Mysteriously multiplying Christmas trees in Brooklyn

“How did my seven-unit building produce ten dumped trees? Don’t ‘miracle of Christmas’ me, Brooklyn, you’ve got some explaining to do,” says playwright and keen-eyed New Yorker Mike Lew.

Any theories?

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Berlin: Deciduous Christmas trees in Kreuzberg

The folks on Dresdenerstraße, a little street tucked away behind Kottbusser Tor in Berlin-Kreuzberg, have gotten up several of their currently leafless street trees with colorful baubles and ribbons. For once, Christmas finery isn’t reserved for the conifers.

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Berlin: Tie me up! Tie me down!

Little tied-up Christmas trees wobbling around a Berlin hotel courtyard today, looking like so many skinny stockinged bank-robber heads.

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Berlin: temporary trees at Alexanderplatz station

Outlines of seasonal urban plants appeared at Alexanderplatz station on a recent foggy morning.

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Chicago: Christmas tree stood up, in November

Yesterday, artist Matt Maldre published this photo of an enormous Christmas tree jumping the gun, standing to attention over a month before Christmas. He wrote on his Instagram feed:

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Germany: the fate of Christmas trees in January

What’s this? Could it really be a polar bear getting ready to eat a discarded Christmas tree? Indeed, our friend and faithful Urban Plants reader Phyllis alerted us to a strange and amazing January urban plant tradition that takes place each year in zoos all around Germany.

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Berlin: Autumn comes to a close, even indoors

Recently, I noticed that even my houseplant is losing leaves. As fall comes to a close, it seems to be happening in my apartment as well as outside. The Christmas season has arrived here too, meaning that our potted Norfolk Pine is having its annual star turn as a Christmas tree. It may look a bit odd, but it’s nice not to have to throw out a Christmas tree in January and the pine makes an amiable roommate during the rest of the year.

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Berlin: Imported Trees

Yesterday in cold, gray Berlin-Lichtenberg, an area marked by massive high-rises, I saw this 7-story local tree, graceful with long, hanging pods, surrounded by a flock of new arrivals. The impressiveness of the resident tree made the activity of importing Christmas trees, restrained in nets and cordoned off by construction fences, look kind of silly and cheap.

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