This Thursday at 12:30 PM, the Promenade Gardeners are hosting the first of our winter gatherings: Plant Trivia from Brooklyn and Beyond. We’d love to invite interested members of the public to join us for this first class and snacks. We sit, chat, look at photos of plants, and Koren and I ask some tough and not-so-tough questions about plants we interact with in daily life in literature, medicine, popular culture, and our walks on the Promenade. Half of the 90 minute meeting is devoted to plants of the Promenade, with a special emphasis on what was bought and planted last year using funds raised by the Promenade Gardens Conservancy and through our bake sales. Joining the group will give one an early taste of spring and a little extra appreciation for plants in our day to day life. Those who’d like to come should RSVP to the hostess, Koren Volk, at volkkoren@hotmail.com and she will provide location details.

BHB reader “Alex” sent us this photo of what appears to be a City Hawk hanging out over Pierrepont Playground this weekend.  Hopefully he’s more mellow than the big fella we spotted chewing up a pigeon last year and more like the laid back chap who came to visit in the snow back in December 2010.

An open backyard on Henry Street has become an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord for rats and other vermin, with piles of trash, discarded furniture, construction remnants, bottles, bags and broken glass overrunning the one-time manicured outdoor space.

Located behind Montague Street’s Andy’s Chinese restaurant, Dashing Diva nail salon and the Heights Vision Center, and across from Corcoran real estate on Henry, the cluttered dump is easily accessed through an open iron gate. For years, residents have been complaining to landlords and business owners, to no avail, as it continues to accumulate garbage strewn & stacked at liberty.

In the Brooklyn Paper this week, writer Kate Briquelet quotes Brooklyn Heights Assn. executive director Judy Stanton: “It’s third-world disgusting. Everyone walking by can see it from Henry Street. “It’s a dumping ground.”

Longtime neighbor Andrew Porter told the Paper that the shared courtyard is rampant with critters at night, and that passersby apparently regard the grounds as a public landfill. “A few days ago there was a sofa there,” Porter said. “I just wish someone would clean it up.”

Neighbors claim that calls to 311 and business managers have gotten no response, while queries by the Brooklyn Paper to the landlords of the three adjoining businesses—including major Coney Island developer Thor Equities, which owns the salon building— were ignored.

In the 1980s, the grounds housed a memorial garden and fountain honoring the former landlord’s son—until the family moved away. The fountain remains today… stacked with refuse.

Bobby Cruz, former owner of the UPS Store building on Montague Street, took it upon himself to bag some of the garbage earlier this month, in hopes of opening a tapas and wine bar beneath Heights Vision this spring. His intention is to turn part of the yard into outdoor seating for the business. He says he’ll continue to clean, with hopes that flowers will soon replace shards of glass.

A BHB reader sent us this comment and photo:

It’s interesting that someone mentioned on the open thread last week that our hood could use a Xmas tree composting station. I was going to suggest that the dead end at Middagh St. would be a good open space to set it up. Well, apparently the neighbors have agreed to xmas tree disposal here as well, but this was not exactly what i was thinking!

A year ago last June the intrepid Karl Junkersfeld toook a stroll around Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and made the acquaintance of Rosa rugosa. Yesterday morning your correspondent took a similar stroll and found some of the flowers still in bloom, along with the rose hips that look like small tomatoes.

Your correspondent went leaf-peeping yesterday. Above is the view from the crest of the mound on Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park. More photos after the jump.

Seen from the path connecting Pier 1 to Pier 6, a row of bushes on the south end of Pier 1 provide a colorful accent to the view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The view looking up from Pier 1 towards the Heights and Cadman Plaza.

This Friday, October 21 and Sunday, October 23, from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m. both days, Brooklyn Bridge Park will present a Fall Colors Tour.

Autumn is especially beautiful at Brooklyn Bridge Park! Join Rebecca McMackin, the park horticulturalist, for a walk on Pier 1 and see the beautiful fall colors in the park’s flowers, trees and perennials. Ms. McMackin will talk about the park’s diverse planting palette, the organic maintenance of the landscape and the role of bees and birds in pollinating these striking specimens.

