Berlin: Incidentally observed Friedrichshain plants (or, Instaplants)

Taped-off scene of destruction: urban plant carnage at Boxhagener Platz in Berlin.

Now that Urban Plant Research has an Instagram feed in addition to this here blog, some plants I see wind up landing only one on platform or the other – it’s hard to keep tabs on them all. Here’s a trove of Berlin summer plants that I’ve recently posted on Instagram.

Read Full Post »

Austin, TX: She spots plants in low places

These two urban houseplants have very unusual pots. The photograph, entitled “pisspots,” was taken by Alana Mandel in Holy Cross Hall at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Read on for the logical explanation behind this situation…

Read Full Post »

Fort Collins, Colorado: urban plants with Holly Wolsey

Dear readers, Holly Wolsey’s plant photos are so charming, I’m hoping they’ll make you forget all about the past week of no Urban Plant Research posts. (I’m sorry, it’s been busy hereabouts!) Holly’s a photographer in Colorado who I recently met, who actually doesn’t particularly focus on plants – she’s a professional portrait photographer as well as a wonderful documenter of daily life – but I just love her plant photos and her eye for the beauty of little plants and trees in the city. So I’m going to share a whole bunch of them today.

Read Full Post »

‘Round the world, instantly, with plant photographers

Let’s travel to some cities other than Berlin and New York to marvel at their plant life. Our guides will be a couple of photographers from Instagram, a Twitter-esque network for sharing mobile phone snapshots. It’s a fun way to experience daily life in faraway cities, especially when you glimpse some greenery, as in the the lovely shot above, “Amsterdam morning,” by Ulla Välk (@bliksem). She’s based in Amsterdam but travels frequently, sharing sights from around Europe. Read on for more from Ulla…

Read Full Post »