This week’s weed is another tree that can easily be spotted if you live in the eastern United States, and yes it has white spike blossoms too!  Black cherry is a rather weedy tree that has been known to grow many different places in the rural and urban environs. It’s just as happy growing in forests and abandoned fields as it is growing as a street tree in NYC, which I only noticed because it was in full bloom like in the photo above. It also spreads rather easily because of the palatability of its fruits to wildlife; it has been reported that over 80 different animals consume its tasty cherries.

Where It’s From: Eastern United States and small populations in the southwest from Texas south to Guatemala.

Where It’s Found: Just about anywhere throughout the U.S. and parts of Europe. It can grow in Full sun to Full shade and from Dry to Wet soil conditions.

Where To Find It: Moist or dry, open woods. Roadsides, old fields, thickets, canyons, floodplains, and near rivers. Sometimes spotted as a street tree in the urban environment.

Uses: The fruit is often made into jam, pies, and flavorings for liquor, soda, and ice cream. The wood is often used for expensive cabinetry and is sold under the name “cherry”.

How to Identify: The easiest time to identify Black Cherry is when it is flowering. Its long white spike blossoms cover the tree from April-June. After the flowers disappear, small, dark-colored cherries are formed. The bark is also quite distinctive: it has horizontal striations from its youth into old age, although as it grows older the bark becomes broken and darker.

Weed of the week has been on a rather, long hiatus due to the growing pains of  Green Sky Designs last year, but we promise that this year we will be with you each and every week with a new weed to learn. Since it’s winter and there’s not too much to find in terms of weeds I decided we should start with some woody shrubs and trees that are visible this time of year. The first weed of the week for 2012 is Black Locust. Although this tree comes from a rather small area of the world, it has been spread through the work of people and its own tenacity. If you’ve ever had it growing on your property, you will know its propensity to spread and sucker. Black Locust is a member of the bean family (Fabacaeae), most of which have nitrogen-fixing bacteria on their roots which allow them to grow in places that most other plants won’t. In my Brooklyn back yard, it is the only woody plant growing in the leaf mould that has built up under a large magnolia tree over the years.

Where It’s From: Central and Southern Appalachian Mountains and Ozark Mountains

Where It’s Found: Widely planted and spread throughout North America, Southern Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Where To Find It: Woods and thickets in rural areas and planted as a street tree or in abandoned lots in urban areas

The first time I saw this weed I seriously thought it must’ve come from another planet. I was renovating a garden and all along the backside of the garden was a grove of Japanese knotweed. This weed can grow to over 15 feet in one growing season! It is easily identified in the spring, when nothing else is growing and it is already 1-2 feet tall with red veiny stems and triangular shaped leaves. In the summer it has large clusters of conspicuous white flowers. Just like a lot of other weeds, this one was introduced from Japan in the 1807s as an ornamental plant and sold in nurseries for the next 50 years! The emerging shoots can be picked in the spring and after boiling them they taste a lemony flavor. I haven’t tried it, but if you have let us know.

Where It’s From: temperate East Asia

Where It’s Found: Disturbed areas that are not maintained

Where To Find It: Vacant lots, along highways, drainage ditches, and uncultivated gardens

Weed of the week has been on sabbatical for the past month and a half, I know. But, springtime is busy time for Green Sky Designs and we have been busy working on a lot of new projects. Stay tuned for more info.

But for now… Hairy bittercress is an oft-seen weed during this time of year. Chances are if you find it right now it may be just about to take over your garden. If you don’t get this weed before it goes to seed, you may be in for quite the battle. Hairy bittercress is one of the earliest flowering weeds, just like it veggie cousins (Brassicas such as broccoli and cabbage) it does not mind a little cold. It is most easily identified but its basal rosette of pinnately compound leaves ( as seen above) and by its minute 4 petaled white flowers. Besides its weedy attributes, it also can be added to salad to add a bitter, peppery flavor.

Where It’s From: Eurasia

Where It’s Found: Damp, Disturbed areas

Where To Find It: Common anywhere there is a cultivated garden or the soil gets turned over often

Do you like birds? Do you ever go for a walk and notice lots of different species of birds and feel the need to record the sightings in some way? Want to help scientists understand how climate affects wildlife? If you answer yes to any or all of these questions you should definitely be using eBird.

eBird is an on-line database of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Launched in 2002 by Cornell University and the National Audubon Society, it has grown leaps and bounds since it began. It has become the model for many other citizen science programs around the world.

Other citizen science programs you can participate in:

Mountain Watch

The Great Sunflower Project

Project BudBurst

Project RoadKill

Before spring officially starts I thought I would add a weed that is most conspicuous during the winter. Oriental bittersweet is most easily identified when it set its fruit because they are often used in flower arrangements and holiday decorations. But behind its pretty fruits sits a very sinister plant. Oriental bittersweet has become quite the pest in NYC’s natural areas; on a walk at Dead Horse Bay earlier this winter I spotted quite a few bittersweet vines strangling native trees and shrubs.

