Results tagged “trees”

   

Congratulations to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for housing not one, but two champion trees. 1010 Wins reports that "The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has named two trees at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden state champions — meaning they are the largest of their species on record in the state." The Kansas hawthorn is 31' tall, and the Carolina holly is a whopping 35' tall. Together they are the first two trees in New York City to receive the honor, and they were presented their awards today.

Some jerk in Juniper Valley Park in Queens sawed down twelve trees in the past week, many of them new plantings, according to the Daily News. Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski said, "It appears premeditated. They came in the park with a power saw." She said the trees cost about $1,000 apiece, which sounds about right, as that is at least two and half times what any high-end retail nursery (PDF) would charge you for the choicest ornamental tree available.

There have been countless stories to invite allusions to Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in the sixty-six years since she first published the novel. But Marion Smith's woeful tale of attempting to get a tree to grow in Brooklyn may be the ultimate reference-baiting tale. The Daily News has the account of the 79-year-old Smith asking that the city not plant a tree in the spot in front of her Park Slope apartment. She made the request because the previous tree began to wither right around the same time she lost her husband, as she tells the paper, "It died right after he died." After she was assured that her sidewalk would be kept clear, the city still went ahead and showed up to plant one. When a neighbor of the disabled Smith tried to intervene and halt the tree's installation, the Parks Department planter threatened to have the neighbor arrested! Smith is also concerned that she will be unable to clean up any leaves or possible fruit that comes of the ginkgo tree, the fruits of which have an aroma that has been compared to "rancid butter, vomit and dog droppings."

The Brooklyn kickballers have a new opponent this season: twenty freshly planted baby trees! The Brooklyn Paper reported yesterday that the leafy obstacles were planted as a part of Mayor Bloomberg's Million Trees program, and affect all three kickball fields. Allegedly the city chose that spot in order to restore the area to Gilmore Clark’s 1936 design. They told us about how in the past "McCarren Park was decimated by the Asian Long Horn Beatle crisis and lost more than 50% of it's tree canopy coverage."

Last year, when people started complaining that spray from Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls was prematurely turning trees brown, officials assured everyone the salty, East River mist wouldn't cause any "long-term danger." (Though the Public Art Fund did pay to have the salt regularly cleaned off, and the waterfalls operating hours were reduced.) Well, now it looks like some of the damage may indeed have been permanent. Scott Stamford, general manager at the River Cafe (pictured), recently showed the Brooklyn Paper some sickly-looking trees on the property, which is right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Though other trees nearby are already budding, three weeping birches are showing "no sign of life at all." And according to Stamford, "an ornamental crab apple tree... is nowhere near where it should be at this time of year." To be sure, Spring has taken its time this year, but as Stamford points out, trees can also die slowly, and he's worried that "every season we may see fewer and fewer signs of life." Asked what the restaurant will do if the trees are in fact deceased, Stamford replied, "Well, the lawyers will have to figure that out."

While most retailers are worried that Black Friday will leave them deep in the red, Christmas tree sellers are now sounding sanguine, with a perfectly objective source at the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association telling the Post, "In times like these, it's natural to fall back on events that are comfortable, like traditional holiday celebrations." Adding to the optimism is the fact that lower gas costs will mean cheaper trees than last year. And then there's the green angle; one forestry professor opines: "Purchasing a real Christmas tree is a great way to make a positive impact on the environment." Of course, trees are great for the environment when they're alive, so many environmentalists recommend buying a living tree. Which doesn't really fly in New York, since most of us don't have a place to plant them. So here are details on the city's annual MulchFest.

Those blissed-out Christmas tree sellers from Quebec who camp out on every other corner this time of year are worried that the economic tailspin is going to seriously harsh the holiday vibe. Scott MacKinnon of Elite Balsam Products tells the Daily News that everyone's "a little bit nervous." In order to appeal to budget-conscious tree buyers, vendors have cut prices by 25% by buying cheaper trees. But other sellers are exhibiting unshakable faith in New Yorkers' need to fill every cranny of their apartments with balsam fir needles. One big seller in the city, Dr. Jane Waterman, insists that after three decades in business, her best season was right after 9/11: "In bad years, we find people buy trees and cut back on what they spend on gifts." Plus, "We're thinking everyone is so excited about the end of the Bush regime and the election of the first black President that they'll buy trees."

The four waterfalls installed by artist Olafur Eliasson and the Public Art fund at various spots on the East River are supposed be taken down on October 13th, but some Brooklyn residents fear that could be too late. In response to mounting concerns that spray from the salty, semi-polluted East River is blowing onto trees and slowly killing them, Judy Stanton, head of the Brooklyn Heights Association, is calling for the falls to be stopped now. She tells the Brooklyn Paper, “I think it’s enough. They’re damaging the local environment and I don’t think it’s worth it to have this question remain: Will the trees come back?” Reporter Sarah Portlock, who has dubbed this whole thing a "tree-bacle," also notes that drivers who park near the falls are returning to find their vehicles coated with oil residue and salt.

