VOLUNTEERS ROCK!!

Hello friends!!! What a great response to our call for volunteers!!! Because of you, we managed to plant approximately 7,000 sedum plugs in 3 days! YOU ROCK! A big thank you to all those who came out because we couldn't have done it without you.

We won't be needing anymore volunteers for this week, but if you'd like to stay updated on our next volunteer effort, please email dary@alivestructures.com and I'll keep you in the loop.

THANKS AGAIN!

VOLUNTEERS!!! and more

Hello, here's an opportunity:
over the years many people have approached me wanting to gain first hand experience installing a green roof. Now is your chance!! Come help! We're installing a 3,500 SF green roof in the lower east side this week (June 21-25). It's on top of a new construction destined to be mixed income housing-great views of the city and excellent tanning potential. We have over 100 trays of sedum and other species meaning over 7200 individual sedum plugs. So want to earn that beer at the end of the day? We can help :)
Call Marni 917-743-7735 or Eric 646-322-3330 to volunteer. Thanks!

Union Square Green(roof)market

Native plants and green roofs have taken over NYC! Well, we hope so at least. Two Fridays ago Alive Structures had an education stand at the Union Square Greenmarket educating New Yorkers and visitors to New York about the benefits of using native plants in gardening and reasons why considering green roofs for their homes and businesses is a great solution for our city.

Marni in front of the Alive Structures van

We loved talking to everyone that stopped by the stand. Some were just curious and others had their own personal native plant gardening and green roof knowledge to share.

Don't worry if you missed us that day, we will be heading to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket this Saturday, June 12. We will have some our region's best native plants being showcased along with a sample of a green roof! Native plants sometimes have a reputation for looking weedy, but stop by and you'll see that New York native plants are gorgeous, and we think quite stunning. Feel free to look through our books or photographs of gardens that we have on hand. See you there!

Happy Rain

I know it isn't that pretty and it causes our sewers to overflow, but I'm so happy it's raining!
Anyone who installed a garden in the last month, knows how vulnerable those plants are --
uprooted and traumatized, shy, uncomfortable, and many other feelings we've all had at one time or another. And here comes this late May / early June week and a half long heat wave without rain. Established perennials, shrubs, and trees with at least 2' of soil underneath them may be able to handle this weather but the newbies are dropping like flies. Preventable? Yes.

An irrigation system or a maintenance plan with a landscape company are helpful, but sometimes keeping plants alive really depends on the client. Yes, the clients can save the day- my heroes, clients who water after noticing it hasn't rained for the 10th day in a row. And water deeply, because wetting the surface of the soil or the leaves of a tree is not watering.

On top of the recent heat, many of the gardens we've just installed are in very windy and sunny conditions on roofs and terraces. This is a stressful situation for most plants even in cool and wet weather, but this is also a very common urban garden setting. So, some things that can help in a situation like this:

1. Frequent and deep watering.
2. Loosely wrapping shade cloths around newly planted shrubs.
3. Keeping plants in a sheltered area - if there is one- until they've adapted more.
4. Choose appropriate plants for the tough conditions.No matter how drought tolerant the plant, when it's first planted, it needs special care. But once it's established it will fare much better than it's less drought tolerant plant friends. But, we have to remember this is an artificial environment-we're on a NYC terrace here, so all the plants are in containers, not soil that's 3' or more feet deep. This means their resources are limited. So no matter how tough plants are, keep an eye on them. But, here are some great tough plants to use:

Prunus maritima

Myrica pensylvanica

Pinus strobus 'nana'

Rhus aromatica

Boltonia asteroides

Coreopsis verticillata

Asclepias tuberosa

Here are images that show coastal inspiration.

Driving Through Harriman State Park

I was driving through Harriman State park the other day, fomenting against the awful presence of thousands of Japanese barberries and was impressed with how certain native species have held their own despite barberries disturbingly close by.

One image shows barberries in the middle and broom (Cytisus scopariu

s), another happy invasive, in the distance. But a little further along the road was this wonderful slope of hayscented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula),so comfortable amidst

rocks at the edge of the woods, one of the barberry's favorite sites. Black huckleberry (Gaylussacia baccata) and Sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina)

are frequently seen along the road, close to stands of barberry, yet somehow resistant to being pushed out. And huge standing trunks of dead hemlock are there to remind us that this tree was a giant of Eastern forests. It was touching to see seedlings starting their lives at the feet of one such giant.

The showiest native in Harriman, to my mind, is Mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia). It was just starting to bloom, and if you drive through the park in early June you'll be able to enjoy all the shades of the species - white, pink, deep pink, and almost red. In honor of the day (May 30, 2009) when Marni Horwitz became Marni Majorelle, I offer a last close up of this favorite of hers, Kalmia latifolia, taken in Seth's garden in Brooklyn, and looking like some fantastic candy. Bravo to Alive Structures, Eric and Marni!

Field Trip!

Hello everyone! Just wanted to introduce myself and to say how happy I am to be the newest member of Alive Structures. This is officially my first blog EVER and I look forward to many many more. This past weekend I was visiting our nation's capital and the weather and people couldn't have been better. First stop was the United States Botanic Garden. The National Garden, in particular, showcases plants native to New Jersey south to North Carolina in their Regional Garden.

Definitely stop by here if you are in the DC area and then stop in at the National Museum of the American Indian if you get hungry, best food ever. You will NOT be disappointed!

For more info about the garden and its sustainability practices go here.

And just for irony. . . here was a green roof right on top of the exxon across my friend's gym!

Strange May

(Symbol for Cold Front)

Cold May. I'm sorry to have been MIA from the blogosphere for several weeks-I wish I could say it's because I've been planting so many green roofs, but it's really because I've had a horrible on going cold. Anyway, I'm going to make up for it by overloading readers with random pieces of information, events, and pretty pictures.

Some things that have happened in the past few weeks are Wildflower Week where we gave tours all weekend (May 1-2) of the green roof we installed 3 years ago in the East Village, The Wild Project Theater. We had beautiful weather. Here are some pictures of the roof and it's visitors:




















For those of you that missed Wildflower Week don't miss it next year! It's a great opportunity to learn about the beautiful wildlife not too far from home. And the opening party at Environmental Furniture rocks.

Then there was the Brooklyn Designs Show, which showcased many of the innovative young designers in our wonderful borough. Seeing all the cool furniture made me really want to have a house to put it in. There were some designers from our very own office building (33 Flatbush)
Rock Paper Robot which had a display of a contracting and expanding chandelier and a levitating table!










Then we started selling our papercrete planters at the Bklyn Flea and did pretty well, as many people bought gifts for their moms. We're also starting to sell our latest product Mannahatta-in-a-Box. There are some pictures of the reclaimed wood planters than contain an assortment of native wildflowers on the last blog I posted. For those of you not familiar with the Mannahatta Project check it out: themannahattaproject.org. We're also selling gorgeous native plants sans planters that would be hard to find anywhere else in the city. Especially at the low price we're selling them for! So, come to Bklyn Flea on Saturdays to find us!

Last but not least, we have a new addition to Alive Structures! Dary Thach-who's awesome.






















Some events coming up:
Urban Green is now accepting proposals in conjunction with the Urban Green Expo 2010 theme: Pushing the Envelope.

The Cooper-Hewitt Museum is having it's National Design Triennial Exhibit on view starting May 14.

Also, we'll be setting up an Educational Table at The Union Sq. Green Market on Friday, May 29th, so come check us out! We're going to be showcasing green roof models and discussing their benefits as well as presenting beautiful native plants focusing on the edible ones like Blueberry and Blackberry Shrubs-my two favorites.













































See you soon and in warmer weather!