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Itty Island is fifty square feet of pollinator garden on a median at West 24th Street and 10th Avenue, planted and looked after by neighbors. Here's where it's turned up.
Jaime Rojo's weekly survey of art in the streets closed out the summer solstice edition on a traffic median in Chelsea — the playoff basketballs, the yarrow, the hand-lettered plant tags — in a run that also included Derek Fordjour, Jerkface, and Onur.
A gas line under the median rules out street trees, so Bottcher — then the district's council member — asked DOT to fill part of it with soil instead, on the chance somebody would plant it. He came back with a camera.
Also on Facebook →
The block association walked the island one weekend in July and wrote it up — the gazing ball, the bamboo fence, the bergamot and coneflower and moonshine yarrow, and the fact that nobody asked permission first.
Their walkthrough video →
Nine photos, the whole story from bare concrete forward. It became the highest-ranked post in that community's history. The gazing ball got its own thread over on r/streetart.
"They did not ask questions; they did not ask permission."
High Line 28 Block Association
For writers and editors
If you're working on something about the garden, the gazing ball, or small public space in New York generally — get in touch and we'll send you images and answer whatever you need.
Or find us at @ittyislandnyc.