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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Portrait of a parks commissioner: “This isn’t a walk. This is a sector patrol.”

I liked today’s New York Times portrait of Adrian Benepe, the Parks and Recreation Commissioner for all of New York City. The piece focuses a lot on how he relates to the parks outside of work, reminding me of my asking park maintenance workers in Berlin whether they still visit the parks in their personal time.
It sounds [...]

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Vertical farming coming to Manhattan?

Another note related to Earth Day and environmentalism: vertical farming! Farms may soon exist in the middle of Manhattan in the shape of skyscrapers. Watch the intriguing video on YouTube from Discovery-News.com:

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Brooklyn/Manhattan: Nightscapes, snow and parks

I must preface this post with an apology for uploading monochromatic, thick-of-winter photographs when it is clearly now spring. Spring! The city is bursting with new leaves and flowers which I have been excitedly documenting. But for now, I will use the excuse that it snowed last week – a brief, desperate flurry – to [...]

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Trees in the subway

There will be trees in the subway in Lower Manhattan, reported the New York Times today. Artists (and twin brothers) Mike and Doug Starn are completing an installation in the New South Ferry Terminal, which is being built below the existing South Ferry Terminal.

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Leaves in Central Park

Just a small post to share a sweet plant-related slideshow from the New York Times. Their dear old roving people-photographer and clothes-fan Bill Cunningham, who creates the Sunday Style’s “Man on the Street” column every week, was in Central Park this week. He was supposed to be looking at winter coats, but kept getting distracted [...]

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