Green Space | Inhabitat New York City - Part 6

5 Free Things to Do During Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

5 Free Things to Do During Memorial Day Weekend in NYC

Memorial Day typically results in a mass exodus of NYC each year, but if you're sticking around on the homefront this weekend, there are plenty of free events and activities of which to take advantage. From a Central Park walking tour of monuments that pay homage to fallen heroes to a waterfront bike ride towards ships visiting for Fleet Week to a free family festival on Governors Island, read on to see all of the fun things you can do this weekend in the Big Apple!

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Bees in Times Square: InterContinental Hotel Unveils New Rooftop Beehive

Bees in Times Square: InterContinental Hotel Unveils New Rooftop Beehive

Have you heard the buzz in Times Square? The InterContinental New York Times Square hotel just opened a new rooftop beehive home to more than 10,000 honey bees! The hive is located on one of two rooftop gardens which also boast an herb garden producing local food only a few floors away for hotel guests.

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Help Plant Herbs at Clearview Park in Queens!

Help Plant Herbs at Clearview Park in Queens!

Interested in herbs? Come out and help Natural Areas Volunteers (NAV) plant herbs at Clearview Park in Queens. You’ll be beautifying the space and you might learn a thing or two to boot! Come dressed in closed-toe shoes, long pants and clothing that can get

HWKN Creates a Green Hill on an NYC Rooftop for BMW MINI

HWKN Creates a Green Hill on an NYC Rooftop for BMW MINI

Wherever it is that your company holds its parties, it's not better than this verdant green rooftop event space by HWKN for BMW MINI, so if you're prone to jealousy, don't read on. Located atop an NYC building, the temporary installation was a part of MINI’s “Creative Use of Space” campaign celebrating the design elements of the Mini Cooper as well as its ability to pack a big punch in a small package. The festive setup featured a rolling green hill with "seating dimples," a performance stage and a luminous LED carpet leading to a panorama bar overlooking the Hudson.

Students Join Together to Plant Heirloom Apple Orchard at Queens College

Students Join Together to Plant Heirloom Apple Orchard at Queens College

Imagine being a student at New York City’s Queens College, and being able to pick a ripe, organic apple right off the tree on your way to your morning biology class. Nice, right? This past Arbor Day (in New York State, it’s the last Friday in April), a

Renegade Pop-Up Park Planned to Protest City’s Inaction in Chelsea

Renegade Pop-Up Park Planned to Protest City’s Inaction in Chelsea

What do you do when you’ve been lobbying for a neighborhood park for years to no avail? How about creating your own pop-up park in protest? That’s what a group called Friends of 20th Street Park is planning to do at an area in Chelsea on West 20th Street

Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden Wins Daily News Best Community Garden Title

Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden Wins Daily News Best Community Garden Title

The Daily News has awarded its prize for best community garden in NYC, and we’re excited to say it’s one that’s near and dear to our hearts – the Lower East Side’s Creative Little Garden. Located on Sixth St. between avenues A and B, the tranquil space beat

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NativeBK Wants to Turn an Abandoned Lot in Red Hook Into a Native Plant Center

NativeBK Wants to Turn an Abandoned Lot in Red Hook Into a Native Plant Center

This summer, a couple of green-loving Brooklynites want to transform an abandoned lot in Red Hook into a native plant center that would be open to the public for free. The project, called nativeBK, has taken to Kickstarter to get off the ground. A native plant

Study Shows Red Oaks Grow 8 Times Faster in Central Park Due to Urban Heat Island Effect

Study Shows Red Oaks Grow 8 Times Faster in Central Park Due to Urban Heat Island Effect

A simple experiment to see how trees are affected by growing in an urban environment has had surprising results, showing that they can grow up to eight times faster due to the urban heat island effect. For the Cornell University study, researchers planted

Monet’s French Gardens Recreated Inside The Hole NYC Art Gallery

Monet’s French Gardens Recreated Inside The Hole NYC Art Gallery

Artists E.V. Day and Kembra Pfahler have transformed the Bowery’s Hole Gallery into a lush indoor park, complete with fresh grass, fragrant flowers, and even a pond! Inspired by the French gardens Claude Monet immortalized in his paintings, the exhibition features photographs taken in the gardens of Giverny, hung amidst the lilypads, vines, hyacinths, and willow trees planted within the gallery. The collaborative exhibition welcomes guests to experiences a taste of the French countryside right in the East Village.

