube&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;&lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=biPEpjFx6do&quot;&gt;Native Landscape Design and Implementation video&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;observing&quot;&gt;Observing&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Before planting anything, we spent a long time just observing the garden as it is. How does it look in each season? What areas get lots of sun and which are shaded throughout the year? Where does water collect during a heavy rainstorm? What areas are most visited by humans? We tried to identify as many plants, bushes, trees, insects, and birds as possible (iNaturalist, Plant.net, and Merlin smartphone apps help, in addition to standard dichotomous keys). We shared our knowledge and observations with each other, as well as the history of the plants in the garden over the decades. We took hundreds of pictures of the garden as a whole as well as of individual flowers, birds, and insects.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We discovered that the garden struggled with &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;agriculture.ny.gov&#x2F;plant-industry&#x2F;prohibited-and-regulated-invasive-plants&quot;&gt;invasive species&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; such as multiflora rose, porcelainberry, white mulberry, goutweed, and vinca. Different invasive species require different methods of control. For tree saplings or bushes, we decided to remove them immediately if possible. But for groundcover vines such as goutweed and vinca, we realized it was best to plant something in their stead rather than simply removing them.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As a woodland garden, we were quite shady throughout the year as soon as trees leafed out in spring. There were essentially no areas of full sun conditions (over 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;outsidepond.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Shade&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Yet we also found many native plants that did quite well, such as white snakeroot (late-blooming woodland wildflower), Virginia bluebells (spring ephemeral), swamp milkweed, and lady fern. Looking at the site conditions for the plants that already do well was useful during plant selection where we looked for plants that grow in similar circumstances. Moreover, we already had a rich population of wildlife: leaf-cutter bees, green sweat bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, yellowjackets, fireflies, house flies, monarch butterflies, mosquitos, squirrels, rats, robins, bluejays, cardinals, migrating warblers and sparrows, and the occasional Cooper’s Hawk.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;snakeroot.webp&quot; alt=&quot;White snakeroot&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;hawk.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Cooper’s Hawk&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In addition, we visited several other native plant gardens in the area for inspiration and research, including the High Line, the southeast corner of Tompkins Square Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Kingsland Wildflowers, and Seward Park, often several times throughout the year.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;designed-plant-communities&quot;&gt;Designed plant communities&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World discusses the concept of &lt;em&gt;designed plant communities&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;. Plant communities are a way of thinking about a group of plants in a particular place, so we can observe how they interact with each other and with the environment. Like any other type of community, plant communities change over time through processes of ecological succession or disruptions caused by floods, wildfires, or humans. A designed plant community is a plant community that is intentionally created by a garden designer.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As humans, we have certain design goals, such as wanting to maintain visual legibility throughout the year. At the same time, the idea of a designed plant community acknowledges that the planting will evolve throughout the years in ways we may not have predicted. Plants will move around, some may die out, and others may be introduced spontaneously. Our goal is to achieve our design goals but without insisting that the planting remain in stasis indefinitely; we must accept, and celebrate, that the plant community will change. Indeed, while we will make great efforts to select plants that are adapted to the particular site conditions, we can never be perfect. Allowing plant communities to evolve by themselves leads to a resilient garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Of course, resilient and aesthetic plant communities already exist. We need only look at our beautiful meadows, shrublands, and forests. These ecosystems have developed over millions of years under intense competition and environmental stressors. In order to create designed plant communities, we first take inspiration from nature. Planting in a Post-Wild World offers five principles of designed plant communities:&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Relations, not individuals. Thinking about how plants interact and compete with each other is instrumental. For example, while perennials are long-lived but slow-growing, annuals are short-lived but fast-growing. Having a few annuals helps automatically fill in empty spaces when perennials eventually die, before invasive species have the chance to take root.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Choose plants based on the existing site conditions, rather than trying to alter site conditions (such as light exposure, moisture levels, or soil texture) to fit the plants we desire. Changing the environment is usually extremely costly and laborious while not being particularly effective in the long-term.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Plant a dense groundcover layer composed of several species (sometimes called a “green mulch”). Groundcover plants enhance the strength of the planting by suppressing invasive species and retaining soil moisture, which allows us to minimize weeding (which damages the soil structure) and watering (which is time-consuming and costly). Groundcovers do not “take resources” from taller plants because their root systems and leaf morphologies have evolved to complement, rather than compete, with each other.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Design for legibility. For most gardens (especially public-facing ones like a community garden), it is important to convey a sense of intentionality and care. Neat borders and frames work well, in addition to signage explaining the intent behind the planting. If plants grow into pathways, they can be cut back. Plants may need a yearly cutback to maintain legibility (even if this is not ecologically “optimal”).&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Focus on management, not maintenance. A designed plant community tries to minimize routine (often costly and laborious) maintenance tasks such as watering, mulching, spraying and pruning. Instead, we focus on more infrequent, bigger-picture goal-driven management, such as a yearly cut-back, selective additions, or selective removals. This allows us to preserve our design goals while also allowing the planting to evolve by itself.&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The authors describe a four-layer framework to creating designed plant communities.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;ul&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 1: Structural plants are long-lived and offer year-long legibility and clarity (10-15% of the plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 2: Seasonal theme plants are selected to bloom continuously throughout the year, offering pollen and nectar for pollinators and beauty for humans (25-40% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 3: Groundcover plants are low-growing, competitive, clonal-spreading and provide soil fertility, soil structure, erosion control, moisture retention, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, phyto-remediation, and wildlife habitat (50% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;li&gt;Layer 4: Dynamic filler plants are short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding, filling in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasives take over (5-10% of plants)&lt;&#x2F;li&gt; +&lt;&#x2F;ul&gt; +&lt;p&gt;This framework was quite helpful in simplifying an initially daunting task. It is generic, usable in meadow, shrubland, and woodland settings, and is not specific to any one region. Our job is to understand the characteristics of the available plants and assess them for site suitability and arrange them into the four layers. But first, an aside about what it means to garden at a community garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;community-gardens&quot;&gt;Community gardens&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;the-nature-of-community-gardens&quot;&gt;The nature of community gardens&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Community gardens in New York operate in a very different way compared to public parks and private homes. Although the land is generally owned by either the city parks department or a community land trust, the garden is managed and maintained entirely by volunteers (the garden members).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Unlike a city-managed park, we are not mandated to design for public concerns. We are free to design a garden that may be deemed too “untidy” for a park, and we don’t have to design for clear sightlines. On the other hand, often the pathways in community gardens are not accessible to wheelchair users or the elderly, and elements like ponds may not have adequate safety features to protect unattended children.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In the end, it is up to the garden members to create a design that preserves a unique style and artistry, while maintaining legibility and usability for the community we serve. We must do this as amateurs with little professional expertise, and very limited budget and labor resources. Community garden activity fluctuates throughout the years and turnover can be high; there are times when it’s just one or two gardeners maintaining the entire garden. We try to plan for these lulls by creating designs that minimize the need for watering, weeding, and other maintenance.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;In a community garden, vision is not directed from above, but instead created jointly and over time. Without a single designer, gardens often lack a unified and straightforward aesthetic that is preserved throughout the decades. Nevertheless, unity of composition is achieved exactly through the cooperative nature of such communities. Each new gardener brings with them their own unique experiences and style but is always working in conversation with the hundreds of gardeners before them. Consider a wildflower meadow which has developed through individual plant species competing and co-evolving. The meadow might later undergo succession, in which it slowly becomes a deciduous forest—again, without a single designer leading the effort. Out of individuals and relations emerges community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, gardeners disagree about what a community garden should mean. Is the “community” that the garden serves the members of the garden, the surrounding block, all New Yorkers, or anyone who happens to be passing by? Should the garden move towards a style that is formal and manicured, or wild and “overgrown”? Should we focus on food production, ornamental flowers, or wildlife habitat? These concerns are often directly conflicting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Part of being a community gardener is learning to embrace transience and multiplicity. We effect change regarding what matters to us, and we try to convince other garden members of the same. But eventually there will be new community gardeners with new concerns. Our role is to develop a garden that can evolve and adapt over time in ways we cannot predict.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;our-garden&quot;&gt;Our garden&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Green Oasis Community Garden is rather large, as far as New York community gardens go. It is an almost half-acre woodland garden, featuring a covered gazebo, stage, pond, meeting tables and a stone grill. We raise money through membership fees ($25&#x2F;year), donations from the public, donations from event organizers, and grants. The garden is organized into committees such as the gardening committee, events committee, composting committee, and social media committee. Each committee can present a budget request, which is voted on by the entire garden.