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hover fly on a purple aster flower

Flies Love Flowers in Washington Square Park

Asters are blooming. Syrphid flies aka Flower Flies are visiting them. The USDA writes, “Flies are among the most frequent visitors to flowers and important pollinators of a wide range of plants. Syrphid flies are often referred to as flower flies….The Syrphidae family is broken down into 3 subfamilies and 15 tribes, containing more than 6,000

acorn of swamp white oak

We love the trees of Washington Square Park

We have been tree lovers since forever. This post is devoted to some of the trees in the park. Shown above are two Crape Myrtles blooming with red flowers. Is the Crape Myrtle a tree or a shrub? (shrug emoji) This woody plant has a three month flowering season. Red, purple, pink, white flowers? There

Quercus debuted in Washington Square Park in July 2022

Summer isn’t over but we are gearing up for the fall. We hope to bring the Tour de Quercus (the genus name for oak trees) to the park on City of Forest Day, October 14, 2023. The event will include the original Quercus sculpture and a second to be fabricated this summer (with funding from

Landscaped parks, like Washington Square Park, are cool!

The predicted temperature for later this week is +90F with a real feel of 105F. New York City’s forested natural areas are the coolest place to be according to the new Cooling Cities report by the Natural Areas Conservancy. If a natural area is too far afield, you can find respite in the shadier areas