SUMMER ON THE HIGH LINE

One month after I took my first astonishing walk on The High Line, I returned with my family to view the miracle that has been wrought in the Old Meat Packing District of New York City.The Friends of the High Line and the design teams they selected have transformed an elevated section of dysfunctional railroad track built in 1930, into New York City’s newest park. I insisted that my visiting family see for themselves.

Summer has brought a
meadow-like effect with
strips of native and
non-native flowering
perennials and grasses.
Trees and shrubs provide
some height. On that
Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
only a few runners, a
man with his coffee and
MacBook, and some
quiet strollers joined us.
As the morning pro-
gressed, more people
arrived.

I saw the city in a new
and secret way. As
traffic honked below, I
was eye level with sec-
ond floors and roofs of
other buildings. There
was bird song.
Some sumac was in fruit.
I spied the only building
that Architect Frank
Gehry has designed and
built in New York City. I
glimpsed a large liner
and tug on the Hudson
River and walked around
the top of the Chelsea
Market. It’s all here.

There are just enough
glimpses of rusty track,
wooden ties and details
evoking memories of
the old railroad,
that I had the same
frisson as I did when
as a girl, I walked the
forbidden Pennsy RR
tracks two doors away
from our home. I fantasized putting a copper penny on these tracks, and having a steam locomotive roll over it to produce a flat souvenir as I did years ago.

On prominent display now, drifts of gay feather (Liatris spicata), not one of
my favorite garden flowers but here buffeted by the winds, looking as if it
belongs; three cultivars of coneflower (Echinacea purpurea); blackeyed
Susans; a lovely variety
of Joe Pye (Eupatorium
dubium ‘Little Joe’) that
I grow on my roof in a
container; the silvery
fragrant native herb,
Mountain Mint
(Pycnanthemum
muticum); Sedum
telephium ‘Red Cauli’; and bright red sneezeweed (Helenium x ‘Rubinzweig’).

My girls, both plant
lovers and gardeners
were suitably impressed.
My son-in-law who has
the critical eye of one
who does historical
restorations for a living
has nothing but positive
words for those who
saved this structure.
And my husband, an
avid non-gardener is
wowed by the beauty
and serenity of this
special city hide-out.

Notes of warning. I'm
told The High line gets
crowded weekends and
holidays midday and
later.

A second section from
W. 20th St. to W. 30th
St. opened in June '11and an additional spur line north of 30th St.is still is awaiting redevelopment.
Turn up the sound on your computer and click bottom right tear-drops to view the BEFORE pictures on video full screen.

BEFORE, NYC from ellen platt on Vimeo.

time for a drink

You know how karma swirls in circles? You find yourself on the same block three times in one week. You run into someone twice in a single day, someone you haven't seen in months. Or...suddenly everyone is talking about drip irrigation.

I don't take on a new client without a drip irrigation system. Most of my city gardens are in containers, and containers dry out more quickly than in-ground gardens. Water evaporates through the sides of porous containers and soil temperatures are warmer than those of in-ground gardens, which leads to quicker evaporation and transpiration. During the height of the summer heat, container gardens can need water every day, maybe several times a day, depending on the size and placement of the containers. Frankly this is way too much work for me, and it would be foolish for a client to pay me my hourly rate to stand there and water when a simple machine could do it without sweating or feeling resentful.

Automatic irrigation is something I take for granted, but it's come to my attention that some people can't quite picture how drip irrigation works in a container garden.

1) If you don't have a hose bib (spigot) on your terrace or back yard, hire a plumber to install one. Check with your building first to make sure this is allowed.


2) Attach a backflow preventer and a filter to the hose bib. The backflow preventer (sometimes called an anti-siphon) keeps contaminants (fertilizer, dog pee, etc.) from travelling back into the plumbing of your apartment or home. This is required by law in most states and is generally a good idea everywhere. The filter prevents particulates from passing through the system where it might clog thin hoses and emitters. In the image below, the filter is the black, grenade shaped appendage appearing just right of the red faucet.


3) A pressure regulator may also be necessary to reduce the water pressure running through the irrigation system. Drip irrigation systems generally operate at 20-30 psi (pounds per square inch), which is lower than the water pressure of most residences. The pressure regulator insures that great rushing streams of water don't rip apart your newly installed system.


4) Next come the solonoid valves. You'll need a valve for each zone of your garden (the above set-up shows 3 solonoid valves). These remote control valves are opened and closed by an electric timer/controller (we'll get to that in a minute). A large terrace might need different zones for areas with varying water requirements: sunny and shady areas, small window boxes and large mixed containers. With different zones you can give your sunny, small window boxes 8 minutes of water twice a day, while giving your large, shady containers 20 minutes once a day...get it?

5) PVC (or polyethylene) piping comes after the solonoid valves and runs around the perimeter of the terrace, attached either to the walls, or to the parapet, against which the containers are arranged.


