Brooklyn: More on plants in the nighttime

Last summer I ruminated about whether urban plants are able to “sleep” in the presence of street lamps. (It sure is difficult for those of us humans with a light shining right into our window!) My mind came back to this question as I was taking a few more pictures of plants at night. Above, [...]

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Brooklyn: Plants making shapes

If a plant was trying to talk to you, would you know it? Would you be able to decipher the message?
As I passed a giant spread of ivy covering the chain-link fence along Prospect Ave. (betw. 5th + 6th Aves), I noticed shapes made by the ivy in its in-between spaces. Might these shapes be [...]

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We have a winner! Subway quiz prizes & answers

Our quiz about plants near Berlin’s U8 subway line is officially over! The poster in the Bernauer Straße station came down last week and it’s time to announce a winner and reveal the answers to the quiz.
If you haven’t tried the quiz, you can still find it here – just for fun, no more prizes [...]

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A tree grows in Brooklyn (in the unlikeliest places)

Excited that the topic of discussion had turned to the tree of heaven, I went out yesterday to photograph (in the rain) my favorite specimen of ailanthus altissima so far: a couple of trees growing in a tiny city park that borders the Prospect Highway. Well, actually, describing them as “in” the park isn’t really [...]

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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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Buenos Aires; Frankfurt: Potted plants with personality

Yet more peculiar plants from other places, courtesy of a reader. My sister Phoebe is a frequent flier with an eye for odd details in the streets, including curious plants. Here are a few greens she spotted in Tokyo.
The picture above is from her recent trip to Buenos Aires. She writes: 

This is the main street [...]

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Brooklyn: We’re showing at Open Source in August!

On Sara’s block in Brooklyn, two of her neighbors have created a community-oriented art space called Open Source, mixing exhibitions, workshops for kids, potluck dinners and other participatory events. We very much like their idea of providing “a place for art in the midst of daily life.” So happily, they’ve invited us to present an Urban Plant [...]

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Berliners enjoy final spring flowers

Last week Anke wrote, “Der Frühling ist so schnell. Man kommt nicht hinterher. Man muss genau gucken und sich sagen, das ist nur heute so. Und dann ein Foto machen.” (Spring is so fast. You can’t keep up. You have to take a good look and tell yourself, it’s only like this today. And then [...]

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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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Happy Earth Day!

On the occasion of Earth Day, I present to you a pot of hydrangeas I discovered in an empty storefront window while walking down 6th Ave. in Brooklyn. Please take a moment today to look around at our green neighbors, appreciate their beauty, and recognize how essential they are to our survival. (Of course, readers [...]

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