The Urban Pantheist

I am indebted to my friend Ale (pronounced Allie) for suggesting the Cedar Grove Cemetery for our October Urban Nature Walk. It's large, beautiful, and unique. It borders the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester on one side and the Neponset River on the other. It is well-planted with sugar maples and other plants that are aglow with autumn colors (including the Boston ivy shown here).( Read more... )

Boston Ivy. Probably the organism that appears most often in this year's project.

Alexis shows what it takes to get the right shot. Maggie, as she often is during Alexis' best photography, at the end of a 6 foot lead.

I can't overstate how nice it is to live in a place where there are public art shows. I really urge anyone who lives in the Boston area to come and see this show. There are 14 pieces; I don't love all of them, but some of them are truly transformative, making you feel like you are in a strange new place.

When I posted a picture of the artist making this piece, someone asked what kind of wood it was. I asked the artist when I saw him the other day, and he said they were various kinds of saplings, chosen for their straightness.


Maggie sits on the bed, worried by a noise outside, and framed by Boston ivy.

Tonight we came upon a juvenile red-tailed hawk, feeding on something on the riverbank.

( what it was eating plus other things )

Boston ivy fruit on my bedroom window screen.

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: the Winsor School, Boston.

Urban species #274: Boston ivy Parthenocissus tricuspidata

There are many buildings in Boston (and across the river, Cambridge) that are ivy covered, some of them famously. For a while now I have suspected that much of it is not "true" ivy (Helix spp., to be dealt with in a future post) but some other plant. My main pieces of evidence included the fact that the Boston ivy's leaves change colors in fall, and drop before winter. True ivy is evergreen. Also, I read the assertion that true ivy (a European native) feeds no birds with its fruit. Boston ivy used to cover the building I live in, and I would watch mockingbirds perch on my windowsill and eat its blue berries. As I finally learned today, the Boston ivy is in fact, a plant called "Boston ivy."

It is a relative of grape and Virginia creeper, and also goes by the common name "Japanese creeper." This name may be more appropriate, since Boston ivy is actually native to Asia. The plant does have a genuine connection to my city, however, as one of the varieties discovered and cultivated at the Arnold Arboretum goes by the name "Fenway Park." Chicago's baseball park, Wrigley Field, also has Boston ivy growing on its walls. In fact, the main use of this plant is to cover masonry on large buildings like stadiums and schools, and in at least one case, a parking garage. I'll leave it to readers in New Haven, Providence, Ithaca, Hanover, Philadelphia, and Princeton to check to see if the rest of the League is covered by ivy, or Boston ivy.

( Read more... )

Thanks to interfecta from the urban_nature community for the identification!