The Highline
We spent mid-September in NYC.. and ended up searching out all the greenest spaces in the area. I guess we're not used to all that concrete! I had been eager to visit the Highline, an old railway recently converted into a public park. The space was designed by Piet Oudolf & others with a naturalistic planting style, inspired by what was naturally growing on the abandoned railroad (native grasses, self-seeding perennial wildflowers, suckering sumac, etc.)
Even with a multitude of staff maintaining the gardens, including a lot of volunteers, the plantings remain very wild and free. Seedheads were intentionally left on large swaths of Echinacea and Eryngium, past their flowering stage, but still very valuable in their form and texture. I was pleasantly surprised to find tiny perennial seedlings (barely distinguishable from any old weed) carefully left in place after weeding.
Absolutely breathtaking in a subtle & thoughtful way... a total inspiration.
“It’s about beauty, often a hidden beauty.. Anyone else would cut it back, but if you can still see beauty in it, it’s a real bonus to your life.”