The Metropolitan Field Guide - Ideas, thoughts and resources for the design of urban wildlife habitat

Wildlife Plants:: Lavender

Posted by Kelly Brenner at 4:06 pm Wildlife Plant Profile

Jun 172013

Lavender at Kew Gardens

There are few other plants so closely associated with scent than Lavender. The purple flowers and gray/green foliage is unmistakable and found in gardens around the world. The various forms can grow from ground high up to waist high and it is used and appreciated by both humans and wildlife.

Lavandula (more commonly known as Lavender) is in the mint family and the genus contains a complicated taxonomy with 39 species and countless cultivars. Lavendula angustifolia is the most widely cultivated species. It was historically found in the Old World growing from India throughout the Mediterranean region of Africa and southern Europe. At times it escapes and grows in the wild where it is usually not a problem species with the exception of Australia where Lavandula stoechas has been declared a noxious weed.

It is a wildly popular garden plant and there is even a festival dedicated to the plant in Washington home to dozens of lavender farms throughout the state. There is book after book dedicated to growing, cooking and using lavender. Visit any craft fair, garden show or farmers market and you’re likely to find booths dedicated to selling all manner of lavender products. Continue reading »

Foragings:: The latest news, resources, designs and more

Posted by Kelly Brenner at 2:01 pm Foragings

Jun 032013

News

Nature and the City:: “If we are ever to reach the stage where we can value the benefits as ecosystem services, or design therapeutic landscapes, we need to understand what the benefits are and how they operate.”
A Wilder Way:: Dutch designer, Piet Oudolf, who is responsible for the planting design of the High Line in New York City, is the subject of this interesting profile.
Urban Rivers of Life:: “There are few natural features as important as rivers and streams in defining cities, in shaping sense of place, and in connecting us with nature.”
First Person: Letting a Backyard Go Wild:: James Barilla, author of the new book ”My Backyard Jungle,” writes about his backyard on National Geographic.
How Ecologists Are Using Surveys to Support Urban Green Roof Architecture:: “With all the knowledge, experience and conviction of how important living architecture and green infrastructure is, why is integrated ecological design for green buildings not a fundamental standard to how we do things?”
Leicester’s urban meadow created ‘to attract more bees’:: “Wildflowers are to be planted around a triangle of empty land in Leicester to try to attract more bees to the area.”
Get Ready to Get Funky!:: The Funk Nests challenge from Celebrate Urban Birds is now running for a couple more weeks. Continue reading »

On Being Misunderstood:: Dogwood

Posted by Kelly Brenner at 7:00 am On Being Misunderstood

May 232013

on being misunderstood small On Being Misunderstood is a feature at The Metropolitan Field Guide which will look at the variety of flora and fauna we live with which are too commonly misunderstood. From plants to wildlife, many of our daily interactions with these species are often negative or confused. Many of these reactions are based on misinformation. This new feature seeks to combat these misconceptions by bringing in guest writers to explain some of these species to us so we all have a better understanding and to set the record straight.

If you would like to contribute to this series as a guest writer, contact me and let me know!

Dogwood

Back for another lesson about plant misunderstandings is Georgia Silvera Seamans, author of the very interesting local ecologist blog. Her first ‘On Being Misunderstood’ contribution was about the London Planetree. Continue reading »

Interview with Julie Feinstein

Julie Feinstein is a Collection Manager at the American Museum of Natural History. She lives in New York City and writes about urban wildlife on her blog, Urban Wildlife Guide. She has recently published a fantastic book (which I’ll be reviewing soon) titled Field Guide to Urban Wildlife. You may remember her from her guest post about [...]

Stinging Nettle Poster

In honor of Be Nice to Nettles Week in the U.K., here is a poster highlighting the benefits of Stinging Nettles. I plan to make more of these posters in the future. For more information about this plant, see Wildlife Plant:: Stinging Nettle.

The Virtuous Weed:: Common Groundsel

The Virtuous Weed is a new feature on The Metropolitan Field Guide inspired by The Weeds in My Street on the Cryptoforestry blog. The definition of weed is a highly complicated and controversial affair as Richard Mabey discusses in his fascinating book, Weeds: In Defense of Nature’s Most Unloved Plants. Are they simply plants in the wrong place or defined as [...]

The Urban Garden of Keith Geller

Standing on the sidewalk, looking up a steep slope towards the home of Landscape Architect Keith Geller, you know you’re about to enter a special landscape. Over the past 30 years, Geller has transformed a bare, grassy slope into an forested urban haven. His yard has been featured in magazines, books and newspapers stories and [...]

Friday Film:: What Plants Talk About

Today’s Friday Film is ‘What Plants Talk About’, an episode of Nature from PBS. When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and [...]

Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens Post:: 5 Great Parks – Seattle Edition

This is an excerpt from my latest post at the Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens blog. Click the link below to visit the full post. Every city has parks, however not all parks are created equal. Many are used primarily for recreation, others for dogs, but some are devoted to nature. Seattle is lucky to [...]

Urban Species Profile:: River Otter

While many species may come to mind with the term ‘urban wildlife’, otters are not likely among the first to come to mind. Despite this, they can be seen in urban areas. In fact in three of the last cities I’ve called home, I’ve seen River Otters in two of them. River Otters can be [...]

Friday Film:: An Original DUCKumentary

This week’s Friday Film is An Original DUCKumentary, from Nature on PBS. Ducks are some of the most common and visible of urban wildlife. this episode will reveal much about these birds. From the PBS website: Masters of the water and air, they have conquered the globe. From deft dabblers to great divers, these are one [...]

Foragings:: The latest news, resources, designs and more

News Experimental Landscapes: Alexander Felson on Ecology and Design:: A very interesting interview with ”Alexander Felson, an assistant professor at Yale in both the School of Foresty & Environmental Studies and the School of Architecture, is a different kind of urban ecologist. In his research and his design work, he calls for an ecological practice that moves from [...]