The Metropolitan Field Guide

Interview with Julie Feinstein

Kelly Brenner — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:21 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:46 +0000

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. © 2013, Kelly Brenner. All rights reserved.

The Virtuous Weed:: Common Groundsel

Kelly Brenner — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:00:17 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:00:15 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:00:56 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:56:34 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:00:52 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:00:40 +0000

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

Kelly Brenner — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:00:26 +0000

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 [...]

Wildlife Plant:: Stinging Nettle

Kelly Brenner — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:39:14 +0000

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) may be considered a painful weed by most, but it is a complicated plant with many hidden virtues ranging from a valuable wildlife plant to making beer. While most people are well aware of the evils of Stinging Nettle, not many are familiar with the good. The complexities of the Stinging Nettle [...]

Book Review:: Ecosystem Services Come to Town

Kelly Brenner — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:23:36 +0000

The most important objective in the management of the environment must the the maintenance of biodiversity and the habitats that support it, because without this we cannot survive. When a book has a quote like this, it’s a must-have for me. Ecosystem Services Come to Town: Greening Cities by Working With Nature is a new [...]

Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens Post:: How to Collect Native Plants

Kelly Brenner — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:00:50 +0000

This is an excerpt from my latest post at the Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens blog. Click the link below to visit the full post. Finding native plants can be hard work. Here in Seattle, there are a handful of nurseries which carry a few odd native plants. There are native plant nurseries, but nearly [...]