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Curious Irish Hunger Memorial is a Green-Roofed Monument in Battery Park City

Curious Irish Hunger Memorial is a Green-Roofed Monument in Battery Park City

Even the most been-there-done-that New Yorkers might find themselves surprised to stumble upon the Irish Hunger Memorial, a sloping patch of wild grass that protrudes from Vesey Street and conceals one of the city's hidden gems beneath. Designed by artist Brian Tolle, landscape artist Gail Wittwer-Laird and 1100 Architect, the green-roofed monument entices passersby with its curiously overgrown field and, once they are inside, educates them about the Great Irish Famine and Migration of 1845-1852, a devastating event which actually led many Irishmen to make New York their new home. Comprised of an elevated limestone plinth supported by stones from each of Ireland's 32 counties, the beautiful structure contains a dark passageway that eventually leads to an idyllic knoll that reaches towards Ellis Island, symbolizing the new beginning that many Irish found in America.

Ten Ecotastic Earth Day Activities in New York City

Ten Ecotastic Earth Day Activities in New York City

While we like to treat every day as Earth Day, the official eco holiday is this Sunday, April 22, and groups across the five boroughs are celebrating with a slew of special events. Whether you want to learn more about NYC's green groups at the massive annual Grand Central Earth Fair or spend some time giving back with New York Cares Day, we've rounded up the best events taking place this weekend. Click through to find out how you can celebrate Ma Earth with your fellow New Yorkers -- including a solar-powered rooftop film and a giant salad on the High Line!

PHOTOS: Patrick Blanc’s Enchanting Vertical Garden Wonderland is Laced with 7,000 Orchids

PHOTOS: Patrick Blanc’s Enchanting Vertical Garden Wonderland is Laced with 7,000 Orchids

If you love the drama and wonder of green walls but have never experienced one in real life, don't miss your chance to see Patrick Blanc's dazzling display of living tapestries created for the New York Botanical Garden's 10th Annual Orchid Show (it ends this weekend!). The annual Orchid Show already inspires an enthusiasm akin to mania amongst orchid-lovers, but for their 10th year, they really wanted to blow people away botanically. So they sought out the help of Patrick Blanc, a botanist who has created some of the world's most jaw-dropping vertical garden installations. With the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory as his canvas and flora as his medium, Blanc painted a tropical wonderland, lacing archways, walls and even a breathtaking "green cube" with 7,000 luscious orchids. If you can't make it to the show before it ends on April 22, you can click through the vibrant photos we snapped to see everything you'll be missing, but you really have no excuse since Inhabitat readers get 20% off admission (keep reading for the details). And if you need even more coaxing, one of the NYBG's gardeners told us that even Sigourney Weaver stopped by to marvel at the magical gardens.

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First Street Green Park in the East Village Opens a Season of Cultural Programming on Earth Day

First Street Green Park in the East Village Opens a Season of Cultural Programming on Earth Day

Celebrate this upcoming Earth Day at the new First Street Green Park with a bash that also launches their season of programming. Taking over the now vacant lot that hosted the BMW Guggenheim Lab last year, the alley joins NYC’s Department of Parks and Recreation

Patrick Blanc’s Gorgeous Vertical Gardens Flank the 10th Annual Orchid Show at NYBG

Patrick Blanc’s Gorgeous Vertical Gardens Flank the 10th Annual Orchid Show at NYBG

Spring is here, and the New York Botanical Garden’s annual Orchid Show is in full bloom. Now in its tenth year, the show features gorgeous vertical gardens this year, carefully curated by French botanist Patrick Blanc. The gardens transform the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory into an orchid wonderland, complete with colorful blooms, feathery ferns and exotic plants. Planning to visit the show yourself? Inhabitat readers get 20% off admission - click through for details!

Designers Propose Ideas for the Possible Tappan Zee Bridge Park

Designers Propose Ideas for the Possible Tappan Zee Bridge Park

Advocates are pushing to turn the disused Tappan Zee Bridge in New York into another sprawling elevated park - much like the super popular High Line. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that the proposal is an exciting option, and designers have already submitted plans to turn the bridge into a green getaway for leisure, sports, and sustainable transportation.

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Kim Holleman’s Trailer Park Recycles a Camper Into a Mobile Green Oasis

Kim Holleman’s Trailer Park Recycles a Camper Into a Mobile Green Oasis

New Yorkers are always longing for more green space, and artist Kim Holleman has a quick fix solution. Playing off of the notion of a trailer park, the artist completely revamped an old camper, transforming it into a mobile public park. Filled with a lush garden of plants and shrubbery, Trailer Park has been making its way around New York City over the past few years, enticing visitors with a breath of fresh air and a peaceful place to rest.

