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That’s a Wrap: Spring Cutback Is Complete!

March 29, 2013
Author: 
Kate Lindquist
Categories: 
Spring Cutback
Horticulture
Community
We did it! Despite the unseasonably cold weather, two snowstorms, several days of rain, and yesterday's hail shower, we completed this year's High Line Spring Cutback in record time. These horticulture enthusiasts from REI were among the 80 volunteers who helped get the job done. Photo by Liz Ligon

We have just completed the fourth and final week of High Line Spring Cutback!

The High Line’s plants are not trimmed back at the onset of cold weather in the fall. Instead the landscape is left intact to provide structure, beauty, and habitat throughout the winter. As spring arrives, Friends of the High Line staff and volunteers work together to cut back the plants to prepare for the new growing season. This horticultural effort, called High Line Spring Cutback, takes place throughout the entire month of March.

See photos from our last week of Spring Cutback after the jump.

Photo of the Week: Early Spring Texture

March 29, 2013
Author: 
Kate Lindquist
Categories: 
Photo of the Week
Spring Cutback

Earlier this week, High Line Photographer Beverly Israely captured this interesting shot of the hollow stems of the Equisetum hyemale, or giant horsetail. This wetland species grows along the water feature on the Diller – von Furstenberg Sundeck, between West 14th and West 15th Streets.

As one of the park’s neighbors and a member of Friends of the High Line, Beverly has been working to build a portfolio of photographs that celebrate the High Line’s myriad textures and changes in the landscape's color and form over the four seasons.

With Spring Cutback nearly complete, you will find unusual textures along the High Line’s landscape. The High Line’s wild grasses, shrubs, and flowering perennials have been trimmed back to make way for the new growing season, and that means over the next couple of weeks, you’ll see the landscape transform itself, as fresh green growth pops up all along the park.

Learn more about the High Line’s planting design.

Share your photos with us in the High Line Flickr Pool, or tag @highlinnyc on Instagram or Twitter.

Meet the High Line Green Corps

March 28, 2013
Author: 
Jennette Mullaney
Categories: 
Green Corps
Spring Cutback
Community Engagement
Staff
Teens
It’s alternative spring break week at the High Line. Pictured here are the teens participating in this year’s High Line Green Corps, an education and job-training program by Friends of the High Line. Photo by Beverly Israely

Sixteen-year-old Winona Kay Holderbaum was amazed the first time she visited the High Line. “As a little girl, I used to pass by the overgrown bridge with my father, and I always wondered why no one could go up there,” she says.

Winona is one of ten teens selected from among 90 applicants for this year’s Green Corps program. Since January, the teens have been spending their afternoons at the High Line, earning a paycheck and receiving valuable job experience in fields like urban ecology, horticulture, and sustainability. This week is the teens’ spring break, and they’ve been working daily at the park, helping the High Line Gardeners and High Line Educators complete Spring Cutback.

Plant of the Week: Giant Pussy Willow

March 26, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
Horticulture
Plant of the Week
Pussy Willows are named for their soft cat fur-like blooms that herald spring.

The High Line’s planting design is inspired by the self-seeded landscape that took root on the elevated rail tracks after the trains stopped running. The High Line includes more than 300 species of perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees – chosen for their hardiness, adaptability, diversity, and seasonal variation in color and texture. Some of the species that originally grew on the High Line’s rail bed are reflected in the park landscape today.

This week we share with you one of our Gardeners’ current favorites.

Spring Cutback: Week Three

March 22, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
Spring Cutback
Horticulture
This week High Line Gardeners and volunteers trimmed back the bog plants and grasses that grow along the Diller – von Furstenberg Sundeck, making way for new green growth. Photo by Oliver Rich

We have just completed the third week of High Line Spring Cutback!

The High Line’s plants are not trimmed back at the onset of cold weather in the fall. Instead the landscape is left intact to provide structure, beauty, and habitat throughout the winter. As spring arrives, Friends of the High Line staff and volunteers work together to cut back the plants to make way for new green growth. This horticultural effort, called High Line Spring Cutback, takes place throughout the entire month of March.

See more photos from our third week of Spring Cutback after the jump.

Photo of the Week: Last Week of ‘Lilliput’

March 22, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
High Line Art
Public Art
Photography
Photo of the Week
A light dusting of snow tops the knit hat of Old Singer with Blossoms, by artist Alessandro Pessoli. Pessoli was one of six artists commissioned to create a sculpture for the High Line's first group exhibition, Lilliput. Photo by Steven Severinghaus

Plant of the Week: Dawn Bodnant Viburnum

March 19, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
Plant of the Week
Horticulture
Dawn bodnant viburnum has bright pink flowers that are at their peak this time of year. Photo by Steven Severinghaus

The High Line’s planting design is inspired by the self-seeded landscape that took root on the elevated rail tracks after the trains stopped running. The High Line includes more than 300 species of perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees – chosen for their hardiness, adaptability, diversity, and seasonal variation in color and texture. Some of the species that originally grew on the High Line’s rail bed are reflected in the park landscape today.

This week we share with you one of our Gardeners’ current favorites.

Spring Cutback: Week Two

March 15, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
Spring Cutback
Horticulture
Volunteers
This week, we trimmed back the majority of the dried grasses and plant stalks in the Wildflower Field, on the High Line between West 27th and West 29th Streets. Pictured here are High Line Gardeners Mark and Maeve working beneath the towering JR mural at West 29th Street. Photo by Mike Tschappat

We have just completed the second week of High Line Spring Cutback!

The High Line’s plants are not trimmed back at the onset of cold weather in the fall. Instead the landscape is left intact to provide structure, beauty, and habitat throughout the winter. As spring arrives, Friends of the High Line staff and volunteers work together to cut back the plants to make way for new green growth. This horticultural effort, called High Line Spring Cutback, takes place throughout the entire month of March.

See more photos from our second week of Spring Cutback after the jump.

Last week to see Thomas Houseago's "Lying Figure"

March 12, 2013
Author: 
Ashley Tickle
Categories: 
High Line Art
Art
High Line Commission
Thomas Houseago's Lying Figure among the High Line's original rail tracks. Photo by Austin Kennedy.

The time has come to bid farewell to Thomas Houseago’s HIGH LINE COMMISSION Lying Figure, installed on the High Line at Little West 12th Street. Lying Figure is a 15-foot-long bronze sculpture of a headless giant, leaning on its elbows between the High Line’s original rail tracks.

Follow the jump to read more.

Plant(s) of the Week: Golden Bunch Crocus and Dan Fenton Holly

March 11, 2013
Author: 
Erika Harvey
Categories: 
Plant of the Week
Horticulture
Crocus
As the weather warms, some of the season’s first spring bulbs are popping up along the High Line.

The High Line’s planting design is inspired by the self-seeded landscape that grew up between rail tracks after the trains stopped running in the 1980s. Today, the High Line includes more than 300 species of perennials, grasses, shrubs, and trees — each chosen for their hardiness, adaptability, diversity, and seasonal variation in color and texture. Some of the species that originally grew on the High Line’s rail bed are reflected in the park landscape today.

This week we share with you two of our gardeners’ current favorites.

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