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Eighteen months ago, I welcomed a dog into my life, a hound mix. Now, I spend at least an hour each day walking him around the streets of Brooklyn, often fishing discarded chicken bones out of his mouth. As I traverse the same familiar blocks, I’ve started to notice details such as the quietest streets and how the rusty scaffolding around nearby buildings seems to vanish overnight.
One of the things I appreciate most about my neighborhood is the greenery. I marvel at the tulips, peonies, and dogwoods that come to life in the spring. However, I soon realized how limited my knowledge of plant species was. Growing up in Australia, the vegetation was vastly different from that of the northeastern U.S., and I had never taken the time to learn about the local flora. It felt disrespectful, to say the least.
My quest for knowledge led me to discover a valuable resource online. The New York City Tree Map provides information on all 875,428 trees maintained by the New York City Parks Department. Simply input your location, and you can identify the trees around you, like the London plane tree that offers shade from the summer sun.
To further enhance my plant identification skills, I turned to apps like PictureThis and PlantNet. These tools not only help identify plants but also provide tips on caring for them, making them valuable resources for gardening enthusiasts like myself.
Source: www.theguardian.com
