By Susan Starr.
Our November speaker, Richard Darke, will be telling us all about the gardens of the High Line, a park which has been variously described in the press as a “gourmet taco truck,” “an archetype,” and a “post-industrial artifact.”
Intrigued? Find out more in these descriptions of the High Line:
"On High, A Fresh Outlook" in the New York Times describes phase one of the High Line, beginning with the line, “I keep picturing Carrie Bradshaw on the High Line, and it terrifies me,” and continues “I imagined turning on the television to see Carrie stumbling down its promenade with a broken heel, weeping over Mr. Big.”
"The High Line: New York’s Monument to Gentrification" describes the High Line as "the distressed skinny jeans of public parks, the gourmet taco truck of urban tourist attractions, and as such, it represents the high-water mark of the hipster aesthetic, which venerates poverty and decay as signifiers of authenticity."
The Washington Post''s "New York’s High Line: Why the floating promenade is so popular" explains why the High Line has become “an archetype for cities everywhere.”
Gardenista describes the High Line as a “dynamic and painterly park,” then gives us "10 Garden Ideas to Steal from the High Line in New York City," based on lessons learned about topics ranging from low-water use, to colorful foliage, to microclimates.
The Friends of the High Line choose a Plant of the Week. Recent choices: Pink Muhly Grass, Beautyberry, and Prairie Dock.
Or read "INTERVIEW: Landscape Architect James Corner On NYC’s High Line Park." Corner describes his involvement in the project by saying “the ‘Friends of the High Line’ were instrumental in creating this distinct image around the High Line—they established an aura that projected an idea that this was in fact a post-industrial artifact maintaining a sense of melancholy and other-worldliness in a city context that, by contrast, was ever-evolving and modernizing. But to take that detail and to actually instill and transform it into a public landscape where people can stroll, sit and enjoy amazing vistas across the city was too great an opportunity to pass up.”