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Because of the size of our garden, it was okay for us to have a 50 square foot section to run this experiment (although a native plant garden could be as small as 10 square feet). But larger scale changes require buy-in from the garden members voting democratically. Unlike a public park, there is no president or board of directors, and so we must often respond to a multitude of conflicting opinions. A successful small-scale experiment allows us to gain experience and understand the particularities of our own garden, and lets the other garden members slowly get used to new ideas before we can expand our project.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;At the beginning of the 2025 garden season, the gardening committee was given a $800 budget for the year. We decided to allocate $500 towards a native plant garden. However, this decision only came about after much reading, education, knowledge-sharing, debate, and compromise. To many, native plants carry a connotation of being “weedy.” Further, commercial nurseries and the garden industry heavily market exotic ornamentals such that most people are unfamiliar with the very plants that are native to our own soil.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;But we have discovered that genuine excitement is contagious. And when people see a drift of goldenrods ablaze with bumblebees and butterflies, they start to appreciate the kind of garden that is full of life—indeed, the very life that sustains us humans. In New York, ecological garden design has become more popular in the recent years. Public parks such as the High Line, Stuyvesant Cove, Seward Park, and Tompkins Square Park are all embracing native plant gardens for their beauty, ecology, and maintainability. And because of their intentional designs and educational outreach, the public is getting on board as well. We are optimistic that in the near future, the native plants indigenous to our land will no longer seem foreign to us.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h1 id=&quot;planning-and-planting&quot;&gt;Planning and planting&lt;&#x2F;h1&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-selection&quot;&gt;Site selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The best time of year to plant native perennials is in the fall (approximately between September 1 and October 15 in New York City, depending on the weather that year). This allows us to minimize watering and gives the plants the winter to settle in before they start growing next spring.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the site, we chose a partial-sun area in the front of the garden with high visibility. The hope is that it will encourage visitors to learn more about the native plants and how they support wildlife in our garden. Another factor was that this area was initially covered almost entirely in vinca major and vinca minor: we could simply remove everything that was currently there. With rhizomatous invasive species such as vinca, it is very difficult to remove all parts of the rhizome, and even moreso if we have to work around plants we do want to keep (which often hide vinca rhizome fragments in their roots).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-pre.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Initial state of the site&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;soil-testing&quot;&gt;Soil testing&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We obtained a soil test from Brooklyn College’s &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.brooklyn.edu&#x2F;usl&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Urban Soils Lab&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;, which is always a good idea especially in the disturbed urban sites most community gardens are on. You can also do an &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;growitbuildit.com&#x2F;mason-jar-soil-test-clay-sand-silt&#x2F;&quot;&gt;at-home soil texture test&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; using a mason jar and detergent powder.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For a community garden, our soil is pretty decent, with a high percentage (8%) of organic matter and a sandy loam texture. It is a bit alkaline, probably because there used to be a building on the land, but likely not enough to affect plants other than acid-loving blueberries and the like. The soil is also somewhat low in nitrogen&#x2F;phosphorus&#x2F;potassium, but native plants in New York actually prefer relatively nutrient-poor soils (indeed, excessive nitrogen can prove detrimental by promoting invasive growth and foliage overgrowth). Salinity levels were not concerning either.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Because we are growing native plants, we did not find it necessary to amend the soil. We will likely limit future soil treatments to occasionally top-dressing with compost produced by the garden’s composting committee, and of course, leaving the leaves. In fact, the high quality of our soil is likely because we have left the leaves every winter for decades.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-selection&quot;&gt;Plant selection&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;There is unfortunately a dearth of native plant nurseries in New York. The main one is &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gowanuscanalconservancy.org&#x2F;nursery&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Lowlands Nursery&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; in Gowanus, operated by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy as a non-profit.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We estimated that our $500 budget would purchase around 50 plants from Lowlands Nursery. Spacing between plants varies greatly depending on whether one is looking at a vegetable garden, agricultural farm, ornamental flowerbed, or the wild. We’ve followed &lt;em&gt;Planting in a Post-Wild World&lt;&#x2F;em&gt;’s advice by planting densely and underplanting groundcover. For most plants, their size at maturity is about one square foot (one can research spacing for each plant online); so we opted for a one foot spacing throughout the planting in order to minimize bare soil. This means that we could plant an area of approximately 50 square feet.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Using the four-layer framework above, we decided to plant 2 structural plants, 30 groundcover plants, 15 seasonal theme plants, and 5 dynamic filler plants. In addition, because we are a woodland garden, we additionally interspersed 15 spring ephemerals (described below), for a total of 65 plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Lowlands Nursery allows us to filter by various site conditions but we found that all nursery websites are inconsistent with regards to light exposure, moisture needs, and bloom times, which are more complicated than a discrete categorization. It’s best to just research every single plant offered by the nursery, cross-referencing multiple sources. It took a lot of time but was worth it in the end.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the structural layer, we decided to transplant 2 New York ironweeds that were already in the garden. Ironweed has a remarkable structure even when it is not blooming, reaching 6-8 feet tall with a strong silhouette created by clearly defined leaves and seedheads. In the future, we could have used a few more ironweeds to reinforce that structure.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;ironweed.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Ironweed&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the seasonal theme layer, our candidate plants were hairy beardtongue, monarda fistulosa, hoary skullcap, woodland sunflower, sweet goldenrod, hoary mountainmint, monarda didyma, and calico aster. We looked at the bloom calendar for each and decided on three each of the first five plants, which would provide a continuous bloom throughout the year. Having at least three of each plant is important so pollinators don’t have to wander too far to get a full meal.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;goldenrod.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Sweet goldenrod&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For the groundcover layer, our candidate plants were foam flower, creeping phlox, three-leaf stonecrop, Pennsylvania sedge, and rosy sedge. For this planting, the garden committee decided not to use any sedges, so we decided on 13 foam flower, 13 creeping phlox, and 4 three-leaf stonecrop. In future projects, it would be better for us to use a greater biodiversity in this layer. Sedges, ferns, and plants like heuchera, geranium and large-leafed aster are also good groundcover plants for shady areas.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Finally, for the dynamic filler layer, we chose wild columbine.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For woodland ecosystems, there’s actually an additional secret spring ephemeral layer. &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nycgovparks.org&#x2F;learn&#x2F;trees-and-plants&#x2F;native-plants-of-new-york-city-spring-ephemerals&quot;&gt;Spring ephemerals&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; are plants that bloom before forest trees leaf out in early spring and then completely die back in just a few weeks. They’re critical food sources for pollinators awakening from hibernation and unfortunately in decline due to invasive species such as Japanese barberry. Because these spring ephemerals die back so quickly, they don’t really compete with the other plants, allowing us to interplant them without worrying too much about overcrowding the area: another opportunity to add even more biodiversity. We found it very difficult to find spring ephemerals for sale in New York City, and ended up purchasing them online from &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;plantbuyingcollective.com&#x2F;&quot;&gt;Plant Buying Collective&lt;&#x2F;a&gt;. Let us know if you know of a local dealer! Our choices were three each of bloodroot, spring beauty, mayapple, dutchman’s breeches, and trout lily.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;plant-layout&quot;&gt;Plant layout&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For this step, we researched the height of each plant in order to make sure the taller plants don’t shade out the shorter ones. Observe the path of the sun throughout the year; generally, taller plants will shade out plants north of them (though this may not be a problem if those are shade tolerant).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The following graphic was made in Inkscape. We’ve since printed it out and posted it on a signboard near the planting for curious visitors.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;sumacgarden.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Garden plan&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;The placement of structural plants is the most important. Next time, a central cluster of 3-5 New York ironweeds might be better. The exact placement of the structural plants doesn’t matter as much, but we try to create horizontal-ish “drifts” of 3-5 plants. The dynamic filler layer is scattered so the soil’s seed bank evenly fills up with columbine seeds. Finally, groundcover plants are placed to fill in all the gaps; their exact location is determined on planting day. Spring ephemerals can then be interplanted; they don’t need much room.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-preparation&quot;&gt;Site preparation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-pre.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Initial state of the site&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +The area was initially covered almost entirely in non-native vinca and liriope, which are both notoriously difficult to remove. Because vinca is rhizomatous, methods like sheet mulching are not effective. Due to the small scale of the planting, we decided on mechanical removal, and we went out during a rainstorm and weeded the area for 4-5 hours. The rain makes it much easier to ensure we remove all the parts of the plant, as vinca can grow back from just a few inches of remaining rhizome. However, rain also increases the danger of human-induced soil compaction, so we had to be careful to minimize how much we stepped into the bed. Three indispensable tools were a mattock (my love), hori hori knife, a CobraHead weeder, and a garden kneeler. We continued to do a few passes for the next week to catch any remaining roots.