A great closing to a great time at Open Source gallery

Now that we’ve had a breather after our breathless and beautiful residency at South Slope’s Open Source, I want to start sharing images and footage of what we did there for those who couldn’t make it – and also for those who did visit and contribute, but want to revisit! This video captures just one song of many from our closing event, the Jam for the Plants.

Our residency at Open Source has begun!

Urban Plant Research’s first New York exhibition and residency began last Saturday at Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn! It kicked off with an opening party filled with friends, neighbors, fellow artists and plant lovers, pizza and beer.

Friedhof im August: Balkon & Garten

The newest issue of Balkon & Garten, the reader-generated magazine by our friend and soon-to-be-publisher Anke, has arrived! And in style. The release party on Saturday was the talk of the blogs, and songwriter Graf Tati made a theme song just for this issue – with music video.

Ailanthus-stories: Reader photos from Karlsruhe, Germany

We recently received correspondence from Maz, one of our readers in Germany, who sent us photographs of ailanthus altissima, the tree of heaven. He had previously commented on Leslie’s post about the infamous tree, excitedly mentioning that it was his favorite tree and that he had written an article on it a few years ago for his university magazine!

He commented, “Somehow it always reminds me that it doesn’t matter how bad we treat the environment, there are always plants and animals which can deal with that and will even survive mankind.” But he added: “Still I think treating the environment in a good way is the better option.”

I love this photograph above, with the tree of heaven sapling looking so happily squished into its tiny nook. As I wrote in my followup post to Leslie’s, this tree almost seems to prefer growing out of the most restrictive spaces.

Brooklyn: Urban Plant Videos!

On July 12, in the high noon sun, I caught sight of a plant living down below the street, underneath the subway grates at 9th Street and 6th Avenue.

Brooklyn: Climbing plants (in and out of control)

With the ivy-graffiti still on my mind, I’d like to share some more amazing instances of climbing plants I’ve discovered in Park Slope. This photograph that I took a little while ago, with its lush, dark ivy, reminds me of Leslie’s photograph of Juncker’s Hotel Garni, minus the beautiful way the ivy flows into windowboxes.

Brooklyn: Ivy-graffiti, revisited

Last fall, I was impressed by the multi-colored transformation of ivy on the side of a building above the Prospect Highway, which outdid the artistry of the graffiti underneath it. To my dismay, I recently discovered that the ivy has been cut back and entirely removed from the lower part of the wall, leaving a mass of dead leaves on dead branches still clinging to higher part of the wall, extending almost to the roof, out of reach.

Berlin yesterday: Book, photo, film

Stills from Flip Flop by Anke 

Yesterday was an eventful day for Urban Plant Research in Berlin. I had a visit in the studio with Anke from the artistic-botanic small press Beton + Garten Verlag, which is working with us on our first Urban Plant Research book.

Stockton, CA: “Family Sees Image Of Michael Jackson In Tree Stump”

Photo courtesy CBS

Though perhaps a bit off topic, this CBS13 article from my hometown, “Family Sees Image Of Michael Jackson In Tree Stump,” was too good to go unmentioned. Talk about plants making shapes and speaking to us! And holding mirrors up to our minds…

Berlin: Rose of Jericho, revisited

About this time last year, I bought a Rose of Jericho at a tea shop. The Rose of Jericho is a plant that looks brown and dead until it is watered. Then unfurls, turning green in the center and smelling like the forest floor.