Dutch Kills Green Revamps Queens Plaza with a Wetlands Park, Bike Paths and More

Dutch Kills Green Revamps Queens Plaza with a Wetlands Park, Bike Paths and More

A 1.5 acre area of Long Island City has been transformed from a commuter parking lot into an eco-friendly green space. Dutch Kills Green, officially opened by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on April 4, features a wetlands park of 489 native trees and grasses which

Let There Be Light: Low Line Exhibit Now Open at Mark Miller Gallery in the Lower East Side

Let There Be Light: Low Line Exhibit Now Open at Mark Miller Gallery in the Lower East Side

"Let There Be Light," an exhibit exploring what could be the next High Line, but underground, opened on Sunday, April 1st, at Mark Miller Gallery in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Delancey Underground, often referred to as the "Low Line," was co-founded by designer James Ramsey of Raad Studio and social entrepreneur Dan Barasch. Their aim is to transform an abandoned trolley terminal beneath Delancey Street into a public park. To get an idea of how the two plan to create this cutting edge new green space, be sure to visit the exhibition that features drawings, 3D models, photographs, and a life-size rendering of the potential park. If you love this idea as much as we do, you definitely want to check out the exhibit before the end of the month!

Delancey Underground Signs With Arup Engineering to Complete Feasibility Studies for the Low Line

Delancey Underground Signs With Arup Engineering to Complete Feasibility Studies for the Low Line

It seems like every week, the Delancey Underground comes a little bit closer to reality. Affectionately known as the Low Line, the proposed underground park could occupy an abandoned trolley station under Delancey and Essex Streets in the Lower East Side. Creators James Ramsey, the principal of RAAD, and Dan Barasch of tech think tank PopTech have already raised more than $140,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to fund a sunlight irrigation system prototype, which they are currently building with Arup Engineering. Arup will also work with the team to complete a series of feasibility studies to assess the issues of building an underground park.

The East River Blueway Will Make the Waterfront Accessible for Recreation and Boating

The East River Blueway Will Make the Waterfront Accessible for Recreation and Boating

WXY Architecture + Urban Design have been chosen as the lead designers for the innovative Easy River Blueway Project. The project entails the revamping of the East River waterfront from 38th Street to the Brooklyn Bridge, making the waterfront accessible

New Coffee Table Book Reveals New York City’s Most Stunning & Elaborate Rooftop Gardens

New Coffee Table Book Reveals New York City’s Most Stunning & Elaborate Rooftop Gardens

We have a secret -- we have green roof envy. We recently got our hands on a copy of Rooftop Gardens: The Terraces, Conservatories, and Balconies of New York, a coffee table book that takes you up to the city's most exquisite private rooftop gardens, and we cannot put it down. Co-authored by real estate agent Denise LeFrak Calicchio and Roberta Model Amon, the book satisfies all our green building voyeuristic tendencies with stunning images of some of the city's most beautiful gardens and extraordinary outdoor spaces, proving that green design is gorgeous design. The book not only offers a visual escape, but much can be gleaned from the landscape and gardening techniques on display, providing other urbanites with countless ideas for transforming their outdoor spaces.

Storm King Art Center to Host a Honey Bee Apiary by Artist Peter Coffin

Storm King Art Center to Host a Honey Bee Apiary by Artist Peter Coffin

Artist Peter Coffin is making bees into art. Opening this spring at the Storm King Art Center, the artist’s piece “Untitled (Bees Making Honey)” will bring a network of bees to the beautiful grounds of the park. An in house beekeeper will be on hand to give honey samples to visitors of the sculpture park in the Hudson Valley.

Solar & Wind Power Coming to NYC’s Freshkills Park on Staten Island

Solar & Wind Power Coming to NYC’s Freshkills Park on Staten Island

Freshkills Park, the massive restoration project that’s transforming what used to be the world’s largest landfill into public green space, is one step closer to receiving its long awaited solar and wind power. The city issued a Request for Proposals (RFP)

The Best 6 Places to See Spring Bloom in NYC

The Best 6 Places to See Spring Bloom in NYC

The weather is getting warmer, the crocuses are peeking through, and the trees are budding -- spring is in the air! As we pack up our woolen coats and heavy sweaters, the flowers and plants around us are shaking off the last of winter's chill. We may be living in the concrete jungle, but spring in New York City is still fragrant, blossoming, and lush with new green life. From the manicured Brooklyn Botanical Gardens to the wild Ramble of Central Park to the High Line's elevated escape, New York is home to dozens of places to take in the first signs of spring. Click through for our favorite six!

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