Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Patience

I saw a plant spiraling up the side of a townhouse between Columbus and Amsterdam on 78th Street. The Upper West Side boasts some great architecture but the fact that somebody not only put this here but also has the patience to tend to it while it grew up the side of the building blows my mind. 

How long would it take to grow this monstrosity? (And I mean "monstrosity" in the good way, not the "I'm sucking out all your building blood" way.) The roots start in the ground and the trunk twines through the railing, in some parts growing around the irons. It peaks at the top, and looks a bit like a spiral staircase on the way up. In winter, it probably looks like some dead thing, but come springtime... wow. 

New York is an impatient city despite a history that stretches back half a millennia. People in Manhattan have time or money but rarely both. And the moneymakers don't stay put. Here, someone put down roots, and another lovely thing bloomed. 

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