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-prepped.webp&quot; alt=&quot;The site after weeding&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;One method of mechanical site preparation is to leave the bed alone at least for a few weeks and up to several months to see what grows back to continue weeding. However, because we are a public-facing community garden and this area was front-and-center, this was infeasible: we needed to minimize the time the site was bare soil. This is another reason why methods like sheet mulching or solarization are difficult in practice at community gardens. In general, the &lt;a rel=&quot;external&quot; href=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;xerces.org&#x2F;publications&#x2F;guidelines&#x2F;organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment&quot;&gt;Xerces Site Preparation guide&lt;&#x2F;a&gt; is invaluable for evaluating site preparation methods.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;A further downside to mechanical removal to this extent is the damage to soil structure by essentially tilling the first few inches of soil. This also brings up dormant weed seeds to the surface, which could overwhelm the planting next spring if we are not diligent about weeding regularly. But in this case, we found no other alternative.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Luckily, the soil was not particularly compacted, which can be an issue especially on urban sites. If it was, we would’ve used a core aerator to aerate the soil (as opposed to more destructive and less effective methods such as tilling).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;buying-the-plants&quot;&gt;Buying the plants&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;As mentioned, we sourced most of the plants from Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus. We e-mailed the nursery to get our 25% discount as a community garden and sales tax exemption as a registered 501(c)(3) organization. A few of us took shopping bags and made the journey on the F train. It was convenient to go by subway (a taxi would be very expensive), but requires bringing several people: plants can’t really be stacked, so there’s a limit on how much one person can carry.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;plants.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Plugs from the nursery&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;For our next planting, we will consider the city-run PECAN nursery (formerly the Greenbelt Center). They only work with government entities (including community gardens), but are almost four times cheaper than Lowlands, offer a wide selection, and collect much of their seed themselves from local wilderness, ensuring biodiversity and a local ecotype. The downside is that it is incredibly inconvenient to get to their Staten Island nursery, and they don’t offer delivery service. If we order from PECAN, we’ll likely ask a fellow gardener with a car to help with transportation (or just rent a car).&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;We purchased columbine online from Prairie Moon Nursery and the spring ephemeral plants online from Plant Buying Collective, though they haven’t arrived yet.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;site-installation&quot;&gt;Site installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Installation is also done in layers. First the structural plants, then seasonal theme plants, dynamic filler plants, and finally groundcover plants to fill in all gaps. Our spring ephemeral plants haven’t arrived yet, but when they do we will intersperse them between the groundcover plants.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-structural.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Structural layer&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-seasonal.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Seasonal theme layout&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;garden-groundcover.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Everything planted&quot; &#x2F;&gt;&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;After all of our efforts in the plant selection and site preparation phases, installation was relatively straightforward. The important thing is to loosen the roots of the saplings and plant at the same height they were at in the container in order to avoid excessively burying or exposing the plant crown. Next time, we will try using an auger drill attachment, but it wasn’t necessary this time for such a small planting.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;h2 id=&quot;post-installation&quot;&gt;Post-installation&lt;&#x2F;h2&gt; +&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;urbanecologycollective.org&#x2F;blog&#x2F;native-plant-garden&#x2F;cardinal.webp&quot; alt=&quot;A cardinal cheering us on&quot; &#x2F;&gt; +One great benefit of planting in the fall is that we don’t have to water that much (especially because it is a shady area). We gave the site a very thorough initial watering and again every few days for two weeks. Now, we water as necessary only if the soil is dried out. Hopefully by next year, the plants will be healthy enough to not need watering except in drought conditions.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Our most important task for the next year is regular and thorough weeding, at least every few weeks. Other than that, we can think about higher level concerns. Are the groundcovers filling in nicely, or do they need to be supplemented? Are the flowers providing continuous bloom throughout the year or does the composition need to be amended? In a few years, we can consider whether we need to do a cutback in spring to preserve visual legibility (however, we’ll try to leave it alone if possible in order to preserve wildlife habitat). We will be sure to observe our visiting bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators and wildlife, as well as create more educational material to share our work and learnings with the community.&lt;&#x2F;p&gt; +&lt;p&gt;Any questions or comments can be emailed to surya at modalduality dot org. If you’re ever in the New York area, come visit us at Green Oasis Community Garden in the East Village! 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b/public/blog/little-forest-floor/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,458 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> + <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> + + <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/rss.xml"> + + <title>ecoblog | A Little Forest Floor in a Raised Bed</title> + + <link rel="preload" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css" as="style"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/reset.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/suCSS.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/custom.css"> + + <!-- Add favicon with appropriate sizes --> + <link rel="icon" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/favicon.ico"> + + </head> + <body> + + + + + <nav id="nav-bar"> + + <a href="/" class=""> + + home + </a> + + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/wiki" class=""> + + wiki + </a> + + </nav> + + <main> + +<article class="post"> + <header class="post-header"> + + <time datetime="2025-12-01">Published on: + <span class="accent-data">2025-12-01</span> + </time> + + + + <address rel="author">By + <span class="accent-data">surya</span> + </address> + + + <h1>A Little Forest Floor in a Raised Bed</h1> + </header> + + +<div class="toc-container"> + <h2>Table of contents</h2> + <ul> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#raised-beds-at-green-oasis">Raised beds at Green Oasis</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#soft-landings">Soft landings</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#a-little-forest-floor">A little forest floor</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#plant-selection">Plant selection</a> + + <ul> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#structural-layer">Structural layer</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#seasonal-theme-layer">Seasonal theme layer</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#groundcover-layer">Groundcover layer</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#dynamic-filler-layer">Dynamic filler layer</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#spring-ephemeral-layer">Spring ephemeral layer</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#on-plant-selection">On plant selection</a></li> + + </ul> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#plant-layout">Plant layout</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#plant-acquisition">Plant acquisition</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#site-preparation">Site preparation</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#site-installation">Site installation</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#post-installation">Post-installation</a> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/#a-sign-of-the-times">A sign of the times</a> + + </li> + + </ul> +</div> + + + <div class="post-content"> + <p>New York is home to over 550 community gardens, each with their own unique +history, land, and culture. Some focus on food production, some host +art and theatrical events, some serve as a hub for the neighborhood, and still +others create ecologically resilient wildlife habitat. In one +sense, these are all different aspects of the same goal: stewarding a healthy +ecosystem for the local multi-species community.</p> +<p>Communities are shaped by their particular environment. During the New York +financial crisis of the 1970s, property owners in the Lower East Side burned +down and abandoned their apartment buildings, leaving behind a pile of rubble +and not much else. Local residents cleaned up the lot, shovel by shovel, and +created spaces to grow food and for their children to play. Other community +gardens were started by an organization such as the New York Restoration +Project, which cleaned up an illegal dumping ground along Harlem River to +create Swindler Cove. Swindler Cove now contains restored wetlands, native +plantings, and a children’s garden.</p> +<p>Our work as community gardeners is informed by both the history of the land and +the history of the people in the neighborhood. And as both are apt to change +over time, we must be flexible and adapt to a changing environment.</p> +<p>Twenty years ago, Green Oasis Community Garden received ample sunlight, and the +raised beds were replete with tomatoes, basil, and strawberries. At the same +time, the trees that were planted when the garden was founded in 1981 were +starting to mature and grow larger. These days, Green Oasis has a high level of +canopy coverage casting shade throughout the garden, making it impractical +to grow fruits and vegetables.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/shade.jpg" alt="A shady garden" /></p> +<p>The changes at Green Oasis resemble the natural process of ecological succession. +In the Eastern Temperate Forests ecoregion of North America, land left to its +own devices will be first occupied by grasses, herbs, and shrubs. At this +point, shade-intolerant evergreens such as eastern white pine start to grow larger +and shade out the previously growing herbs, and at the same time, create +habitat for shade-tolerant plants such as Pennsylvania sedge. Finally, +shade-tolerant hardwoods such as white oak and shagbark hickory grow and shade +out the pine trees. Perhaps later, a wildfire or human activity will reset the +cycle back to the beginning.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/succession.png" alt="Ecological succession" /> +<em>University of Chicago newsroom</em></p> +<p>Ecological communities, like human communities, are always changing and +adapting to the changing environment. It is true that humans have the ability +to change the local environment, and do so in an ecologically sound manner. For +example, in <em>The Mushroom at the End of the World</em>, Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing +describes how matsutake (lit. <em>pine mushroom</em>) farmers in Japan use the ancient +coppicing technique to indefinitely maintain a pine forest where matsutakes +grow well. At the same time, we must acknowledge that each kind of environment has +its own advantages and provides habitat to different kinds of flora and fauna +(including humans).