The tours are free, but attendance is limited, so please reserve in advance by e-mailing to brooklynbridgepark@bbpnyc.org . Tours begin at the entrance to Pier 1, near the foot of Old Fulton Street; there will be a tent.

Because of an intervening commitment, by the time I got to the Poplar Street Community Garden the folks were packing up their gardening equipment after a hard afternoon’s productive work. But some workers were still busy there: I’ve included this photo in honor of BHB reader Lois, whose husband was a beekeeper.

Early in the morning I’d heard a rumor that #Occupy Wall Street was relocating to Cadman Plaza. That didn’t seem to make much sense, but when I got there I saw a large crowd assembled around some tents on the Cadman Plaza East side. As I approached, I noticed that lots of the people were wearing pink. It proved to be a rest stop on the Avon Walk to End Breast Cancer.

To counter allegations by Pinnacle Group, which seeks to remove the trees in the courtyard between the A.T. White Riverside Apartments and the BQE to build an underground parking garage, that the trees are of recent growth, Bill Ringler, President of the Riverside Tenants’ Association, has done some sleuthing and found this photo, dating from the early 1900s and published in Hayes Historical Journal — A Journal of the Gilded Age, Volume IX, Number 1 (Fall 1989).

According to Mr. Ringler:

The photo was taken from the South of the fountain facing North to the rear of 24 Joralemon Street. The buildings on the left were demolished in the 50′s to construct the BQE. These trees are the same ones that exist today. It is evident by the limbs on the trees.

The photo is of the teachers and students of the Willow Place Chapel Kindergarten of the First Unitarian Church.

Addendum: Below is another photo taken at the same occasion, as it appeared on the cover of the Journal:

The flag has 45 stars, a configuration which lasted from 1896 to 1907.

As your correspondent returned from his morning walk, he found Jonathan Landsman, the Promenade Gardener, and a Parks Department crew, unloading plants from a truck. Some of these, along with bulbs, are to be planted tomorrow (Saturday, October 15) , which happens to be It’s My Park Day. If you would like to lend a hand, Jonathan asks that you join him at the Montague Street entrance to the Promenade at 9:00 a.m. Work will be done by 11:00 a.m.

If you’re interested in helping in the Promenade gardens through the fall season, you can meet Jonathan and the rest of the crew every Tuesday morning at 9:30 at the Montague Street entrance for a couple of hours of satisfying work. For more information, e-mail promgarden@aol.com

For the really energetic, tomorrow offers two opportunities for gardening work. As we previously reported, the folks who tend the Poplar Street Community Garden are looking for volunteers to help from noon until 3:00 p.m. So, you can help on the Promenade in the morning, grab a quick lunch (perhaps at the Tutt Cafe, which is on the way from the Promenade to the Poplar Street Garden), then pitch in at Poplar Street in the afternoon. You’ll get some good exercise, and feel very virtuous.

The gardeners who tend to the Poplar Street Community Garden, located at the northwest corner of Poplar and Hicks streets, are having their annual Fall Work Day this Saturday, October 15, from noon to 3:00 p.m.

Please join us as we ready the garden for winter and spring. We welcome your good company and helping hands to plant, prune, and weed! Come join us for an afternoon outdoors breathing fresh garden air and enjoying a bit of garden heaven! Tools and Refreshments will be provided.

For more information, e-mail poplargarden@gmail.com

More photos and text after the jump.

Max Pelzmann’s Canopy, formerly white, became bright red just before the DUMBO Arts Festival. You can find it near the park entrance at the foot of Main Street.

The East Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge from a new perspective, the lawn just south of Jane’s Carousel.

Has this been contributing to my wife’s and daughter’s sneezing? Goldenrod on Pier 1.

At least it’s keeping the bees busy making late-season honey.

A profusion of fall flowers on the landward side of Pier 1.

The schooner Clipper City heading out on a tourist cruise from the Seaport Museum, as seen from the pedestrian path near the south end of Pier 1.

