Trees after Hurricane Sandy

The damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, as documented above by the Metropolitan Transit Authority, included flooding in the South Ferry subway station in lower Manhattan, home to the lovely tree installation by the Starn brothers we reported on four years ago. Back then, the station looked like this:

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New York blog tip: local ecologist

Photo courtesy of local ecologist.

local ecologist is a super-knowledgable urban ecology blog in New York, with whom Urban Plant Research has long been exchanging ideas and comments, and whom we are long overdue in recommending. From lovely photos and accurate IDs of local fruits and foliage (as in the picture above, of hawthorn) to investigations of urban space and architecture, local ecologist reports on a wide variety of subjects and is packed with in-depth information.

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LaGuardia Airport, NY: Bathroom plant research

Our roving plant reporter Phoebe Kuo, aka my sister, found a birthday bouquet yesterday while traveling through LaGuardia Airport in New York City late at night. Although she had just endured a late evening flight following a long day of work, our birthday girl was on the alert for urban plants and snagged this cell phone shot of the perfect pretzel pairing. Is Auntie Anne’s pretzels, a LaGuardia snack mainstay, offering urban plants in Big Gulp-sized cups? If so, you heard it here first.

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Manhattan: “Low line” underground park proposed

And now for something completely different… simply by proposing a new park, three New York entrepreneurs have made waves among Manhattanites, urban planners and architecture nerds. The reason: their want to put the park completely underground, in a defunct trolley station on the Lower East Side, which looks like this:

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Vieira de Leiria, Portugal: Giant kale

What could be behind this wall?

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Mons: Windowsill plant friends

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NY Parks Department now against foraging?

Edible plants (woodruff and bear’s garlic) spotted on a foraging tour in a Berlin park.

The New York Times chimed into our discussion on urban foraging this weekend with an article about the New York City Parks Department enforcing park rules about foraging: namely, that it is not allowed.

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New York trees wear urban tumbleweeds

Speaking of “urban tumbleweeds,” a.k.a. plastic bags and other trash blown through the city, I began to notice back in early spring just how many street trees have some kind of trash caught in them. It’s probably not so apparent now that the trees have grown their full summer coat of foliage, but back then the number was astonishing. Nearly every tree I passed had some kind of plastic bag, ragged rag, bit of orange construction mesh, or other scrap adorning its bare branches, as if this were some kind of fashion trend for trees.

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Urban Tumbleweeds in Redwood City, NYC, Nevada

Today’s photo comes courtesy of reader and sister Phoebe, who writes from California: “In a town covered in pavement, aka Redwood City, the origins of this 4 foot wide tumbleweed is a mystery.”

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Talking trees in the Bronx! and other art in NYC parks

Photo courtesy Katie Holten on treemuseum.ning.com

Folks, I cannot tell you how excited I was to discover that a tree museum is opening June 21 along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx! 100 trees along the historic boulevard will each be linked to an audio excerpt (via a number you call on your phone) containing the voice of an individual talking about life in the Bronx.

This public art project was created by Katie Holten to celebrate the centennial of the Concourse, which she realized should incorporate the trees as much as the neighbors. I like that she pointed out that “the Concourse has always been tree-lined, even before it was paved.” in the New York Times article about this piece. Follow the link to the article for sample audio clips.

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