6) 1/4" tubing, sometimes called spaghetti tubing, is attached to the PVC piping and ends with an emitter. There are many different kinds of emitters (some pressurized, some not), all of which deliver water SLOWLY (that's why they call it DRIP irrigation) and efficiently, directly to the soil surface. In early spring the spaghettis may be visible, but once the plants grow in, you won't be able to see them.

Go ahead, find the spaghettis in this picture.

Can't do it, can you?

The whole magilla is controlled by a timer (either battery operated or electric) which is wired to the solonoid valves, telling them when to open and close, controlling how often and how long the plants are watered. The timers are programmable and can be adjusted as watering needs change during the season. You can also attach a rain sensor to avoid irrigating when it's pouring, as it has done with depressing frequency this summer in NYC.

This all probably sounds much more complicated than it really is. Truth is you can buy kits that contain most of the essential parts pre-assembled (backflow preventer, filter, pressure regulator, and valve(s)) and simple, battery operated controllers are available at big box stores. Or you can call an expert for a professional (albeit somewhat more expensive) installation. Either way, don't be put off by the initial cost. It's a lot cheaper than paying someone to water all season along, nor will you be spending oodles of $$ to replace the plants that died because you went on vacation and your neighbor didn't water properly. Automatic irrigation is also a lot more dependable (as long as the system is actually turned on, right O.E.?). Drip is efficient since no water is wasted by flinging it willy-nilly through the air (like a sprinkler does), nor will standing water collect on leaves and flowers where it may encourage fungal diseases.

So what's stopping you? Drink up.

UPPING THE ANTE

Dear Other Ellen,
I'll see you a New York City water tower and raise you one Empire State Building. esp
(See O.E.'s post about water towers)

View from The High Line in the Meat Packing District on a hazy day, 7/27/09
(see O.E.'s post about The High line)

WATER

Dewstow Gardens, Southeast Wales with seed pods of Allium 'Globemaster', thriving from frequent rain
Poll Dorset sheep at home, St. Brides Wales

I was off in Wales for eight glorious days, admiring the gardens, touring the Roman ruins, staying with friends, watching sheep gamboling in their yard. Meanwhile my roof garden in New York City was dying a slow death.

While I was away someone in my building turned off the main control to the
automatic watering system. You may think that with record rainfalls in June
my garden would be safe from an oh-so-small watering snafu in July, but NO.
This is the
result:The
River Birch
and the plum
trees lost
almost all of
their leaves.
The bachelor
buttons, rose
and hydrangea
flowers have
all died, the leaves have turned yellow and are dropping off. The potentilla looks dead.
(See Before picture of the Harison's yellow rose on the post of March 30, '09, see After, just above)Even the cone flowers look sick.
I want to cry.
The good news? Succulents not on the drip system are thriving, as are the plants in self-watering containers.

There are four ways to water a city garden:
1.By hand with hose or watering can. But I have over 80 containers and watering each daily would take at least two hours.
2.Self-watering containers are fine for smaller plants, but still need regular filling during dry days.
3.Automatic drip irrigation works except when it doesn’t.
4.Natural rainfall. See # 3 above.

Normally, drip irrigation is the most reliable, except when there’s a power failure, someone turns off the main switch or there’s a kink or cut in a line.
I need a backup plan i.e an observant person who will notice the signs of water deficit disorder and solve the problem. Does such a person exist in my building?

photo contest: blue ribbon herbs

Garden Bytes from the Big Apple announces our first photo contest: culinary herbs in the garden.

Chives (Allium shoenoprasum) in a community garden in Riverside Park, NYC. I use both the flowers and the chopped leaves in omelets and the dried flowers to decorate an allium themed summer hat.

We two Ellens are appreciative eaters and we're especially fond of cooking what we grow. We wouldn't dream of having a garden without a healthy complement of culinary herbs. But these tasty plants aren't merely edible...some of them are downright gorgeous.

Creeping Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis, prostrate group) in California. No originality here, I love rosemary on lamb.

If you agree, and if you'd like to show us your most photogenic herbs, here's how you can enter. Post your best image to your own blog, website, or web gallery. Then, in the comment section for this post, post a link to your entry. If you're posting your image to a blog, please reference our contest with a link.

Our talented and entirely impartial judge is Joe De Sciose. Joe is an award-winning photographer whose photographs have appeared in numerous Condé Nast, Hearst and Meredith magazines and books, as well as in print media for the New York Botanical Garden and The Brooklyn Botanic Garden. From 2003 to 2008, Joe was a Senior Staff Photographer at Southern Living Magazine. He was the sole photographer for Garden Guide: New York City (The Little Bookroom, 2002) and The Flower Gardener’s Bible (Storey Books, 2003), which was awarded a Garden Globe Award in 2004 by the Garden Writers Association for Best Photography for a Garden Book.

Nasturtium, a spicy member of the watercress family, in a half barrel with geraniums. I use nasturtium flowers and leaves for a tasty garnish on anything from cold soups to desserts.