Showy blossoms and berries, landward side of Pier 6.

Photos by Claude Scales for BHB.

It’s still three days away, and the path it follows changes continually, but the current (Thursday afternoon) “center” track of Hurricane Irene is now projected to pass through Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the eye could potentially go right over the Brooklyn Heights Area. The current expectation is that the Hurricane (it may be a less-powerful tropical storm by the time it gets here) will arrive sometime on Sunday, but the initial impact of wind and rain could hit the neighborhood earlier. The NYC Office of Emergency Management has announced that it will decide shortly whether to call for evacuations of low-lying areas prone to flooding, including One Brooklyn Bridge Park, Fulton Ferry, DUMBO and Vinegar Hill (the orange, yellow and green bands on the map show potential flood areas based on an increasingly strong storm impact; NYC Technical College and Brooklyn Tech HS have been identified as potential evacuation sites).

Residents in the path of a hurricane or tropical storm should be prepared to either evacuate or shelter in place at home or in designated shelters, with adequate food, water, batteries for flashlights and radios, and other necessary supplies. Information on preparing for a hurricane is available at OEM’s website. Information on the status of the hurricane will also be posted on the Brooklyn CB2 CERT Team website.

Check to FEMA Flood Zone Map to see if how at risk your block is here.

NYS Senator Daniel Squadron offers Hurricane Irene related links here.

Your correspondent took his morning walk today along Brooklyn Bridge Park from Pier 6 to DUMBO, and got some photos along the way. Here is the East River Ferry passing Pier 1 on its northbound run, making haste from downtown Manhattan to Fulton Ferry Landing. More photos and text follow the jump.

Plants along the pond at the southeastern edge of Pier 1 have grown considerably over the past month, and blossomed.

Seen from Brooklyn bridge Park in DUMBO, a catamaran yacht sails under the Brooklyn Bridge heading up the East River.

Plentiful rainfall this spring has made for lush foliage on Pier 1 of Brooklyn Bridge Park. On my morning walk through the park (I’ve taken to alternating my long walk over the Bridge with a shorter one down Squibb Hill to Pier 1, around the pier then back up to the Promenade) I noticed how easy it was in some places (ignoring the sound of BQE traffic and the occasional helicopter) to imagine oneself far from the city; for example, looking down toward the small pond near the park entrance at the foot of Old Fulton Street. (More photos and text after the jump.)

Spectacular floral displays are found near the pathways.

An abundance of sumac sometimes arches over the path. Here we see its red fruit, or drupes, used to make spice in the Middle East.

Could this swamp be home to something more sinister than Dodger the muskrat?

Here are more showy summer blossoms.

What’s that in the distance–could it be the fabled lost Isle of Manhattan?

Stargazing: Members of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York will be setting up their telescopes along the Pier 1 promenade this Thursday evening, June 16, from 8:30 to 10:30, and at the same time on the two successive Thursdays, June 23 and 30. Your correspondent attended an AAA viewing session on Pier 1 last summer, and saw some impressive sights. The AAA will also have viewing events on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, near the foot of Montague Street, on the first Wednesday of each month (July 6, August 3, September 7, and October 5), from dusk to 10:00 p.m., for the next four months. All dates and times for AAA events are weather permitting.

Crafts: Also this Thursday, June 16, from 4;00 to 8:00 p.m. on Pier 1 (you may stick around for stargazing if you wish) DUMBO based on-line craft marketing giant Etsy and the Church of Craft are sponsoring an open air (in case of rain, the event will be held at Etsy Labs, 55 Washington Street #712, in DUMBO) craft event.

Craft experts will be available to help with any projects you choose to bring. There will also be two crafts available for everyone: making a mystery bracelet and/or a mini-weaving!

Bring along any project and snacks suitable for the outdoors, and we’ll craft in the late afternoon sun to the tune of the East River, Brooklyn Bridge, and passing clouds.

Puppets, etc.: This coming Sunday, June 19, from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m, Pier 1 will be the venue for a free opening performance of Banners & Cranks: a cantastoria festival