I just spent an afternoon walking the High Line, New York City’s vertical park built on the remnants of an elevated freight line on the West Side.
I have heard people sing its praises since the first section opened in 2009 (a subsequent section opened last year, with another still to come) and those praises are well deserved. The High Line is beautiful, even when packed with visitors as it was on a lovely October Friday.
The plantings, woven in and out of walkways and seating areas, are naturalistic in style, in keeping with other works by the High Line’s planting designer, Piet Oudolf. Swathes of grasses wave in the wind. Right now the fall asters, sedum and toad lilies (Trycertis) are in full bloom, along with golden rod. I saw a couple of Rosa glauca bushes, magnificent in height and size and brimming with orange hips. Butterfly bushes still bloomed in one of the seating areas. The combinations of textures and colors change with every few steps, yet there is enough repetition to bring order to this purposely “wild” looking landscape.
Walking the High Line is an artistic experience that elevates viewers literally and aesthetically. I can’t wait to go back and see how it changes as the season advances.