the Times atrium

So this is the squared off atrium between 41st and 40th St. in new Times building (between 8th and 7th ave) which can be seen and accessed from the main lobby area. I've been curious about this because the company I work for bid on this initial atrium project and also because I happened to walk by this giant ugly building more than any other giant ugly building in my life...so it's hard not to wonder about it. The tree's inside this little atrium are 50-60' tall Birches, and I happened to walk by on the crane installation day and they were looking alright, but I've taken on look on several other occasions and I would put money on the idea that 90% of the tree's are kaput. This is not the best photo - so I encourage you to walk by it if you're ever in the area, because this project sucks and it's kind of fun to watch this idea fail within this eyesore. The landscape architect is Hank White and it's $1million+ project and it does look really nice on paper and there are some very fancy selling points when you look at the details (http://www.hmwhitesa.com/html2004/index.html ) ANNND I know this is only the beginning weeks of install but judging by the rest of the building (meh) I look forward to seeing what the critics have to say.

what i realized while lunching with martha

Actually, I wasn't really lunching with Martha, just her minions. I mean they were nice people and all but my interview for the Associate Garden Editor position wasn't exactly the dream job I was hoping it could be. Before walking in there, I always had a more than normal amount of respect for Martha mostly because I think her insider trading charges were ridiculous and she's built a "Mass Class" empire out of the wonderful things in life; like cooking, traveling, gardening. It's nice to find a lady in the big city who you can exchange recipes with... and I also think she's done a good job keeping respect from everyone at the table as far as demographic - especially in the city. Anyway, after sitting with a script reading HR woman I then met with the editor of the gardening dept. He's nice enough, polite, non-intimidating but the things that come out of his mouth were so so boring. "there are no interesting gardens in the south" " we like to do our shoots in New England and in San Fransisco where the sophisticated horticulture lives" "we can't shoot or write about any gardens in the south because it was all created out of function not aesthetic" ...... How boring and sad. So as he is talking I am realizing how inappropriate it was for me to think that I would fit in well at this place and gets me thinking about how many amazing places I forget to photograph or mean to write about which is why I am making it my Fulltime Nighttime project to share all information on gardening topics in urban and non-urban areas. Which is why I'm back in sticking my toe in the blog water, which is very crowded but ... whatever. Sharing gardening practice should not only be about aesthetic - it is also about trading practical information. I know for a fact that I will learn more from someone who has needed to garden as a way to live than from someone who feels the need to to write and photograph an article about Begonia's - although i love unique varieties of Begonia's, to talk about it with a bunch of upper class - suburban white people sitting around in a white room with Martha logo's everywhere seems like a guaranteed descent into depression. Opinions on taste and aesthetic are so boring from trained professionals...am i right? Sorry for the long rant - just something that happened to me today.

leave my little pecker alone

So this is pretty awesome...I started winterizing our garden (in brooklyn NYC.. might i remind you) and this amazing and fast little guy was doing some tree inspection about 3 feet away from me for about 5 minutes! He was all business and call me an old lady, but it was certainly a highlight of my week. More winterizing info to come on the barerooting exerperiment of my banana tree....