Ailanthus

This little tenement garden in Chelsea is a jewel.

Those are ailanthus trees pushing up through the pavement. It’s hard to tell if they were growing in soil and someone cemented them in or if they got started in little cracks. In either case the trees are at war with the pavement. Slow, enormous pressure has buckled the earth.

And then someone whitewashed the trunks: a brilliant, touching gesture that includes the "weed" trees among the things that are seen, appreciated and cared for. And the life of the stoop goes on with garbage cans and hanging out, a place to sit, a window to lean out, a flag. Come summer there will impatiens.

Nothing here is imposed: not the plants, not the ideas, not the technique. An inspired soul reacted to what happened on 25th Street. This is what is meant by vernacular. There is inspiration for highfalutin artistic departures here, but it’s hard to imagine they would be more gratifying than the original.