</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/scoliid.jpg" alt="A scoliid wasp" /></p> +<p>While a forest ecosystem is not suited to growing traditional community +gardening crops, they are perfect for growing +mushrooms, leafy greens, and pawpaws. And remember that food production is only +one aspect of a community garden. A shady garden reduces the urban heat island +effect, providing humans a (free) respite from increasing temperatures. A dense +forest of trees filters air pollution and reduces flooding by absorbing +stormwater. Of course, a forest ecosystem is home to countless kinds of +ferns, sedges, spring ephemerals, asters & goldenrods, insects, birds and mammals.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/art.jpeg" alt="An art show at Green Oasis" /></p> +<p>As community gardeners, our first instinct may be to prune +large tree branches and bring more sunlight to our raised beds. But an +alternate path exists. What if we embraced the natural process of ecological +succession, accepting change and the passage of time? We can fondly remember +the times when we could readily grow vegetables and fruits, and also look +towards the exciting opportunities now available to us in a forest ecosystem. +And there are always other gardens that are suitable for larger-scale food +production: for example, <a rel="external" href="https://www.grownyc.org/gardens/bk/mccarren-park">McCarren Demo +Garden</a> in Brooklyn, which +donates their produce to local community fridges.</p> +<p>In an ecosystem, the environment (climate, precipitation, sunlight, soil type) +shapes the interactions between the fauna and the flora. Part of being a member +of an ecological community is learning to work <em>with</em> the environment rather than +against it. If we reduce our dependence on constant prunings, regular +watering, laborious weeding, and expensive fertilizers, we can create a more reliable, sustainable, and resilient garden.</p> +<h2 id="raised-beds-at-green-oasis">Raised beds at Green Oasis</h2> +<p>Green Oasis is a large community garden, almost half an acre. Most of the +garden’s plantable areas are communally stewarded grounds full of grasses, +herbs, shrubs, and trees. In addition, we have around 20 raised beds. Most are +allocated to individual garden members; one is used as a community medicinal +herb garden. Some garden members grow shade-tolerant produce such as kale, +chili peppers, and shiso, while others grow an assortment of wildflowers.</p> +<p>Raised beds can be thought of as a opportunity for gardeners to exhibit an +artistic design suited to their unique sense of aesthetics. One +gardener’s raised bed is a microcosm of the ecosystem at Marine Park in +Brooklyn, containing the plants local to that area, as well as found objects +such as broken tiles and lamps. Another gardener plants her favorite ornamental +flowers and includes bee baths made out of a branch and artfully arranged +bottlecaps.</p> +<h2 id="soft-landings">Soft landings</h2> +<p>As a woodland garden, Green Oasis is home to many trees, both +native and introduced. Native trees specifically are hosts to an incredible +variety of insects, many of which are adapted specifically to only eat the +leaves of one type of tree. After feeding on the tree foliage, caterpillars +travel to the leaf litter below the host tree in order to pupate and +overwinter. If those trees are underplanted with mowed turfgrass, caterpillars +will lack the habitat to complete their lifecycle. As described by Heather +Holm, <a rel="external" href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/7942b55334b349098718a834b6c0503e">soft landings</a> +are safe, undisturbed plantings of native grasses, ferns, and forbs under host +trees. Soft landings provide food and shelter, allowing butterflies, moths, and many +other insects to pupate and survive the winter.</p> +<p>At Green Oasis, we have two large littleleaf linden (American basswood) trees, +which are hosts to over 150 species of caterpillars. Currently, these lindens +are on beds of vinca, an invasive vine. We have the opportunity to do much +better. We wanted to create a beautiful, resilient, and low-maintenance forest +floor that would allow our butterflies and moths to thrive in every stage of +their lifecycle.</p> +<p>However, as beginner gardeners, we weren’t sure what kinds of native plants +would work best in our garden. While online resources list the preferred light +exposure and moisture requirements for each plant, growth patterns depend +greatly on the specific location. What sedges grow best in dappled morning +light? Can a large fern be underplanted with Pennsylvania sedge? What selection +of flowers will ensure continuous blooms throughout the year in our particular +climate? To answer these questions, we decided to make an experiment: a little +forest floor in a raised bed. It’s important to remember that a raised bed is +not the same as the the ground in the garden; in particular, the soil is +completely different. Still, we believe this exercise will be useful, and the +bed will be ecologically beneficial in its own right.</p> +<h2 id="a-little-forest-floor">A little forest floor</h2> +<p>Our goal for our raised bed was to create a planting that is reminiscent of a +typical New York mature forest floor. We were interested in creating visual +interest through texture and varying heights, rather than focusing on flowers +and color (as is typical of the English gardening tradition). Our design +emphasizes sedges and grasses, which are sometimes considered “uninteresting” +or “filler” plants. Instead of choosing “the most beautiful” plants at the +nursery, we started with the axiom that all plants are inherently beautiful, +and asked ourselves how we could understand each plant’s individual beauty and +how to create an composition that remains ecologically and aesthetically +beautiful throughout the year.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/carexsprengelii.jpg" alt="Carex sprengelii" /> +<em>Mt. Cuba Center</em></p> +<p>While flowers do provide pollen and nectar, insects also need <em>habitat</em>. Sedges +and grasses create dense mats where pollinators and other insects can shelter +and over-winter, while also protecting against the introduction invasive species. They are also crucial in reducing soil erosion and +absorbing stormwater.</p> +<p>In a previous blogpost, we wrote about the <a href="/blog/native-plant-garden/">design process for our first native plant garden</a>, which +was largely inspired by reading <em>Planting in a Post-Wild World</em> by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. +It focuses on the idea of designed plant communities and a relational approach to +garden design, which we’ll refer to below. Briefly, we focus on how the different plants relate to each other, both aesthetically and ecologically. For example, the idea of planting a soft landing under a native tree, or surrounding tall flowers with a diversity of groundcover plants.</p> +<h2 id="plant-selection">Plant selection</h2> +<p>We used the <a rel="external" href="https://www.nycgovparks.org/pagefiles/203/NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__679cf96177b6b.pdf">New York City Native Planting Guide</a> to understand the different +kinds of upland forest ecosystems in New York (such as mixed oak-hickory forest +and rich mesophytic forest), and the plants that are typical to those +ecosystems. It also offers excellent guidance on planting in altered urban lots +such as most community gardens.</p> +<p>From the catalogs at our local native plant nurseries, we filtered for the +shade-tolerant and dry-to-medium moisture, drought-tolerant offerings in order +to decide what to plant.</p> +<h3 id="structural-layer">Structural layer</h3> +<p>The structural layer consists of long-lived plants +providing year-long structure and clarity of form. We chose bottlebrush grass (<em>Elymus hystrix</em>), +slender woodoats (<em>Chasmanthium laxum</em>), eastern woodland sedge (<em>Carex blanda</em>), and interrupted fern (<em>Osmunda claytonia</em>).</p> +<p>Bottlebrush grass is a cool-season grass (meaning that it grows actively in the +spring and fall), features spectacular seedheads and is the host for the +northern pearly eye butterfly.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/bottlebrush.jpg" alt="Bottlebrush" /> +<em>mowildflowers.net</em></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/pearlyeye.jpg" alt="Pearly eye" /> +<em>Illinois Department of Natural Resources</em></p> +<p>Slender woodoats is a warm-season grass, growing actively in the summer, and +features staccato, delicate seedheads, and is the host for various skipper +butterflies. Both grasses’ seeds are an important food source for birds.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/slenderwoodoats.jpg" alt="Slender woodoats" /> +<em>Gowanus Canal Conservancy</em></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/cloudedskipper.jpg" alt="Clouded skipper" /> +<em>Gary L. Spicer</em></p> +<p>Eastern woodland sedge is a large, clumping evergreen sedge, resilient to a wide variety of environmental conditions.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/carexblanda.jpg" alt="Carex blanda" /> +<em>Mt. Cuba Center</em></p> +<p>Finally, interrupted fern is a large fern with prominent fiddleheads and a unique texture.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/interruptedfern.jpg" alt="Interrupted fern" /> +<em>James St. John</em></p> +<h3 id="seasonal-theme-layer">Seasonal theme layer</h3> +<p>While flowers were not the main visual focus of our design, they are still important aesthetically as well as for pollinators. +We were interested in flowers that are not usually considered “ornamental,” but provided outsized benefit to insects. +We chose spiderwort (<em>Tradescantia virginiana</em>), slender mountainmint (<em>Pycnanthemum tenuifolium</em>), late figwort (<em>Scrophularia marilandica</em>), and white wood aster (<em>Eurybia divaricata</em>), a selection that ensures blooms throughout the year.</p> +<p>Spiderwort produces purple flowers in spring. They only bloom for one day, but the plant has so many buds the blooms are continuous. They provide abundant nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds, as well as pollen for bumblebees, little carpenter bees, and sweat bees. The leaves of spiderwort are remarkably grass-like, adding to the overall visual effect of the planting.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/spiderwort.webp" alt="Spiderwort" /> +<em>theplantnative.com</em></p> +<p>Slender mountainmint produces small but showy white flowers in the summer and is a veritable magnet for bees and butterflies. It features a strong mint aroma.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/slendermountainmint.jpg" alt="Slender mountainmint" /> +<em>nativeplantsasheville.com</em></p> +<p>Late figwort produces small red cup-shaped flowers in the summer that are full of nectar for leaf-cutter bees, sweat bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and ruby-throated hummingbirds.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/latefigwort.jpg" alt="Late figwort" /> +<em>NC State Extension</em></p> +<p>Finally, white wood aster produces white daisy-like flowers in the fall, providing pollen and nectar to insects at a time when little food is otherwise available. The seedheads are also an important food source for birds through the winter.</p> +<p>In a deciduous forest, the summer is characterized by intense shade, making it so few flowers can grow. Therefore, plants that bloom in the early spring (we will discuss spring ephemerals below) and fall, such as asters and goldenrods, are critical components of the ecosystem. Forest insects have co-evolved with the flowers and wake up from hibernation at the same time their preferred flowers are in bloom.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/whitewoodaster.jpg" alt="White wood aster" /> +<em>Wild Seed Project</em></p> +<h3 id="groundcover-layer">Groundcover layer</h3> +<p>The groundcover layer consists of competitive and clonal-spreading plants that provide soil fertility and structure, erosion control, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, biodiversity, pollutant uptake, moisture retention, and wildlife habitat. We chose a variety of sedges and ferns for this layer: field oval sedge (<em>Carex molesta</em>), long-beaked sedge (<em>Carex sprengelii</em>), Pennsylvania sedge (<em>Carex pensylvanica</em>), low woodland sedge (<em>Carex socialis</em>), eastern narrow-leaved sedge (<em>Carex amphibola</em>), rosy sedge (<em>Carex rosea</em>), Christmas fern (<em>Polystichum acrostichoides</em>), and broad beech fern (<em>Phegopteris hexagonoptera</em>). The large number of species is to maximize the biodiversity, but also act as an experiment to see which ones do well and which do poorly. Below, broad beech fern and Pennsylvania sedge are pictured.