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.