The High Line Revisited; No Head Injuries This Time

So, almost a year ago to the day, I veered off the path of a corporate spouses outing to see The High Line in NYC. Designed by famed Dutch landscape artist Piet Oudolf, the High Line is urban/public gardening at its best, taking an abandoned elevated railway and turning it into a shining example of repurposing, native plantings and social promenade.

If you read last year's account, you know that no sooner had I stepped onto the first landing, than I had tripped and fell flat on my my back hitting my head. This visit has gone much better.

I'm back here in NYC helping my daughter settle in as she undertakes a fall internship at Martha Stewart Living Ominimedia, specifically working for their Everyday Food publication. Until she moves into her place in Brooklyn, we are staying in Chelsea just a literal stone's throw from The High Line.

It's interesting that there now stands in the crevice where I caught my foot, a statue of a man about 18 inches tall. I wonder if he has been placed there to alert people to the hazard? If only he had been there last year, I would have been saved the two subsequent MRIs and numerous strange symptoms that could be related to the fall. Oh well.

Here's a quick tour of what I've found so far. 

Autumn shows off Oudlf's beloved grasses at their best

Lots of seedheads for the birds that flit amongst the plantings

 

Wild roses bloom everywhere

 

A leafy path through the city

 

The plantings supply a counterpoint to the many murals and ads on surrounding buildings

Abundant rose hips on Rosa glauca

 

The play of shadows adds another design element

 

A very cool and cooling water feature

 

Wildlife habitat amid the skyscrapers, lots of bees even in the chilly weather

 

End of the line at the southern tip

 

Waves of grasses set into the tapers

 

And the tiny man guarding the deceivingly dangerous crevice at the river overlook.

WATCH YOUR STEP!!!