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/broadbeechfern.jpg" alt="Broad beech fern" /> +<em>Katja Schulz</em></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/carexpensylvanica.jpg" alt="Carex pensylvanica" /> +<em>Mt. Cuba Center</em></p> +<h3 id="dynamic-filler-layer">Dynamic filler layer</h3> +<p>The dynamic filler layer consists of short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding plants that fill in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasive species take over. We chose Jacob’s ladder (<em>Polemonium reptans</em>), which has blue flowers in spring that are a favorite of many native bee species.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/jacobsladder.jpg" alt="Jacob’s ladder" /> +<em>Ryan Kaldari</em></p> +<h3 id="spring-ephemeral-layer">Spring ephemeral layer</h3> +<p>In forests, spring ephemerals flowers bloom before trees leaf out in the spring and then die back completely when summer starts and the garden becomes shady, reappearing the next year. They are critical food sources for many kinds of insects, and are unfortunately in danger due to the proliferation of invasive species in New York. For this layer, we chose bloodroot (<em>Sanguinaria canadensis</em>), trout lily (<em>Erythronium americanum</em>), Dutchman’s breeches (<em>Dicentra cucullaria</em>), spring beauty (<em>Claytonia virginica</em>), and mayapple (<em>Podophyllum peltatum</em>). Below, Dutchman’s breeches and mayapple are pictured.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/dutchmansbreeches.jpg" alt="Dutchman’s breeches" /> +<em>NYC Parks</em></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/mayapple.jpg" alt="Mayapple" /> +<em>Jay Sturner</em></p> +<p>Bloodroot is a pollen source for early-season native insects such as sweat bees, cuckoo bees, small carpenter bees, bee flies, mining bees, and beetles. It is used as a red natural dye by Native American artists.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/bloodroot.jpg" alt="Bloodroot" /> +<em>NYC Parks</em></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/bloodrootdye.jpg" alt="Bloodroot dye" /> +<em>ithacawaldorf.blogspot.com</em></p> +<h3 id="on-plant-selection">On plant selection</h3> +<p>Although we tried to choose plants with properties suitable for the different +layers as described by Rainer and West, plants do not fit so neatly into +human-created categories. We were not always able to find a plant that +satisfied all of the properties, both because of the small selection available +to non-professional gardeners, and also because plants exist on a spectrum in +terms of longevity, aggressiveness, structure, and so on, all of which are +impacted by the particular local conditions.</p> +<p>For example, some native plants are labeled as “aggressive.” This can be good +in the sense that they form a groundcover that suppress invasive species, or +bad because they outcompete all the other native plants in the area. It is hard +to know a priori what will be <em>too</em> aggressive (or perhaps not aggressive +enough). Similarly, online resources disagree on whether interrupted fern is +long-lived, making it unclear whether we should use it in the structural layer. +In the end, the particular site conditions have an enormous influence and it is +impossible to predict the exact behavior of plants beforehand. We expect that +not everything will go according to plan and we will need to make changes in +the future.</p> +<h2 id="plant-layout">Plant layout</h2> +<p>The raised bed is 8 feet by 3.5 feet, for a total of 28 square feet. We planted in staggered rows to maximize the planting space (and minimize bare soil), as shown below. This diagram uses the diameter of the circle to represent a plant’s projected maximum breadth, which is useful when planning out the layout. Most are given a 1’ diameter circle. Approximate expected heights are listed as well. Pennsylvania sedge underplants the large interrupted fern as well as in tight spots.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/forestfloor.png" alt="Forest floor diagram" /></p> +<p>The structural plants are placed first at prominent locations. Drifts of seasonal theme plants are interspersed throughout, then groundcover and dynamic filler plants are used to fill in all the gaps. Because they don’t directly compete with other plants, spring ephemerals are scattered throughout (we planted 2 of each). We tended to place taller plants on the north side so as not to shade out shorter plants, but as all the plants are shade-tolerant anyway, this was not a primary consideration.</p> +<h2 id="plant-acquisition">Plant acquisition</h2> +<p>We acquired plants from the city-run <a rel="external" href="https://www.nycgovparks.org/natural-resources/pecan">PECAN</a> nursery, the <a rel="external" href="https://nbkparks.org/">North Brooklyn Parks Alliance</a> native plant giveaway, <a rel="external" href="https://plantbuyingcollective.com/">Plant Buying Collective</a>, <a rel="external" href="https://gowanuscanalconservancy.org/nursery/">Lowlands Nursery</a>, and the <a rel="external" href="https://www.kingslandwildflowers.com/">Kingsland Wildflowers</a> nursery.</p> +<p>In general, forest ecosystem natives are hard to come by even at native plant +nurseries, especially for hard-to-grow species like sedges, ferns, and spring +ephemerals. We were grateful to find nurseries that recognized the important +ecological value of these plants.</p> +<p>The NYC Parks Plant Ecology Center and Nursery (PECAN) in Staten Island has a +wide selection of native plants, including various sedges and ferns. They only +work with city-affiliated organizations, and the plants they grow for +ecological restoration projects are also suitable for community gardens. PECAN +ethically sources all of their seed from within 100 miles of New York. Even +within a particular species of plant, genetic material varies considerably, and +plants that are sourced locally are most well adapted to local insects. In +general, it is extremely difficult to find nurseries that even mention the +ecotype of their offerings, so PECAN is an invaluable resource in this regard. +Additionally, PECAN is quite affordable, selling most plugs for $2.50, whereas +other nurseries might charge up to $10.</p> +<p>Ordering from PECAN is not straightforward; there is no readily accessible +online catalog. First, email the address on the PECAN website, and they will +send back an order intake form where you can input your project details. They +will send you a spreadsheet with the current inventory and you can make +selections from there. Be quick, because inventory changes rapidly. Finally, +you can arrange a pickup time at the nursery. PECAN does not deliver, and it is +inconvenient to get to the nursery by public transit. We took the ferry from +Battery Park to Staten Island, and then the S62 bus to Victory Blvd/Baron +Blvd. We are planning to place a much larger order next year, and will likely +rent a car or truck for transport.</p> +<p>This year, the North Brooklyn Parks Alliance ran a native plant giveaway at +Under the K Bridge Park in September and October, giving away over 10,000 +plants for free (we found out on the <a rel="external" href="https://www.nycpollinators.org/">NYC Pollinator Working +Group</a> mailing list). Their selection was +excellent, covering a wide range of site conditions and including grasses and +rarer plants such as late figwort. The nursery operator was incredibly kind and +helpful when we visited. If they repeat the giveaway next year, be sure to +check it out.</p> +<p>We purchased spring ephemerals online from Plant Buying Collective. We +placed the order in September and the plants were delivered in November +as bare roots, rhizomes, or corms. We were unable to find a local source for spring +ephemerals, but purchasing from Plant Buying Collective was straightforward and +affordable.</p> +<p>We also got a few plants at Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus as well as the nursery +at Kingsland Wildflowers in Greenpoint. Both have excellent volunteer programs +for those who are interested in learning some nursery skills.</p> +<h2 id="site-preparation">Site preparation</h2> +<p>This raised bed didn’t need much preparation. The soil level was topped off +with soil from a local garden store. Before planting, we briefly watered the +soil so it could settle a bit.</p> +<h2 id="site-installation">Site installation</h2> +<p>Installation, like layout, occurs by layer. We first planted the structural +layer, then the seasonal theme layer, filled in any gaps with the groundcover and +dynamic filler layers, and finally, interspersed the spring ephemerals. The +placement of the structural layer is most critical; after that, it is better to +place the other plants more freely, using the layout as an approximate guide +rather than an exact specification. We planted in late September. Fall planting is +ideal for native plants because it reduces the need for watering and allows the +plants to settle in over the winter before starting to grow next spring.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/littleforestfloor.jpg" alt="Little forest floor" /></p> +<h2 id="post-installation">Post-installation</h2> +<p>We watered the plants thoroughly after the inital installation, and then kept +watering for a few weeks. The weather got cold quite quickly, so we have paused +watering until the spring. We expect to need to water occasionally for the +first year or so, and then the plants should be mature enough to not need +watering unless in extreme drought conditions. One issue we had was the +disappearance of a white wood aster, presumably due to a squirrel or rat. We +have found that they often like to dig up newly planted young plants, though +they don’t usually eat them or carry them away. In the future, it could make +sense to encircle young plants with hardware cloth for a few weeks while they +get established.</p> +<h2 id="a-sign-of-the-times">A sign of the times</h2> +<p>One of my favorite parts of living in New York is getting to visit other +community gardens and learning from their efforts. Hand painted signs are a +common sight, identifying different areas of the garden, the plantings in +raised beds, instructions for composting, and more. These signs are important +as a marker of human activity and creative expression.</p> +<p>For our raised bed, we made a sign by sanding and oiling a piece of scrap wood, +then painting with a brush and calligraphy ink. Beneath the sign is an NFC tag +that links to this blog post. We hope that visitors appreciate the ecological +and artistic intent of our little forest floor in a raised bed.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/little-forest-floor/littleforestfloorsign.jpg" alt="Little forest floor sign" /></p> + + </div> + + +</article> + + </main> + + <footer> + <!-- <hr> --> +<!-- <div id="footer-container"> --> +<!-- <p>Made using <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Speyll/anemone">anemone</a> Zola theme</p> --> +<!-- </div> --> + + </footer> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/public/blog/little-forest-floor/interruptedfern.jpg b/public/blog/little-forest-floor/interruptedfern.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e473d12 --- /dev/null +++ b/public/blog/little-forest-floor/interruptedfern.jpg diff --git a/public/blog/little-forest-floor/jacobsladder.jpg b/public/blog/little-forest-floor/jacobsladder.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..37c874f --- /dev/null +++ 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href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#observing">Observing</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#designed-plant-communities">Designed plant communities</a></li> + + </ul> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#community-gardens">Community gardens</a> + + <ul> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#the-nature-of-community-gardens">The nature of community gardens</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#our-garden">Our garden</a></li> + + </ul> + + </li> + + <li> + <a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#planning-and-planting">Planning and planting</a> + + <ul> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#site-selection">Site selection</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#soil-testing">Soil testing</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#plant-selection">Plant selection</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#plant-layout">Plant layout</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#site-preparation">Site preparation</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#buying-the-plants">Buying the plants</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#site-installation">Site installation</a></li> + + <li><a href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/#post-installation">Post-installation</a></li> + + </ul> + + </li> + + </ul> +</div> + + + <div class="post-content"> + <p>When I first joined Green Oasis Community Garden in 2024, I had essentially zero knowledge of gardening. More than that, I didn’t really understand what the <em>purpose</em> of a public garden was. Was it supposed to be an artistic expression of the gardeners? Provide beauty for the community? Or perhaps offer a refuge from the concrete jungle? How do we choose what sort of plants to plant?