Book takes high view of dynamic landscaping

Gardens Of The High Line is a large book; a heavy book; a book mostly of pictures; a book for display on your coffee table along with your floral arrangement.

And yet, the book is much more than this. It demonstrates a style of landscaping not often seen in the last 100 years — dynamic landscaping.

The season-to-season changes are planned, not resisted as in our usual gardens. The integration of layers of vegetation from trees to shrubs to herbs is planned, not avoided as in our usual gardens.

Plants are encouraged to fill in the spaces between and beneath them, not kept separate with mulch or gravel. All shown clearly by the pictures.

The book starts with an introductory chapter that relates the abandoned high line railroad in New York to other places where local vegetation has invaded derelict industrial areas.

It includes the reasoning behind the decisions to keep a dynamic mixture of introduced and native plants rather than allowing the normal progression to forest.

A map and 12 chapters, one for each of the different vegetation types , follow plus, in the middle, a chapter on annual maintenance.

At the end are a couple of chapters on the high line’s history and the challenges of setting up what are essentially semi-wild gardens in place of a fully wild strip of mostly native volunteer plants. There are some pages of photos of birds and insects that are using the vegetation.

At the end are lists of references to notes and books, must of which you will not find in your local library, and an index which includes under both latin (scientific) names and local (U.S.) names the plants referenced with the page numbers where they can be found.

Overall, the book describes the story behind the renewal of the high line from industrial wasteland to a vibrant, attractive and well-visited garden along 1.5 miles of old rail line running parallel to the Hudson River and elevated above the streets.

The text describes in sometimes poetic language the plants used and why, their relationship to each other, and their changes that take place through out the seasonal progression from spring to winter. The advantages and problems encountered of some species and varieties are pointed out.

There is no “how to do it” information, no specific plant list and no zone information (New York City has a maritime climate in U.S. zone 7, more humid and warmer than the Okanagan – U.S. zone 5 or 6).

If you wish to emulate this type of landscaping, the information is in this book, but you will need some experience in plants and ecology and some careful reading of the text.

Oudolf, P. & Darke, R. 2017. Garden Of The High Line, Elevating the Nature of Modern Landscapes. Timber press Inc. 320pp.

Dr. John Waddington is a member of The Kelowna Garden Club.