Where It’s From: Northeast Asia

Where It’s Found: Disturbed areas

Where To Find It: Chain-link fences and stone walls; as well as climbing small trees and shrubs

Yellow Woodsorrel is a common weed throughout most of the world. It can be found growing outside during the growing season and it is probably the most commonly found weed growing in your indoor plants in the winter. It tends to spread rather quickly because of the method in which it releases its seeds. Once the fruit is mature if it disturbed it explodes, spreading seed sometimes over 15 feet away (similar to Impatiens). If you find it growing indoors, take a look around and see if you can find tiny black seeds on the walls and other plants near it. I have a lot of it growing in my indoor garden and thought that my plants were infested with bugs, only to discover they were Yellow Woodsorrel seeds in abundance. Every single part of this plant is edible: the leaves and flowers are added to salads and the green pods taste delicious and a bit like rhubarb right off the plant.

Where It’s From: North America and Eurasia

Where It’s Found: Woodlands, meadows, and disturbed areas

Where To Find It: Look for it in your garden, houseplants, or anywhere plants grow.

Pokeberry is a native perennial that can become quite the invasive weed if it finds the right conditions. It is easiest to identify when it is flowering or in fruit. The stems of the flowers turn a bright pink while the flowers turn from white to purple when they become berries. Although the berries may look delicious they are actually very poisonous as is the rest of the plant if not prepared correctly. The young shoots can be eaten as greens if they have not turned pink yet. The berries can be cooked and then made into a pie. I searched for a recipe but couldn’t find any reliable ones online. Let me know if you find any. The plant has also been used as a dye and it has been rumored that the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence with ink from its berries. This useful weed was also taken as a medicine by Native Americans. They used its tea to cure arthritis.

Where It’s From: Most of the United States, except the Rocky Mountains

Where It’s Found: Open woods, damp thickets, clearings, roadsides.

Where To Find It: It can be found in most public parks that have been neglected and sometimes in open lots or next to abandoned buildings

Annual Sowthistle is an introduced annual that can be found in many different habitats throughout New York City. It can be identified by its leaves which have prickly margins and are arranged alternately on the flowering the stem. The flowers, which are numerous, look similar to a dandelion: many-petalled yellow flowers followed by a poofball of seeds ready to be dispersed by the wind. Annual Sowthistle was introduced from Europe where it was sometimes used as in early spring salads (its species name oleraceus means of the vegetable garden). Rabbits are also known to love this edible plant which is why its sometimes called Hare’s thistle in the Old World. Although it is edible and has nice flowers, it spreads rapidly by seed and its overwintering rosettes can serve as a host to viruses. So, if you see this little guy rip him out and plant something native in his place.

Where It’s From: introduced from Europe

Where It’s Found: it is common in neglected urban sites such as: public parks, cracks in parking lots, and vacant lots

Where To Find It: besides the areas listed above I have seen it in tree pits as recently as last week, and I found it popping out of a crack in my porch last spring.

Ecological gardens are spreading in Brooklyn! It seems that one of the latest trends in the cities public parks is creating distinctly native sections of planting to compliment more traditional uses of street trees and large urban lawns. Pier One at Brooklyn Bridge Park has evolved over the season to reveal a mix of tough urban species and lush nooks of native plantings. Guided by the concepts of Dr. Steven Handel, MVV and Associates transformed a forgotten trade harbor into a landscape supporting a balance of human and natural causes.

The Riparian Edge is arguably the most important part of our ecosystem that is offered very little protection. As climate continues to evolve and speculative water rises are on the move these systems will provide a series of vital amenities who’s value goes beyond numbers and could potentially save the city millions in superficial services. Soil generation and stabilization, water treatment, filtering nutrient runoff to rivers, partial climate stabilization and flood mitigation are problems that will only increase in the future. Building the foundation for natural systems that have the potential to provide these services at no cost could help secure the economic and environmental future of the city.

Though the riparian zones at Pier One make up a small percentage of the overall park space they represent an important paradigm shift in design. Showcasing our most vital ecosystem as iconic beauty in the urban landscape is the first step towards a public supported ecological restoration movement.  Bringing native ecosystems into urban environments allows the public to experience their affect on the health and quality of life first hand; revealing their importance to a large portion of America’s voting population and helping to build public support for habitat restoration.

Though the patches at Brooklyn Bridge Park are small, their size is not proportionate to their importance. Having several riparian zones spread along our waterfront provides habitat insurance. If one zone becomes temporarily damaged or destroyed, other patches can provide support for wildlife. The addition of each habitat increases the value and safety of surrounding habitats, strengthening the network through ecological redundancy. And their impact does not end here. Many potential habitat patches around the city are so isolated from our surviving native habitats that they have no chance of rebounding. By recreating strong patches of native habitat within the urban boundary we increase the potential for native plants species to spread through the city, rebuilding and rebounding through their own energy and cycles; reducing the future cost of having to mitigate each individual site.

It is inspiring to see the incorporation of native systems in the public works of our city. Our open spaces will be continually confronted with the challenge of balancing human and environmental need. Though the more we incorporate habitats into our leisure spaces the more closely related the two movements will become. We will always desire large gathering spaces for play but we may begin to recognize the ornamental beauty of our wild habitats, protecting and accepting our native heritage and embracing a modern citizenship as stewards of our landscape.