GuestPeek: Butterfly Garden

My friend Karen and her daughter, Kalena created a butterfly garden in their back yard!

Karen is a Librarian (woo hoo!) at Riverview Branch Library in Florida and she'd hosted a Master Gardener program on butterfly gardens at her branch a couple of months ago. She thought it sounded like an easy gardening project for non-gardeners as well as being good for the environment, so decided to gave it a try!
 

Why is this exciting?

Due to destruction of their native habitats or the plants they eat, butterfly populations are decreasing or even going extinct. The creation of a butterfly garden represents an intentional act to try and create or restore habitats favorable to their life cycle and survival. 

Since butterflies also happen to be flower and plant pollinators, they are an essential part of the food cycle. Environments that attract butterflies also tend to attract other types of insect pollinators. 

Basically, if WE want to keep eating,
we need the pollinators!

As you can see, Karen and Kalena already have a few visitors!

Hat tip to Karen and Kalena for taking on this project, and thanks so much for sharing, with us here at Permie Peeks! If you live down in that area, and want to learn more about the Master Garden Extension programs, click here.

Field of Favors

In her art installation "Favors", Queens based artist, Priscilla Stadler invited New Yorkers to challenge the stereotype that they are cold, rude and uncaring by asking them to do favors for friends, family and even strangers, or to observe and note others doing these things.

Then, she asked them to describe these "acts of kindness" in a single sentence and send them to her, which she later transcribed onto green paper spirals.


Finally, she suspended them, much like hanging vines, from the ceiling of a Long Island City  gallery (the Space Gallery).


She called this "The Field of Favors".

What I found particularly interesting about this project was the way it rendered the abstract,

     that is, those mechanisms which contribute to effective and resilient social systems

                        relationships. . .

                              their nature and quality. . .

                                        often defined by reciprocity and inter-dependency. . .

into a tangible and collective, community experience!

Leave it to the artists!

Beantown Serenity

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a few days at a conference in Boston.

Respite. .  .

Amidst the Prudential Center's complex comprising of 3.2 million sf of office, retail, hotels and a ginormous convention center, was this wonderful little open air park and garden. Read more about it here.

click image to enlarge

In NYC, during a comparable weekday, a delightful place such as this would have been filled to the brim with people, but in Boston (at least while I was there), incredibly, it was almost always empty.  Go figure!

. . .Habitat

It combined both straight edges along with curvy, rounded ones. . .and had two fountains (nice Feng Shui!), one in the shape of a spiral!

But what I found really exciting were the

         beautiful plantings

                           gently sloping grass area

                                                           winding gravel pathway

                                                                                      slate pavers

. . . Permeable Paradise!

On the Fence

Plants growing on a 
fence. . .

 


. . .in addition to adding beauty. . .

. . .can also serve as a living, breathing curtain. . .

. . .filtering noise and pollution from enclosed outdoor spaces.

The Bees Knees

Last year I visited the Monti Building in Brooklyn, as part of GreenHomeNYC's Green Building Open House tours.  This is a great example of a building that gives as good as it gets.  For one thing, it is home to a variety of small local businesses and artists, so it is supportive of local economy and culture.  

For another, it utilizes a variety of energy efficient technologies (you can read more about those here), including several which can be found on the roof--  a 9 Kw solar array that provides for most of the buildings day-time electricity needs. . .a 4000 sf, low maintenance green roof. . .

. . .and walkways that make use of permeable pavers, both of which help with storm water management.

But I think the most delightful of the building's features are the roof top beehives!  Urban bee keepers are important members of the local/urban food economy.

Another delightful feature of this building is that it is a Birds of Brooklyn site! This is "...an audio art project [that] aims to reconnect city dwellers with the natural sounds of the area and raise awareness about declining bird populations in urban environments."

That just sounds like fun to me!

Aging in Place

I love that this tree was allowed to "live" on in Madison Square Park, instead of being chopped down.

I think it looks like a piece of modern sculpture.

But in addition to 
beauty. . .








. . .it also continues to provide ecological service like habitat and support for other living things.