20 flights and up. my experience with looking down the hole..

50 cents garden

There's a new garden in Jamaica, Queens that NYRP and 50 Cents non-profit, G-Unity put together and is now open. NYT's lame Anne Raver reports...

Hovering over central park

I often forget what the seasons look like on a larger scale when I'm always stuck inside the nyc walls. I spent most of the day over central park and couldn't help but get distracted by the clump of flora that most do not get to enjoy from a giants perspective. I miss country mornings and afternoons but this seemed to get my fix today:

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Mayans

My second favorite man whose name starts with 'J'

Jim Harrison has a new book out: The English Major. I'm still in the middle of it, but it is (naturally) great. It's no The Beast God Forgot to Invent" but has the same feelings and more boner references.
I adore everything this man writes:

hardscaping

sometimes in urban outdoor spaces, the hardscaping takes priority...and it's usually done because of economic practicality
and upkeep rather than aesthetics. For many residential spaces with
backyards in the city people are stuck with concrete or hasty tile
paths, but this brownstone garden on the upper east side has some
really amazing work. The circular steps are concrete leading up to an
elevated blue stone tile circle for the main patio. I think this work
was done about 20 years ago and the concrete steps have weathered
really nicely, and could pass for some material on the steps of some government building in India...or some giant coins falling in place....or something. It feels nice and the concrete and bluestone mixed with the brick facing on the back of the house work really well together.

More Proof...

that fashion ruins good things. Well, I'm sure not all good things happen in Namibia...but the ghost house in this photoshoot would be cool, if the model and the clothes weren't in it. Once upon a time in the Namibia? come on...

When good things are ruined by fashion

this is an excellent example of how something good (olympic national park) is ruined by something bad (NYT "T" magazine photoshoot of model with branches on her head in olympic national park). I mean come on... couldn't they have just gone to costa rica or to some yoga place in india or something?

hen of the woods

Leslie Lands husband has some great information on hunting for Hens of the Woods which are in season now until mid november in the upper hudson valley.

5th ave fencework

very nice fencework near 86th on the eastside:

Water Hyacinth

One of the spaces I work on has a fountain that we filled with Water Hyacinths. Although in the warm climates of the US and the world, this is a horribly invasive species (see link above.) But in a controlled pond or fountain I think it's quite cool and bulbous looking:

continued series: ornamental cats

cedric:

caught in the rain

There's been some really amazing storms in the city lately. I've been caught in all of them either on foot or on scooter and managed to get a couple of shots of the clouds pre-deluge:

Vitamin B is good for your head - Not good as a bug repellent

I guess some people will believe anything but when it comes to mosquito's and esecially the mosquito problems in Brooklyn with the Asian Tiger Mosquito, the only thing that seems to work is: a) get rid of any standing water b) smokes cigarettes, burn fires, stand next to the smoking grill, or burn inscents c) drink plenty of alcohol (they do not like drunk smelling skin). Outside of these simple deterents, nothing seems to work. See the Sci-Times bit here.

public service announcement

I know this is silly and it's old news for most, but Top Shop the best clothing and accessory store for the ladies is finally opening a place in the USA. Unfortunately it's being parked on Broadway in SoHo so it will be a crowd fighting experience which would usually keep me away...but I've been waiting for this day for years. The store opens mid October(ish). In the meantime you can shop their website.

worst assistant ever!

ok...no more cat pictures after this one.

