Carpinus

If ever there were a respectable, modest and seemly tree it is the Common Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus. It is composed, soigne, adaptable to city conditions and untroubled by disease, pests or outbursts of floral display. Like most things that are valued for their irreproachable decency, the hornbeam usually goes unnoticed, but Dirr judges it "one of the very finest landscape trees." Then, curiously, he says it possesses an "...air of aloofness unmatched by any plant." I'm not sure that I would describe its polish as "aloof," but once you start noticing, you fall into characterizations.

The Common Hornbeam is European. We have a nice native species that is less often seen in the city: Carpinus caroliniana. It's smooth sinewy grey bark is notable.

I was pleased to see saplings of a few other species at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Carpinus orientalis (right) is from southeast Europe and Asia Minor and might tolerate city heat better than C. betulus. The elegant long leaf of C. japonicus (center) attracted me, but Dirr, citing examples from Georgia commented that the leaves were bedraggled by late summer and "the literature has been kinder to the species that its performance warrants." C. coreana (left) has a splendid little leaf.

Of these less common forms, only C. coreana is widely available. Nurseries specializing in bonsai carry it.

Highline

All praise: I had high expectations and it was better than I hoped. There’s been tons of coverage on this, so I’ll just make a few comments I haven’t heard elsewhere.
1) New York has become a city of promenades. We’ve always had the streets, then the parks that were developed along the river fronts, and now, triumphantly, The Highline. Raised to give a new and privileged view of the surroundings, winding its unforced way along the path of the old rail line, sectionally interesting, and lively with incident: it absorbs people without seeming crowded. The pedestrian development along Broadway from Times to Madison Square is similarly promising.
2) The plantings are truly interesting. Some are native (not that many) and many are unfamiliar. A shrub with little whorls of white flowers in racemes: I guessed it was Cyrilla, but when I got home and Iooked it up, it was not. Can anyone identify it? I’ve emailed for a plant list.
3) It will be interesting to see if the management lets the plants compete and sort out their own communities and successions. I dearly hope that is their approach, but I fear the public’s demand for prettiness and grooming may make that difficult. This is an experiment in the public’s acceptance of a new taste in planting. We may be moving away from the artifice of mown lawns, color coordinated bedding plants, and cultivars selected for purple leaves. Other things are possible: Watteau’s satin partygoers, for instance, made love in overgrown parks.
4) The Highline’s palimpsest promotes kind of archeological inquisitiveness. Old infrastructure is exposed. Old building juxtapose new. This is how New York is. Memories arise, of the piers, the Roxy, the old office, the old trannies, watching ice tick seaward on the Hudson…
5) It closes at 10. Some day it will be open all night, and that will be something.

6) But most of all, it comes off and all seems plausible and unforced. That is the hardest thing to do.