Since I haven't managed a visit to the High Line yet this summer, I'm posting a slide show of a visit friend Judy Mann made in June, as well as a few closing photos in the park along the Hudson River. So take a look at how
Piet Oudolf's plantings are fairing in their second year. Click
here to see Judy's slide show.
Thanks, James! I almost peed myself when I saw the title of this newest post. It seems to me Oudolf has been fairly restrained in his plantings along the Highline. They're especially naturalistic even for him, yes? They really are much like an amplified version of the plant community that appeared on it when it was abandoned for so many years. It's Nature versus Advanced Capitalism in the hot heart of the city. Heh heh.
ReplyDeleteAn aside, but if interested, here's a report on the monarch population, with a note on New England: http://monarchwatch.org/blog/2010/07/monarch-population-status-9/
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly more restrained than what we're used to seeing from Piet Oudolf, much more subdued than a more typical Oudolf planting, perhaps because the space is so constrained. I think I see Stachys 'Hummelo' and Sesleria autumnalis in that first picture, so there's no attempt to be "native." Those plants certainly didn't blow in on the wind, so to speak. I remember from an evening visit last summer there were massive plantings of Sporobolus heterolepis, a native certainly but not in New York, that strongly perfumed the air in darkness, a powerful experience for anyone with a sense of smell. So I'd say Mr. Oudolf is taking advantage of other senses to make up for the more spare visual statement.
Thanks, Benjamin. I haven't seen that site before, and it helps explain what I'm seeing, or rather not seeing.
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