Adopt a Greenstreet

East Houston Mall...and I thought it was called a median.

I am absurdly excited to be meeting tomorrow, on this little strip, with chief Namshik Yoon, Chief of Operations for the NYC Parks Department. After many fruitless phone calls to wrong numbers, I was put in touch with Lois Nam, who forwarded my email to Chief Yoon.

We cross this barren little strip every day near work, on our way to coffee, to cabs, to subways, and meetings. To lunch, to walk...It is quite desolate and I suddenly thought, the other day, how lovely it would be to see it revived as a long narrow garden, with ever-blooming calamintha, dancing gaura, geranium 'Rozanne', veronicastrum, agastache for extra bee and butterfly action, prickly roses to deter garden stompers, barbery with excellent thorns and sweet flowers, mahonia with the same love me or hate me arsenal.

Since HWandV is a garden design company we have built-in gardeners and designers and it will be as easy as pie to look after our little piece of New York.

I also hope, very much, that other businesses and individuals will think about looking after little parks or barren places in their areas. T he conventional way is to donate money every year, but the Parks department is open to other ideas: we have undertaken to provide all plants and labour, as well as maintenance on a weekly basis.

Visit their page here for more info, but if you are serious about donating in kind, through plants and time and know-how, and know where you would like to adopt a park, contact Lois at 212 360-1301 or email her at lois.nam (at) parks.nyc.gov.

It's Earth Day on the 22nd. Plant something!