THE RULES:

1) You may enter up to three photographs.
2) Include the names for the herb(s) in your image; extra credit if you give both the botanical and common names.
3) Write a brief caption (1 or 2 sentences) telling us your favorite way to use the herb in cooking.
4) Points given for light, composition, and originality. We're not looking for closeups; we want to see the herb(s) in a garden setting.
5) Remember, gardens can be indoors OR outdoors! This is NYC after all, and we don't all have outdoor gardens of our own.
6) We're not limiting this contest to New York City gardens because we have so many readers from away, but extra points will be given to photos showing herbs in an urban setting.
7) The contest ends at midnight on August 5, 2009.

Indoor herb garden on my livingroom window sill: from left back row, oregano, basil, variegated sage, front row from left, tiny bush basil, and cilantro.

We'll announce the winner in our Byte Now Column on August 12, 2009. And the lucky winner will receive a goody bag of prizes including: 'The New Book of Salvias' by Betsy Clebsch, a pair of garden gloves (women's size, sorry guys), and bypass pruners by OXO.

ESP's images and captions (throughout this post) should give you a good idea of how to start!

Bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) at the Queens Botanical Garden, herb section. Use leaves, seeds, flowers or stems in corn bread stuffing.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) borders vegetable beds in George Washington's garden on a misty morning at Mt. Vernon. I use petals of calendula to garnish salads, and to color and flavor white rice.

We plan to make this a regular feature at Garden Bytes. Hint: you might want to start photographing your photogenic pets in the garden. Meow.

Excuse me, could I please borrow your water tower?

In college I majored in 19th century comparative history and literature of England and France. (Practical, you say? Just wait.) It was then I first heard the phrase "borrowed scenery", a concept vaguely relevant to grand estate gardens as described by George Eliot, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, etc. Turns out the idea of borrowed scenery is originally Japanese, but it's just as significant in a 21st century NYC garden as it was 1000 years ago in Kyoto, or 200 years ago in the English countryside.

People usually think of borrowed scenery as pastoral and sweeping, incorporating a distant mountain, a classic ruin, or the Potomac River (below) into the view from your garden.


In NYC, borrowed scenery takes on a whole new meaning.


See, I have a thing for water towers. When I first moved to NYC (many MANY years ago) I used to go up to the roof of my building at night and lie there, looking at all the water towers. They are a New York City icon, yet most of us take them for granted.

Now that I spend most of my days on rooftops, I have plenty of opportunity to admire the various shapes and sizes of surrounding water towers, and I find they sneak up on you. At first glance you don't see any, then you spot one, then another, until you realize there were 6 or 7 in your field of vision all along. I've found 12 in this one photo, can you? (Click on the image to enlarge.)


It's not just the water towers themselves (gray, aged wood, simple, sturdy, functional, sculptural, tall & slim, squat & fat, adding their own special geometry to the NY skyline) but how they combine with the rooftop gardens that surround them. It's the same quality that fascinates me on The High Line: industrial and urban architecture juxtaposed with living, moving, growing plants.


Of course a rooftop garden in NYC is mighty fine to begin with, but why not follow in the steps of Capability Brown & Tachibana Toshitsuna and borrow a little scenery to make it even better! Just as you might place a shrub or put up a fence to hide an ugly pipe or HVAC unit, so can you position a tree or erect a pergola to direct the gaze toward that wooden bastion of the NYC skyline: the water tower.

EDIBLE FLOWERS & HERBS

A few decorative edibles from my garden decorating a rich chocolate cake: day lily buds, borage flowers, lavender, roses, bachelor buttons, mint, variegated pineapple mint, and bronze fennel.

When we say that flowers are edible, that doesn't mean they're all equally tasty. Beautifully perfumed roses taste better than roses with little scent; sweet smelling lavenders taste better than those with a camphorous aroma. And even then, its the petals or buds that are tasty, not the stem, the recptical, or the calyx. People who have allergies shouldn't eat the stamens and the pollen parts.

I'm particularly annoyed by pretentious chefs who decorate a plate with small orchids or other flowers straight from a tradtional florist. The grower has sprayed them within an inch of their lives.
When they come from your own garden, that of a friend, or a trusted organic source, you have full control over what you put on your table.

More flowers & herbs, home-grown, organic, and rinsed before using.

New potatoes, yogurt, salt, pepper garnished with chopped chives, lavender buds, borage flowers, calendula, and perilla (shiso)

Sponge roll with lemon sauce garnished with nasturtium flowers' Peaches and Cream' and lemon verbena leaves.
Chocolate cake, chocolate icing, garnished with nasturtium flowers and leaves, day lily flowers, pansies, calendula, roses and borage flowers from my summer garden.
(image © Alan & Linda Detrick, Ellen Spector Platt design)
Two sizes of coconut cakes stacked, garnished with lemon scented geranium, lavender, pansies, roses and hyssop from my fall garden. (image © Alan & Linda Detrick, Ellen Spector Platt design)