That tree-hugging Mayor Bloomberg and his Million Trees NYC campaign can go play in traffic as far as Dyker Heights resident (and noted gadfly) Sonny Soave is concerned. Ever since discovering telltale white markings spray painted on the sidewalk outside his house, Soave has been futilely trying to stop the city from planting a tree outside his house. He rants to the Brooklyn Paper: “How is it that I have no say about what goes in front of my house? Am I living in a communist New York where the city makes the decision for you? I know it’s the city’s sidewalk, but once it’s planted, it becomes my responsibility to clean up." And we all know how slovenly trees can be, always littering the sidewalk with their stinking leaves and fouling up the air with their oxygen. That's why Soave's making a stand: "I’ll stand right here and block them from putting that tree in if I have to."

How many trees have to die before someone does something about Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls? Earlier this month the Parks Department and the Public Art Fund admitted that the salty East River spray from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall was making the leaves on trees at the River Cafe in DUMBO go prematurely brown. Now the Brooklyn Paper reports that the trees at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade are suffering from the same affliction, brought on by the salt slowing photosynthesis. Officials have assured tree-huggers that the spray from what BP calls Eliasson's "four-headed killing machine" doesn't pose any "long-term danger," but the way things are going, it's only a matter of time before some Earth First! activists start climbing up the falls to try and hang protest banners.

Artist Olafur Eliasson may soon have tree blood on his hands – the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall installation is kicking up such a salty spray that downwind trees are turning brown and “looking as if it's November,” the Post reports. The saltwater is interfering with their photosynthesis, and the owner of the River Café, which has gardens just south of the bridge, is worried that the trees he planted over three decades ago are suffering too much for public art. The Parks Department agrees they're “showing signs of stress,” and the Public Art Fund, which is producing the NYC Waterfalls, has hired a tree service to try and save them.

What happens when a three-year-old plucks some leaves from a tree branch? Well, if a Parks Department employee is watching, the child's mom gets a summons.

In a clever ploy to undermine the city’s controversial proposal to lease out the 78-year-old Union Square Pavilion as a year-round restaurant, a group of activists sent a fake press release Monday that claimed to be from the Union Square Partnership Business Improvement District (BID). The release announced the BID’s decision to drop its push for “privatization of the famous park after overwhelming feedback from citizens across New York City.” (NewsBlaze still has the release on their website.)

A State Supreme Court judge has issued a “preliminary injunction” prohibiting the city from turning the 78-year-old Pavilion in Union Square park into a restaurant. Last week the court ruled that the $21 million overhaul to the north end of the park could proceed while a lawsuit brought by community groups moves forward, but temporary stalled work on the Pavilion.

UPDATE: NY1's first report yesterday on the Union Square Pavilion lawsuit has been corrected. It turns out that, contrary to the initial news, the injunction stopping work on the park’s 78-year-old Pavilion is still in effect.

A state judge has issued a temporary restraining order to stop the city’s $21 million overhaul of the north end of Union Square Park, which would install a new restaurant in the historic Pavilion, redesign two playgrounds and repave asphalt where the Greenmarket had been operating. A coalition of community groups and parks advocates who brought the lawsuit say the city needs to get approval from the state legislature before privatizing part of the park, which has long been a flashpoint for protests and rallies.

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has yet again set up their ever-changing map showing "the approximate positions of every Prunus specimen in the Cherry Esplanade, Cherry Walk, Cherry Cultivars Area and Japanese Garden and its current blossom status." Only five have bloomed so far, the others showing buds but no petals just yet (picture of pre-bloom). Last year the garden was bursting with color around the end of April.

New York's about to get a lot shadier. According to the NY Times, the City Planning Commission just approved a new section of the Zoning Resolution, that requires developers to plant trees. For every 25-feet of street, one tree must be planted. This new rule goes hand in hand with MillionTreesNYC, an initiative of the Parks Department and New York Restoration Project that aims to plant one million new trees in the next ten years (a number that doesn't take into account programs like Trees Not Trash).

Two sidewalk Christmas tree salesman are accusing the "company" they worked for last year of leaving them out in the cold on Christmas Eve, waiting for thousands of dollars in wages that never appeared. The yuletide stiffing apparently was in retribution for either 1) skimming sales revenue, or 2) talking publicly about the shadowy figure who allegedly is the kingpin of sidewalk Christmas trees. Last year, an experienced tree-seller and longtime employee of Kevin...