Just a Bit of The High Line in January

I was at the High Line this afternoon and of course, when I was there I felt that the place had been designed solely for me and for a sunny winter day, with all kinds of wonderful plant parts catching the sunlight or in silhouette giving me a place to rest my eyes. But at the same time, I know the park wasn't conceived and designed solely for plant geeks and garden nuts, although plants are one of its most important design elements. For a lot of people, I'd imagine it's just this cool public space raised above the city streets, a transportation corridor repurposed as a park, that provides a place to sit or walk, explore or take in a view of the Hudson and Manhattan skyline, and that's fine too. You don't have to be mad for witchhazel (although quite frankly, how could you not be?) to have noticed it today or know what grass seed head caught your eye to have enjoyed the sight of both. But the sight alone might spark the curiosity to know a little more about plants. You never know. I woke up to plants through vegetable gardening. For some people, the High Line might be the thing to do it.

                                   Calamagrostis brachytricha in January at the High Line

         Because the darkest of browns counts as a color too

Buds, Berries and Leaves: Color and The High Line

Pretty sure these are next year's flowers, just beautiful buds right now on a deciduous native azalea. There aren't plant signs at The High Line, but you can find their plant list online. The buds remind me a lot of the Swamp Azalea (Rhododendron viscosum) in the bed right outside of Native Flora at Brooklyn Botanic and I wouldn't be surprised if it is that species. (It is on the plant list)

An almost unreal display of berries on the Harlequin Glorybower (Clerodendrum trichotomum, Asian origin).

And the bright orange leaves on a cutleaf Sumac. A garden is never just about the flowers, and in the fall and in a place like The High Line, that's incredibly easy to see. It's almost time to start focusing on buds again and the beauty beyond the blooms, a good project to take me through a cold winter.

On The High Line Now

with Susan and Pat in Mid-August, thinking about the plant families we ought to get to know better. We settled on the Lamiaceae (mint family) and Asteraceae (composite). With something along the lines of 30,000 species between the two, that ought to keep us busy for a little while. And it will give us a good excuse to take walks in beautiful New York City spaces looking at flowers and call it studying.

Brief Encounters of the Sweetest Kind

With early evening light on the High Line



With some kind of Rhododendron species that reminds me of the Florida Flame Azalea planted curbside on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn



And with a wild beach plum (a native) just starting its bloom down by the shore.



And just like that again, April is gone.

The High Line Mid-April

Species tulips. Amelanchier blossoms.



and the grasses, oh my.

Volunteering The High Line Green Up

Spent this windy late-winter day volunteering at The High Line Green Up, cutting back last year's growth on sedges, grasses and perennials that were left as they were for the public to enjoy in the winter season. The conditions are pretty unforgiving up on that old railway, with almost no shade and accelerated winds due to the elevation and proximity to the water. So you really have to give it up for the plants that thrive there and also to the park's staff working and gardening out year-round in this environment.



The brightest spot of color of the day? The rosy buds of the Viburnum x bodnantense, getting ready to bloom real soon.


Rosy flower buds of the Viburnum x bodnantense in late winter on the High Line

Three Grasses of Fall

Brilliant color of Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' at the High Line in late October

The grasses of fall were a riot of textures and colors, in both foliage and seed, and something spectacular to witness at both Brooklyn Botanic and the High Line. This post is an excuse to be reminded of them and the richness of the season that just passed and also a reminder to learn more about grasses in 2011. (Also, I was without my camera today so had to go into the archives for photo material.) Below are two grasses from fall 2010 at Brooklyn Botanic: A Hakonechloa variety in the Japanese Garden, stunning in late November, and a Miscanthus from the lovely Discovery Garden for children.































Hakonechloa in the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden, Brooklyn Botanic, Fall 2010































Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' in the morning at the Discovery Garden

The High Line

I'm a fan of Rails to Trails for their vision in taking defunct passageways that were once vital for shipping or passenger travel and reinventing them as cycling/pedestrian/horse trails all over the country, so touring the High Line here in New York city was pretty cool. Land use might not seem like a hip topic, but when you get down to it, it really is the only game in town and always has been, especially in a town as populated and developed as Manhattan. The High Line is also a good place to learn about designing an urban landscape, gardening or growing plants in tough or unusual places and to think about how to use the space here, this city, now and in the future. It was a beautiful, unseasonally warm day to boot.