Rick Darke on the High Line

Rick Darke discusses the nature of wildness in a presentation sponsored by Friends of the High Line, in preparation for the start of work on Part 3 of the celebrated elevated park and garden in New York City. News was announced just today that Part 3, the most northern portion of the High Line around the West Side Rail Yards, will indeed move forward.



Rick Darke is one of the foremost writers on landscape design and horti-culture (with an emphasis on "culture") in the US, if not the world. He's also a superb photographer, and an exciting speaker and lecturer. Thanks to Friends of the High Line for sponsoring this series of talks, and especially for making a Rick Darke presentation available on the web.

Northern Spur in October 2010

These two photos of the Northern Spur Horticultural Preserve, taken a year apart, illustrate the complexity of wildness manifested over time. Watch the presentation for an explication of this process.

Northern Spur in October 2011

High Line at Night - Again

Click on the picture to see Judy's photos of our early evening visit to the High Line.

High Line at Night

We visited the High Line last night - not the way I hoped to see it for the first time, but it was a revelation none-the-less. Crowds of strollers, visitors in twos and threes, groups, loungers. The lighting even made it possible to enjoy some of Piet Oudolf's low plantings. But the big surprise was the mass plantings of Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), which invisibly perfumed the air with a unique fragrance for several hundred feet - like a silent message in the dark. Like an unexpected gift.

The High Line: new links

Friends of the High Line have put up two videos of interest to anyone following the progress of this new elevated park in Manhattan. (See previous post.)

The first is a history of the High Line, narrated by Ethan Hawke.

This one is a silent presentation on design of the High Line by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the project architect, and Field Operations, the landscape architect. Typically, the architect and landscape architect downplay the horticultural aspect of the project: there is no mention of Piet Oudolf, who is designing the plantings.