Flowering Dusty Miller

I found this flowering Dusty Miller on a terrace yesterday which caught me by surprise because I only know this plant as purely foliage and the flower spike is nothing subtle and reminded me of an agave or yucca. (It's the silvery plant with the yellow flower.)

cats

i met this cat at a clients house today. He lured me to the stair case and he got these crazy cat eyes and then...pop, he hit me. Unlucky for him, he's been declawed.

conceptual Urban Farming gone mad

So apparently, there's this guy Dr. Despommier at Columbia who teaches the public health graduate program and about ten years ago he and his students made up some fairy tale, futuristic, vertical urban farms. If you read the article above you will see them in the slide show. Not only are they huge, but some of them are made of glass and are supposed to run "naturally" from solar light and wind. He created these because our cities have run out of old fashioned farm land and these towers of food farming will feed everyone locally.
It doesn't take a genius to know that these towers would be insanely expensive to build but they will also be expensive and not practical to run. The glass towers will turn into hot houses and the hydropnic irrigation sounds like you will need a full house of horticulturalists to keep the place in check from fungus, insects and mechanical problems. I would also like to note that there are plenty of empty and bare lots all over NYC that only need some raised beds and some TLC. Does everything have to be such a freaking spectacle of architecture and glam for the public just to simply get it?

Babies everywhere

Today in the garden:

oh hello

in human years, these are about 28 years old and they will be best consumed when they are 80ish in age (and temperature)

This man might be the reason for the yoga and obsessive workout craze!

Of course being active and healthy is important but I hate when people have to talk about it. My least favorite conversation (that will only happen in NY or LA) is the one that involves people talking about "yucky" food that will make then fat or a conversation that involves how much one spends in the gym or a working out. These beautiful scans are from a book my friend Carissa gave to me and Jason. Slim Goodbody used to scare me when I was little maybe because he either has no penis or he tucks in between his legs. Besides that, as I was paging through the book I caught mention of yoga and all the gym class motivational speak that you can catch in your corner NYSports club. I still have more research to do but I think that in 1983, Slim Goodbody and his creepy noodle limbs, was the beginning of the boring and epidemic personal trainer life that this city lives in:

Liberty Sunset recap

I've been meaning to write about my recent visit to Liberty Sunset Garden Center in Red Hook and I've been slacking, but when I got a comment from an anon comment yesterday from old posting about the garden center it reminded me that I need to write about my new visit experience.
About a week and a half ago I had to buy a few perennials and annuals for a client in Brooklyn and I knew that Liberty had expanded but I must tell you, they've expanded into fields of greenhouses and perennials beds FULL of amazing things. It is like a true suburban nursery and the selection I left with was the best I have ever purchased in the city. So city gardeners, landscapers and other freelancers, kiss LI goodbye and definitely go check out Libertys new space. It's about time someone is putting up smart competion against Chelsea Garden Center. (It's not so easy finding the perennial, tree and shrub area but just head towards the key lime pies and if you don't see it by then just ask one of the staffers.) web link above.

the life of a tick

Ticks are disgusting but the link above is a nice breakdown on the life of a tick. City dwellers don't have to worry about this so much but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the city parks are full of ticks. PS- whatever you do don't google image search "ticks."

400 year old boxwoods

I found this in a Garden book I have from Phaidon. I always loved the photo but when I did a little research on the size of the space it blew my mind even more. This is some impressive topiary work and although it's old Catholic Spain, it looks like it could pass for Mayan text. Amazing.

High lines renderings of sections 1 and 2

The joggers can suck it, because there's no jogging on the High Line.
Who knows when they're going to start planting this but it looks like Winter 08 will be the start. It looks great from the plan. We shall seeeeee....

a criminal has entered the gated community of Park Slope

I seriously hate these people. Not so much the white people and puppy below just the paranoid, super-sheltered people of the park slope blogging community. It's entertaining but the news that travels on these Brooklyn blogs is so lame.

my cellphone takes dramatic/romantic photos

the vegetables are growing up

before:



























after:

Holy molding

I kind of feel like we've been unburying ourselves out of some post earthquake diaster ever since the move. It's been a tough week cleaning and unpacking and there's still tons to do but here's some pics of the new place. I don't like to get too personal journaly on the blog but I think that this apartment has some really special details and I still haven't taken pictures of the little things like the door hinges and shutter knobs. So here's some pics of just the living room and a quick pic of the bathroom and it's original chandelier. More to come after I'm finished dusting!