Union Square Farmers Market

On our last day in New York we took the subway to Union Square. Emerging from that dark and sometimes dreary underworld directly onto a bright summer day full of color and life is an experience I have a hard time putting into words. The Union Square Farmers Market is perhaps the city's most famous and is the flagship of a program designed to promote regional farmers and producers. As someone who likes to eat as much as he likes to garden, I was amazed at what was being offered, including more than a few things I did not recognize. Besides fruits and vegetables, there were also cut flowers, potted plants, fresh bread, jams, jellies, preserves, herbs and lots of opportunities for people watching, and of course photography. The market operates several times a week and at peak season has about 140 vendors. It was the most diverse farmers market I have ever been to, and it must be welcome and therapeutic to many a New Yorker.

(Although my brain is still racked with indecision, I have decided that the photo below of carrots and squash will be my entry in this month's Picture This contest at Gardening Gone Wild. I am not sure why I chose this one over another, but it likely has something to do with the light.)

The day we were there, Park Ave. was closed to vehicles, and the walkers, joggers, bikers and skaters were enjoying the traffic-free street. It made me long for a bike and caused a locally dramatic drop in the city's ever present noise level, but added to the green peace of Union Square (I could almost here the waterfall mural).

If you would like to see the rest of my set, you can do so by visiting my Flickr page.

I♥NY

Amongst ourselves, we Southerners are often expected to hold New York City in mild disdain. This may be a reaction to one too many portrayals of slow-witted, moonshine drinking stereotypes being kept in line by fat sheriffs with bad accents. Even so, I want to go on record as saying "I love New York" - not quite enough to ever want to live there, but certainly enough to visit every so often. Though vacationing there can be expensive, when you factor in all that there is to do and see, with enough options free or nearly so, it can be more of a bargain than given credit for.

Atlas at Rockafeller Center

Central Park

The U.S.S. Maine Memorial

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Joe Pye visits the Battery

South Street Seaport

Some of Donald Trump's trees

Sycamore at the Battery

The Brooklyn Bridge

As fortune would have it, we were able to stay at The Chambers, a very nice boutique hotel just off of 5th Ave., near the Museum of Modern Art. Keeping in mind its location, the lobby, the halls and each of the well-appointed guest rooms are decorated with original contemporary art. Our suite had a bedroom, living room, plus a fantastic terrace. If it were not against the laws of physics, I would have packed the bathroom in my suitcase to take home to replace ours. In the spirit of full disclosure, the hotel's manager is a good friend of ours, and in fact it was through him that my wife and I first met. He was also responsible for our considerable room upgrade, and my brother paid the tab as a joint birthday present for my wife and myself. We are most thankful to both of them for a great trip.

The terrace...

...and its view

(more pictures here)

The High Line

From the first time I read of its proposal, The High Line has fascinated me. So I knew when we visited Manhattan this summer, I would make time to explore it, and I was not disappointed.

Rudbeckia at Chelsea Grasslands

The High Line was constructed in the 1930's to elevate freight trains above the streets of New York's Meatpacking District. For half a century it delivered the milk, meat and produce that a hungry city needed. Buildings were constructed around it and took advantage of railroad tracks right outside, or in some cases inside, their second story. The last train ran here in 1980 and the tracks soon fell into disrepair. Mother Nature, who even in Manhattan abhors a vacuum, set seed in the railroad bed. Perhaps, this weedy growth, an unusual history and the need for open space inspired the park.

10th Ave. Square

Today The High Line is richly planted, mostly with natives that seem perfectly at home among the tracks. The landscape evokes what may have been growing here when Manhattan was just a wild island along the Hudson. However, this park does not deny its human history, in fact it is embraced. There are also many spaces where busy people can relax on benches and lounge chairs, enjoy the city view, listen to concerts and mainly take advantage of the totally linear nature of the park and simply stroll above the busy streets.

Persicaria amplexicaulis

View Towards the Hudson

Liatris aspera

The Standard Hotel

Rhexia virginica

Along the Tracks

10th Ave. Square

Helenium x ‘Ruby Tuesday’

This is one of my favorite photos from the day, with Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium) blooms in the foreground and a well-known New York icon in the hazy distance. One of the reasons I published this post today was to be on time to enter the Gardening Gone Wild Picture This Photo Contest for August.

The High Line is perhaps the most unique garden I have ever visited, and few places so successfully integrate themselves into their surroundings. If you visit New York, put this on your to-do list. If you want to find out more The High Line has an excellent web site, that includes a month-by-month plant list, lots of historic and contemporary photos, a list of events, insight into its design and lots more. If you want to see how other photographers interpret this place, there is a Flikr group for The High Line where many other perspectives are shown, besides my own. At the end of my visit, I could glimpse the second section which will soon be open. We could see some of the plants where being installed to become another piece of the new New York.