Chelsea Garden Club is ALSO helping transform our block tree pits

We wrote last week about the tree pits on 10th Avenue around 27th & 28th Streets that, we had understood, were being transformed by the The Horticultural Society of New York, a nonprofit engaged by the city council. It turns out that that was only partially true; we now understand that the Chelsea Garden Club—which is exactly what it sounds like—and, specifically, two intrepid gardeners named Luis and Milton have been caring for those pits now for about a year. Thank you Luis and Milton—and thanks also to Em Schaefer, who describes herself as “the purple-haired person” that you should introduce yourself to if you see her out in the pits.

I think it is time for a few more of us to come together and help Luis, Milton, Em, and The Hort spruce the place up a little bit. If you’d like to be a part of this, please email us as highline28ba@gmail.com (or just write a message using our “tips” page).

Tree pits around 28th & 10th currently being transformed into little urban oases

We wrote a few weeks ago about Itty Island, the mini-garden down on 10th Avenue & 24th Street built for no apparent reason (the best apparent reason) by a group of enterprising Chelsea resident-gardeners. We also mused about similarly transforming some currently abandoned tree pits further up on 10th Avenue. Well I’m happy to report that those prayers were answered, because the New York City Council (legislature of NYC) recently engaged a nonprofit called The Horticultural Society of New York to transform at least three tree pits around 10th Avenue & 27th/28th Street into little oases. Amazing.

We discovered all of this after spotting and talking to Nick—pictured here, watering a block tree pit—who informed us that he was watering on behalf of The Hort (yes that is the organization’s nickname). We emailed The Hort to figure out what exactly their plans are and if we can partner with them going forward. Their Director of Horticulture (Jeremy) wrote promptly back to us, saying that yes indeed they are focused on beautifying forlorn tree pits around our neighborhood and indeed they are happy to coordinate with us. So if you’d like to lend a hand or a green thumb to the beautifying initiative here, please let us know.

Massive rooftop garden on top of the Post Office building

People will surprise you in the best way, and sometimes buildings will too, evidently. At the top of the Post Office building, covering an entire city block between 9th and 10th Avenues from 29th to 30th Streets, is a massive two-acre garden which spans the entire roof of the building. You can see a wide shot of it here (hold your phone landscape rather than portrait) and walk-through style videos of it here and here.

The building is called Morgan North, and the USPS continues to use the bottom four floors for post office things. It’s not clear to us who currently occupies the upper floors; once upon a time it was a Japanese advertising firm called Dentsu, but it looks like Dentsu may have never moved in and then tried to sublease their space post-Covid. It may be nobody on the top floors, which is why sources tell us that they rarely if ever see anyone wandering the garden.

We are going to reach out to some individuals to see if we can take a walk up here. It reminds us of none other High Line, our namesake, in which an old train line was converted into the best walk in the city (thanks, Ethan Hawke).

Itty Island on 24th Street and 10th Avenue is what it’s all about

We muse occasionally about the secret to happiness around here and the fact is that some days it will feel like a weapons-grade state secret and other days it will feel just about within reach. On those latter days, you might be paying little closer attention to your five senses taking in small delights like Itty Island on 24th & 10th, a resident-constructed mini-garden that we wandered around and narrated last weekend.

Characterized by its creators Alex Chapman and Pete Fehn as a “pollinator micro-meadow on the corner of 24th Street and 10th Avenue,” you will spot Itty Island first by its “gazing ball,” the glass-like installation in the middle which “reflects the ever-changing people, art, architecture, and plants of West Chelsea,” and the bamboo fence. Then there is the whole collection of plotted and planted green splashed with color, including wild bergamot, coneflower, and moonshine yarrow.

Aside from the obvious talent for execution and design that went into Itty Island, what I like about it[ty] the most is that the two creators just kind of…did it. They did not ask questions; they did not ask permission; they did not ask for money (as far as I can tell)—they just got out of their apartments one day and decided to make something happen, plant-by-plant, day-by-day. That is an allegory for this entire block association, and an inspiration for doing something very similar in Chelsea’s upper west side. Stay tuned.

We should probably add some foliage to the block, right?

This is a planter; there are other things called trees (not pictured). The NYC Parks Department gives these away for free. We are in touch with Carl Wilson’s staff (Carl Wilson is the NYC council member for our area) right now about getting one of these. We think they might add a little pop to the block.