</p> +<p>Over the last two years, through a great deal of reading, conversation, and visits to other gardens, the concepts of “community” and “garden” started to merge. A “community” began to include not just the human garden members, but also the plants, insects, birds, other wildlife, and even the microbes in the soil. At the same time, the “garden” began to include the human gardeners themselves, not as external imposers of will, but as just another part of the ecosystem. The focus was no longer only on <em>which</em> plants and animals and humans are in the garden, but on how they <em>relate</em> to each other spatially, temporally, ecologically, and communally.</p> +<p>In order to provide food and shelter for wildlife, as well as beauty and education for humans, we decided to create a new native plant garden at Green Oasis. Native plants are those plants that are indigenous to the area, which have co-evolved with the local fauna for millions of years.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/pond.webp" alt="Garden" /></p> +<h1 id="learning">Learning</h1> +<h2 id="reading">Reading</h2> +<p>The first step was to read and learn as much as we could. As amateurs, we had little to no formal training or even practical experience. The following resources were tremendously helpful. <em>Bringing Nature Home</em> explained that the best way to support our local ecosystems is through planting native plants. <em>Planting in a Post-Wild World</em> explained how to combine those native plants into a <em>designed plant community</em> that would be beautiful, resilient, low-maintenance, and full of life.</p> +<ul> +<li>Bringing Nature Home by Douglas Tallamy</li> +<li>Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West</li> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://xerces.org/resources">Xerces Society resources</a> +<ul> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://xerces.org/publications/guidelines/organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment">Site preparation for wildflower establishment</a></li> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://xerces.org/publications/plant-lists/native-plants-for-pollinators-and-beneficial-insects-mid-atlantic">Mid-Atlantic native plant lists</a></li> +</ul> +</li> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://static.nycgovparks.org/images/pagefiles/203/NYC-Parks-Native-Species-Planting-Guide-4th-Edition__6787ce9c83f47.pdf">New York City Native Planting Guide, 4th edition</a></li> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/NativePlantGardening/">reddit.com/r/nativeplantgardening</a></li> +<li>GrowitBuildit (<a rel="external" href="https://growitbuildit.com/">website</a> and <a rel="external" href="https://www.youtube.com/@growitbuildit">YouTube</a>)</li> +<li><a rel="external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biPEpjFx6do">Native Landscape Design and Implementation video</a></li> +<li>The Bees in Your Backyard by Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril</li> +</ul> +<h2 id="observing">Observing</h2> +<p>Before planting anything, we spent a long time just observing the garden as it is. How does it look in each season? What areas get lots of sun and which are shaded throughout the year? Where does water collect during a heavy rainstorm? What areas are most visited by humans? We tried to identify as many plants, bushes, trees, insects, and birds as possible (iNaturalist, Plant.net, and Merlin smartphone apps help, in addition to standard dichotomous keys). We shared our knowledge and observations with each other, as well as the history of the plants in the garden over the decades. We took hundreds of pictures of the garden as a whole as well as of individual flowers, birds, and insects.</p> +<p>We discovered that the garden struggled with <a rel="external" href="https://agriculture.ny.gov/plant-industry/prohibited-and-regulated-invasive-plants">invasive species</a> such as multiflora rose, porcelainberry, white mulberry, goutweed, and vinca. Different invasive species require different methods of control. For tree saplings or bushes, we decided to remove them immediately if possible. But for groundcover vines such as goutweed and vinca, we realized it was best to plant something in their stead rather than simply removing them.</p> +<p>As a woodland garden, we were quite shady throughout the year as soon as trees leafed out in spring. There were essentially no areas of full sun conditions (over 6 hours of direct sunlight per day).</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/outsidepond.webp" alt="Shade" /></p> +<p>Yet we also found many native plants that did quite well, such as white snakeroot (late-blooming woodland wildflower), Virginia bluebells (spring ephemeral), swamp milkweed, and lady fern. Looking at the site conditions for the plants that already do well was useful during plant selection where we looked for plants that grow in similar circumstances. Moreover, we already had a rich population of wildlife: leaf-cutter bees, green sweat bees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, yellowjackets, fireflies, house flies, monarch butterflies, mosquitos, squirrels, rats, robins, bluejays, cardinals, migrating warblers and sparrows, and the occasional Cooper’s Hawk.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/snakeroot.webp" alt="White snakeroot" /></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/hawk.webp" alt="Cooper’s Hawk" /></p> +<p>In addition, we visited several other native plant gardens in the area for inspiration and research, including the High Line, the southeast corner of Tompkins Square Park, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, New York Botanical Garden, Kingsland Wildflowers, and Seward Park, often several times throughout the year.</p> +<h2 id="designed-plant-communities">Designed plant communities</h2> +<p>Planting in a Post-Wild World discusses the concept of <em>designed plant communities</em>. Plant communities are a way of thinking about a group of plants in a particular place, so we can observe how they interact with each other and with the environment. Like any other type of community, plant communities change over time through processes of ecological succession or disruptions caused by floods, wildfires, or humans. A designed plant community is a plant community that is intentionally created by a garden designer.</p> +<p>As humans, we have certain design goals, such as wanting to maintain visual legibility throughout the year. At the same time, the idea of a designed plant community acknowledges that the planting will evolve throughout the years in ways we may not have predicted. Plants will move around, some may die out, and others may be introduced spontaneously. Our goal is to achieve our design goals but without insisting that the planting remain in stasis indefinitely; we must accept, and celebrate, that the plant community will change. Indeed, while we will make great efforts to select plants that are adapted to the particular site conditions, we can never be perfect. Allowing plant communities to evolve by themselves leads to a resilient garden.</p> +<p>Of course, resilient and aesthetic plant communities already exist. We need only look at our beautiful meadows, shrublands, and forests. These ecosystems have developed over millions of years under intense competition and environmental stressors. In order to create designed plant communities, we first take inspiration from nature. Planting in a Post-Wild World offers five principles of designed plant communities:</p> +<ul> +<li>Relations, not individuals. Thinking about how plants interact and compete with each other is instrumental. For example, while perennials are long-lived but slow-growing, annuals are short-lived but fast-growing. Having a few annuals helps automatically fill in empty spaces when perennials eventually die, before invasive species have the chance to take root.</li> +<li>Choose plants based on the existing site conditions, rather than trying to alter site conditions (such as light exposure, moisture levels, or soil texture) to fit the plants we desire. Changing the environment is usually extremely costly and laborious while not being particularly effective in the long-term.</li> +<li>Plant a dense groundcover layer composed of several species (sometimes called a “green mulch”). Groundcover plants enhance the strength of the planting by suppressing invasive species and retaining soil moisture, which allows us to minimize weeding (which damages the soil structure) and watering (which is time-consuming and costly). Groundcovers do not “take resources” from taller plants because their root systems and leaf morphologies have evolved to complement, rather than compete, with each other.</li> +<li>Design for legibility. For most gardens (especially public-facing ones like a community garden), it is important to convey a sense of intentionality and care. Neat borders and frames work well, in addition to signage explaining the intent behind the planting. If plants grow into pathways, they can be cut back. Plants may need a yearly cutback to maintain legibility (even if this is not ecologically “optimal”).</li> +<li>Focus on management, not maintenance. A designed plant community tries to minimize routine (often costly and laborious) maintenance tasks such as watering, mulching, spraying and pruning. Instead, we focus on more infrequent, bigger-picture goal-driven management, such as a yearly cut-back, selective additions, or selective removals. This allows us to preserve our design goals while also allowing the planting to evolve by itself.</li> +</ul> +<p>The authors describe a four-layer framework to creating designed plant communities.</p> +<ul> +<li>Layer 1: Structural plants are long-lived and offer year-long legibility and clarity (10-15% of the plants)</li> +<li>Layer 2: Seasonal theme plants are selected to bloom continuously throughout the year, offering pollen and nectar for pollinators and beauty for humans (25-40% of plants)</li> +<li>Layer 3: Groundcover plants are low-growing, competitive, clonal-spreading and provide soil fertility, soil structure, erosion control, moisture retention, stormwater capture, invasive species suppression, phyto-remediation, and wildlife habitat (50% of plants)</li> +<li>Layer 4: Dynamic filler plants are short-lived but fast-growing and readily self-seeding, filling in gaps left by disturbances or plant deaths before invasives take over (5-10% of plants)</li> +</ul> +<p>This framework was quite helpful in simplifying an initially daunting task. It is generic, usable in meadow, shrubland, and woodland settings, and is not specific to any one region. Our job is to understand the characteristics of the available plants and assess them for site suitability and arrange them into the four layers. But first, an aside about what it means to garden at a community garden.</p> +<h1 id="community-gardens">Community gardens</h1> +<h2 id="the-nature-of-community-gardens">The nature of community gardens</h2> +<p>Community gardens in New York operate in a very different way compared to public parks and private homes. Although the land is generally owned by either the city parks department or a community land trust, the garden is managed and maintained entirely by volunteers (the garden members).</p> +<p>Unlike a city-managed park, we are not mandated to design for public concerns. We are free to design a garden that may be deemed too “untidy” for a park, and we don’t have to design for clear sightlines. On the other hand, often the pathways in community gardens are not accessible to wheelchair users or the elderly, and elements like ponds may not have adequate safety features to protect unattended children.</p> +<p>In the end, it is up to the garden members to create a design that preserves a unique style and artistry, while maintaining legibility and usability for the community we serve. We must do this as amateurs with little professional expertise, and very limited budget and labor resources. Community garden activity fluctuates throughout the years and turnover can be high; there are times when it’s just one or two gardeners maintaining the entire garden. We try to plan for these lulls by creating designs that minimize the need for watering, weeding, and other maintenance.