Berlin: Field flowers on Oranienstraße

In a grungy steel planter in front of a cute little mite of a delicatessen in Kreuzberg,

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Berlin: banana tree

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Berlin: Moss real estate

Moss house in Berlin.

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New Haven area: photography by Jordan Nodelman

Yellow Line, photograph by Jordan Nodelman

Can plants in the suburbs also be considered urban plants, or is their situation completely different? What about places like Greater New Haven, Connecticut, that feel urban in some areas and like suburbia in others? Can interesting frictions be observed between plants and the human environment in these places? During my recent trip to New Haven’s City-Wide Open Studios, I had the privelege of meeting and seeing the work of a local artist, Jordan Nodelman, who is exploring the built environment of this area (and others) and often captures plants in relation to man-made structures of all sorts. Read on for more…

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Berlin: You’re so vain…

Plants in the bathroom mirror. Spotted this morning on the sidewalk of Gubener Straße, one of Friedrichshain’s greenest hidden little streets.

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Berlin: A summer’s worth of wild growth

Things are lushest at the end of summer, especially this summer in Berlin. Weeks of rain alternating with a few super-hot days mean plants growing prodigiously and in more places than I’ve ever seen – or am I just noticing them more? Above, arugula elbows in next to the stinging nettle near the Modersohnbrücke in Friedrichshain, the bridge where young folks gather to watch the sunset. Now they can have a little snack with their cheap beer.

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Berlin: Knit for the trees

Tackily dressed, but warm, tree spotted in Samariter Kiez in Berlin-Friedrichshain.

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Berlin: Green under the manhole cover

Did you ever wonder… what can happen under… under a manhole cover? I had to stop in my tracks while strolling around Sonntagstraße in Berlin-Friedrichshain recently – there was something alive down there!

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San Francisco: Richmond chronicler captures local plants

Let’s take a little trip around San Francisco with local photographer Melinda Earle. She documents the Richmond neighborhood in series of lovely slice-of-life cell phone shots called The Richmond Chronicles, as well as shooting around town. Every so often, she catches odd juxtapositions of San Francisco’s pastel architecture and squeezed-in plant life, like the one above, at 8th and Balboa. I’m happy to be able to share a few of these plants here.

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London: Larger-than-life plant street art

Today’s Urban Plant was photographed by one of my favorite photographers on Instagram, @akafrank. He spotted this mesmerizing street art on Felix Street in Cambridge Heath, London. Here’s the exact location on Google Maps.

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