</p> +<p>In a community garden, vision is not directed from above, but instead created jointly and over time. Without a single designer, gardens often lack a unified and straightforward aesthetic that is preserved throughout the decades. Nevertheless, unity of composition is achieved exactly through the cooperative nature of such communities. Each new gardener brings with them their own unique experiences and style but is always working in conversation with the hundreds of gardeners before them. Consider a wildflower meadow which has developed through individual plant species competing and co-evolving. The meadow might later undergo succession, in which it slowly becomes a deciduous forest—again, without a single designer leading the effort. Out of individuals and relations emerges community.</p> +<p>Sometimes, gardeners disagree about what a community garden should mean. Is the “community” that the garden serves the members of the garden, the surrounding block, all New Yorkers, or anyone who happens to be passing by? Should the garden move towards a style that is formal and manicured, or wild and “overgrown”? Should we focus on food production, ornamental flowers, or wildlife habitat? These concerns are often directly conflicting.</p> +<p>Part of being a community gardener is learning to embrace transience and multiplicity. We effect change regarding what matters to us, and we try to convince other garden members of the same. But eventually there will be new community gardeners with new concerns. Our role is to develop a garden that can evolve and adapt over time in ways we cannot predict.</p> +<h2 id="our-garden">Our garden</h2> +<p>Green Oasis Community Garden is rather large, as far as New York community gardens go. It is an almost half-acre woodland garden, featuring a covered gazebo, stage, pond, meeting tables and a stone grill. We raise money through membership fees ($25/year), donations from the public, donations from event organizers, and grants. The garden is organized into committees such as the gardening committee, events committee, composting committee, and social media committee. Each committee can present a budget request, which is voted on by the entire garden.</p> +<p>Because of the size of our garden, it was okay for us to have a 50 square foot section to run this experiment (although a native plant garden could be as small as 10 square feet). But larger scale changes require buy-in from the garden members voting democratically. Unlike a public park, there is no president or board of directors, and so we must often respond to a multitude of conflicting opinions. A successful small-scale experiment allows us to gain experience and understand the particularities of our own garden, and lets the other garden members slowly get used to new ideas before we can expand our project.</p> +<p>At the beginning of the 2025 garden season, the gardening committee was given a $800 budget for the year. We decided to allocate $500 towards a native plant garden. However, this decision only came about after much reading, education, knowledge-sharing, debate, and compromise. To many, native plants carry a connotation of being “weedy.” Further, commercial nurseries and the garden industry heavily market exotic ornamentals such that most people are unfamiliar with the very plants that are native to our own soil.</p> +<p>But we have discovered that genuine excitement is contagious. And when people see a drift of goldenrods ablaze with bumblebees and butterflies, they start to appreciate the kind of garden that is full of life—indeed, the very life that sustains us humans. In New York, ecological garden design has become more popular in the recent years. Public parks such as the High Line, Stuyvesant Cove, Seward Park, and Tompkins Square Park are all embracing native plant gardens for their beauty, ecology, and maintainability. And because of their intentional designs and educational outreach, the public is getting on board as well. We are optimistic that in the near future, the native plants indigenous to our land will no longer seem foreign to us.</p> +<h1 id="planning-and-planting">Planning and planting</h1> +<h2 id="site-selection">Site selection</h2> +<p>The best time of year to plant native perennials is in the fall (approximately between September 1 and October 15 in New York City, depending on the weather that year). This allows us to minimize watering and gives the plants the winter to settle in before they start growing next spring.</p> +<p>For the site, we chose a partial-sun area in the front of the garden with high visibility. The hope is that it will encourage visitors to learn more about the native plants and how they support wildlife in our garden. Another factor was that this area was initially covered almost entirely in vinca major and vinca minor: we could simply remove everything that was currently there. With rhizomatous invasive species such as vinca, it is very difficult to remove all parts of the rhizome, and even moreso if we have to work around plants we do want to keep (which often hide vinca rhizome fragments in their roots).</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-pre.webp" alt="Initial state of the site" /></p> +<h2 id="soil-testing">Soil testing</h2> +<p>We obtained a soil test from Brooklyn College’s <a rel="external" href="https://www.brooklyn.edu/usl/">Urban Soils Lab</a>, which is always a good idea especially in the disturbed urban sites most community gardens are on. You can also do an <a rel="external" href="https://growitbuildit.com/mason-jar-soil-test-clay-sand-silt/">at-home soil texture test</a> using a mason jar and detergent powder.</p> +<p>For a community garden, our soil is pretty decent, with a high percentage (8%) of organic matter and a sandy loam texture. It is a bit alkaline, probably because there used to be a building on the land, but likely not enough to affect plants other than acid-loving blueberries and the like. The soil is also somewhat low in nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium, but native plants in New York actually prefer relatively nutrient-poor soils (indeed, excessive nitrogen can prove detrimental by promoting invasive growth and foliage overgrowth). Salinity levels were not concerning either.</p> +<p>Because we are growing native plants, we did not find it necessary to amend the soil. We will likely limit future soil treatments to occasionally top-dressing with compost produced by the garden’s composting committee, and of course, leaving the leaves. In fact, the high quality of our soil is likely because we have left the leaves every winter for decades.</p> +<h2 id="plant-selection">Plant selection</h2> +<p>There is unfortunately a dearth of native plant nurseries in New York. The main one is <a rel="external" href="https://gowanuscanalconservancy.org/nursery/">Lowlands Nursery</a> in Gowanus, operated by the Gowanus Canal Conservancy as a non-profit.</p> +<p>We estimated that our $500 budget would purchase around 50 plants from Lowlands Nursery. Spacing between plants varies greatly depending on whether one is looking at a vegetable garden, agricultural farm, ornamental flowerbed, or the wild. We’ve followed <em>Planting in a Post-Wild World</em>’s advice by planting densely and underplanting groundcover. For most plants, their size at maturity is about one square foot (one can research spacing for each plant online); so we opted for a one foot spacing throughout the planting in order to minimize bare soil. This means that we could plant an area of approximately 50 square feet.</p> +<p>Using the four-layer framework above, we decided to plant 2 structural plants, 30 groundcover plants, 15 seasonal theme plants, and 5 dynamic filler plants. In addition, because we are a woodland garden, we additionally interspersed 15 spring ephemerals (described below), for a total of 65 plants.</p> +<p>Lowlands Nursery allows us to filter by various site conditions but we found that all nursery websites are inconsistent with regards to light exposure, moisture needs, and bloom times, which are more complicated than a discrete categorization. It’s best to just research every single plant offered by the nursery, cross-referencing multiple sources. It took a lot of time but was worth it in the end.</p> +<p>For the structural layer, we decided to transplant 2 New York ironweeds that were already in the garden. Ironweed has a remarkable structure even when it is not blooming, reaching 6-8 feet tall with a strong silhouette created by clearly defined leaves and seedheads. In the future, we could have used a few more ironweeds to reinforce that structure.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/ironweed.webp" alt="Ironweed" /></p> +<p>For the seasonal theme layer, our candidate plants were hairy beardtongue, monarda fistulosa, hoary skullcap, woodland sunflower, sweet goldenrod, hoary mountainmint, monarda didyma, and calico aster. We looked at the bloom calendar for each and decided on three each of the first five plants, which would provide a continuous bloom throughout the year. Having at least three of each plant is important so pollinators don’t have to wander too far to get a full meal.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/goldenrod.webp" alt="Sweet goldenrod" /></p> +<p>For the groundcover layer, our candidate plants were foam flower, creeping phlox, three-leaf stonecrop, Pennsylvania sedge, and rosy sedge. For this planting, the garden committee decided not to use any sedges, so we decided on 13 foam flower, 13 creeping phlox, and 4 three-leaf stonecrop. In future projects, it would be better for us to use a greater biodiversity in this layer. Sedges, ferns, and plants like heuchera, geranium and large-leafed aster are also good groundcover plants for shady areas.</p> +<p>Finally, for the dynamic filler layer, we chose wild columbine.</p> +<p>For woodland ecosystems, there’s actually an additional secret spring ephemeral layer. <a rel="external" href="https://www.nycgovparks.org/learn/trees-and-plants/native-plants-of-new-york-city-spring-ephemerals">Spring ephemerals</a> are plants that bloom before forest trees leaf out in early spring and then completely die back in just a few weeks. They’re critical food sources for pollinators awakening from hibernation and unfortunately in decline due to invasive species such as Japanese barberry. Because these spring ephemerals die back so quickly, they don’t really compete with the other plants, allowing us to interplant them without worrying too much about overcrowding the area: another opportunity to add even more biodiversity. We found it very difficult to find spring ephemerals for sale in New York City, and ended up purchasing them online from <a rel="external" href="https://plantbuyingcollective.com/">Plant Buying Collective</a>. Let us know if you know of a local dealer! Our choices were three each of bloodroot, spring beauty, mayapple, dutchman’s breeches, and trout lily.</p> +<h2 id="plant-layout">Plant layout</h2> +<p>For this step, we researched the height of each plant in order to make sure the taller plants don’t shade out the shorter ones. Observe the path of the sun throughout the year; generally, taller plants will shade out plants north of them (though this may not be a problem if those are shade tolerant).</p> +<p>The following graphic was made in Inkscape. We’ve since printed it out and posted it on a signboard near the planting for curious visitors.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/sumacgarden.webp" alt="Garden plan" /></p> +<p>The placement of structural plants is the most important. Next time, a central cluster of 3-5 New York ironweeds might be better. The exact placement of the structural plants doesn’t matter as much, but we try to create horizontal-ish “drifts” of 3-5 plants. The dynamic filler layer is scattered so the soil’s seed bank evenly fills up with columbine seeds. Finally, groundcover plants are placed to fill in all the gaps; their exact location is determined on planting day. Spring ephemerals can then be interplanted; they don’t need much room.</p> +<h2 id="site-preparation">Site preparation</h2> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-pre.webp" alt="Initial state of the site" /> +The area was initially covered almost entirely in non-native vinca and liriope, which are both notoriously difficult to remove. Because vinca is rhizomatous, methods like sheet mulching are not effective. Due to the small scale of the planting, we decided on mechanical removal, and we went out during a rainstorm and weeded the area for 4-5 hours. The rain makes it much easier to ensure we remove all the parts of the plant, as vinca can grow back from just a few inches of remaining rhizome. However, rain also increases the danger of human-induced soil compaction, so we had to be careful to minimize how much we stepped into the bed. Three indispensable tools were a mattock (my love), hori hori knife, a CobraHead weeder, and a garden kneeler. We continued to do a few passes for the next week to catch any remaining roots.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-prepped.webp" alt="The site after weeding" /></p> +<p>One method of mechanical site preparation is to leave the bed alone at least for a few weeks and up to several months to see what grows back to continue weeding. However, because we are a public-facing community garden and this area was front-and-center, this was infeasible: we needed to minimize the time the site was bare soil. This is another reason why methods like sheet mulching or solarization are difficult in practice at community gardens. In general, the <a rel="external" href="https://xerces.org/publications/guidelines/organic-site-preparation-for-wildflower-establishment">Xerces Site Preparation guide</a> is invaluable for evaluating site preparation methods.</p> +<p>A further downside to mechanical removal to this extent is the damage to soil structure by essentially tilling the first few inches of soil. This also brings up dormant weed seeds to the surface, which could overwhelm the planting next spring if we are not diligent about weeding regularly. But in this case, we found no other alternative.</p> +<p>Luckily, the soil was not particularly compacted, which can be an issue especially on urban sites. If it was, we would’ve used a core aerator to aerate the soil (as opposed to more destructive and less effective methods such as tilling).</p> +<h2 id="buying-the-plants">Buying the plants</h2> +<p>As mentioned, we sourced most of the plants from Lowlands Nursery in Gowanus. We e-mailed the nursery to get our 25% discount as a community garden and sales tax exemption as a registered 501(c)(3) organization. A few of us took shopping bags and made the journey on the F train. It was convenient to go by subway (a taxi would be very expensive), but requires bringing several people: plants can’t really be stacked, so there’s a limit on how much one person can carry.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/plants.webp" alt="Plugs from the nursery" /></p> +<p>For our next planting, we will consider the city-run PECAN nursery (formerly the Greenbelt Center). They only work with government entities (including community gardens), but are almost four times cheaper than Lowlands, offer a wide selection, and collect much of their seed themselves from local wilderness, ensuring biodiversity and a local ecotype. The downside is that it is incredibly inconvenient to get to their Staten Island nursery, and they don’t offer delivery service. If we order from PECAN, we’ll likely ask a fellow gardener with a car to help with transportation (or just rent a car).</p> +<p>We purchased columbine online from Prairie Moon Nursery and the spring ephemeral plants online from Plant Buying Collective, though they haven’t arrived yet.</p> +<h2 id="site-installation">Site installation</h2> +<p>Installation is also done in layers. First the structural plants, then seasonal theme plants, dynamic filler plants, and finally groundcover plants to fill in all gaps. Our spring ephemeral plants haven’t arrived yet, but when they do we will intersperse them between the groundcover plants.</p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-structural.webp" alt="Structural layer" /></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-seasonal.webp" alt="Seasonal theme layout" /></p> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/garden-groundcover.webp" alt="Everything planted" /></p> +<p>After all of our efforts in the plant selection and site preparation phases, installation was relatively straightforward. The important thing is to loosen the roots of the saplings and plant at the same height they were at in the container in order to avoid excessively burying or exposing the plant crown. Next time, we will try using an auger drill attachment, but it wasn’t necessary this time for such a small planting.</p> +<h2 id="post-installation">Post-installation</h2> +<p><img src="https://urbanecologycollective.org/blog/native-plant-garden/cardinal.webp" alt="A cardinal cheering us on" /> +One great benefit of planting in the fall is that we don’t have to water that much (especially because it is a shady area). We gave the site a very thorough initial watering and again every few days for two weeks. Now, we water as necessary only if the soil is dried out. Hopefully by next year, the plants will be healthy enough to not need watering except in drought conditions.</p> +<p>Our most important task for the next year is regular and thorough weeding, at least every few weeks. Other than that, we can think about higher level concerns. Are the groundcovers filling in nicely, or do they need to be supplemented? Are the flowers providing continuous bloom throughout the year or does the composition need to be amended? In a few years, we can consider whether we need to do a cutback in spring to preserve visual legibility (however, we’ll try to leave it alone if possible in order to preserve wildlife habitat). We will be sure to observe our visiting bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators and wildlife, as well as create more educational material to share our work and learnings with the community.</p> +<p>Any questions or comments can be emailed to surya at modalduality dot org. If you’re ever in the New York area, come visit us at Green Oasis Community Garden in the East Village! We’re open weekends and have many <a rel="external" href="https://www.greenoasisnyc.org/events">exciting events</a> including theatre, concerts, and volunteer workdays.</p> + + </div> + + +</article> + + </main> + + <footer> + <!-- <hr> --> +<!-- <div id="footer-container"> --> +<!-- <p>Made using <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Speyll/anemone">anemone</a> Zola theme</p> --> +<!-- </div> --> + + </footer> + </body> +</html> diff --git a/public/blog/native-plant-garden/ironweed.webp b/public/blog/native-plant-garden/ironweed.webp Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4583cc --- /dev/null +++ b/public/blog/native-plant-garden/ironweed.webp diff --git a/public/blog/native-plant-garden/outsidepond.webp b/public/blog/native-plant-garden/outsidepond.webp Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..547167f --- /dev/null +++ b/public/blog/native-plant-garden/outsidepond.webp diff --git 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+ aside { + width: 100%; + float: none; + margin-inline-start: 0; + } +} + +details { + padding: .5rem; +} + +summary { + cursor: pointer; + font-weight: bold; + word-break: break-all; +} + +details[open] > summary + * { + margin-top: 0; +} + +details[open] > summary { + margin-bottom: 0.5rem; +} + +details[open] > :last-child { + margin-bottom: 0; +} + +/* Format tables */ +table { + border-collapse: collapse; + margin: 1.5rem 0; + display: block; + overflow-x: auto; + white-space: nowrap; +} + +td, +th { + border: 1px solid var(--border); + text-align: start; + padding: 0.5rem; +} + +th { + background-color: var(--bg-light); + font-weight: bold; +} + +tr:nth-child(even) { + background-color: var(--bg-light); +} + +table caption { + text-align: left; + font-weight: bold; + margin: 0 0 .4rem 1rem; +} + +/* format forms */ +fieldset { + border: 1px dashed var(--accent); + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); +} + +fieldset > legend { + color: var(--accent); +} + +textarea, +select, +input, +button, +.button { + font-size: inherit; + font-family: inherit; + padding: .25rem; + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); + box-shadow: none; + max-width: 100%; + display: inline-block; +} + +textarea, +select, +input { + color: var(--text); + background-color: var(--bg); + border: 1px dashed var(--border); +} + +label { + display: block; +} + +fieldset label { + margin: 0 0 .3rem 0; +} + +textarea { + max-width: 43.5rem; + resize: both; +} + +textarea:not([cols]) { + width: 100%; +} + +@media only screen and (max-width: 720px) { + textarea, + select, + input { + width: 100%; + } +} + +/* format buttons */ +button, +.button, +a.button, +input[type="submit"], +input[type="reset"], +input[type="button"], +label[type="button"] { + border: 1px solid var(--accent); + background-color: var(--accent); + color: var(--accent-text); + padding: 0.5rem 0.9rem; + text-decoration: none; + line-height: normal; +} + +.button[aria-disabled="true"], +input:disabled, +textarea:disabled, +select:disabled, +button[disabled] { + cursor: not-allowed; + background-color: var(--bg-light); + border-color: var(--bg-light); + color: var(--text-light); +} + +input[type="range"] { + padding: 0; + color: var(--accent); +} + +abbr[title] { + cursor: help; + text-decoration-line: underline; + text-decoration-style: dotted; +} + +button:enabled:hover, +.button:not([aria-disabled="true"]):hover, +input[type="submit"]:enabled:hover, +input[type="reset"]:enabled:hover, +input[type="button"]:enabled:hover, +label[type="button"]:hover { + background-color: var(--accent-light); + border-color: var(--accent-light); + cursor: pointer; +} + +.button:focus-visible, +button:focus-visible:where(:enabled), +input:enabled:focus-visible:where( + [type="submit"], + [type="reset"], + [type="button"] +) { + outline: 2px solid var(--accent); + outline-offset: 1px; +} + +/* checkbox and radio button style */ +input[type="checkbox"], +input[type="radio"] { + vertical-align: middle; + position: relative; + width: min-content; + width: 14px; + height: 14px; +} + +input[type="checkbox"] + label, +input[type="radio"] + label { + display: inline-block; +} + +input[type="radio"] { + border-radius: 100%; +} + +input[type="checkbox"]:checked, +input[type="radio"]:checked { + background-color: var(--accent); +} + +@media only screen and (max-width: 720px) { + textarea, + select, + input { + width: 100%; + } +} + +input[type="color"] { + height: 2.5rem; + padding: 0.2rem; +} + +input[type="file"] { + border: 0; +} + +/* misc body elements */ +hr { + border: 1px dashed var(--accent); + margin: .5rem 0 .5rem 0; +} + +mark { + padding: 0 .25em 0 .25em; + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); + background-color: var(--accent); + color: var(--bg); +} + +mark a { + color: var(--link); +} + +img, +video { + max-width: 90%; + height: auto; + padding: .125rem; + border: dashed 2px var(--accent); + border-radius: 15px; +} + +figure { + margin: 0; + display: block; + overflow-x: auto; +} + +figcaption { + text-align: left; + font-size: .875rem; + color: var(--text-light); + margin: 0 0 1rem 1rem; +} + +blockquote { + margin: 0 0 0 1.25rem; + padding: .5rem 0 0 .5rem; + border-inline-start: .375rem solid var(--accent); + color: var(--text-light); + font-style: italic; +} + +cite { + font-size: .875rem; + color: var(--text-light); + font-style: normal; +} + +dt { + color: var(--text-light); +} + +code, pre, +pre span, +kbd, samp { + font-family: var(--mono-font); +} + + +pre { + border: 1px solid var(--accent); + max-height: 30rem; + padding: .625rem; + overflow: auto; + font-style: monospace; + white-space: pre; +} + +p code, +li code, +div code { + padding: 0 .125rem 0 .125rem; + border-radius: 3px; + color: var(--bg); + background-color: var(--text); +} + +pre code { + padding: 0; + border-radius: 0; + color: inherit; + background-color: inherit; +} + +iframe { + max-width: 90%; +} + +/* progress bars */ +progress { + width: 100%; +} + +progress:indeterminate { + background-color: var(--bg-light); +} + +progress::-webkit-progress-bar { + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); + background-color: var(--bg-light); +} + +progress::-webkit-progress-value { + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); + background-color: var(--accent); +} + +progress::-moz-progress-bar { + border-radius: var(--standard-border-radius); + background-color: var(--accent); + transition-property: width; + transition-duration: 0.3s; +} + +progress:indeterminate::-moz-progress-bar { + background-color: var(--bg-light); +} + +dialog { + max-width: 40rem; + margin: auto; +} + +dialog::backdrop { + background-color: var(--bg); + opacity: 0.8; +} + +@media only screen and (max-width: 720px) { + dialog { + max-width: 100%; + margin: auto 1em; + } +} + +/* superscript & subscript */ +/* prevent scripts from affecting line-height. */ +sup, sub { + vertical-align: baseline; + position: relative; +} + +sup { + top: -0.4em; +} + +sub { + top: 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index 0000000..6d48cd3 --- /dev/null +++ b/public/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,74 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> + <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> + + <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/rss.xml"> + + <title>ecoblog</title> + + <link rel="preload" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css" as="style"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/reset.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/suCSS.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/style.css"> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/css/custom.css"> + + <!-- Add favicon with appropriate sizes --> + <link rel="icon" href="https://urbanecologycollective.org/favicon.ico"> + + </head> + <body> + + + + + <nav 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