If you leave it alone, they will come. Oh, yes, they will. Daisy fleabane, Japanese knotweed, and some worts (perhaps a hogwort or two?) fill the back 2/3rds my building’s backyard. 
This veldt is beyond the fence containing my own Back 40 and under the purview of the upstairs neighbor, known here ’bouts as Stompy Guitar-Boy. A pretty classic example of disrupted, unmaintained urban ground taken over by fast-growing, fast-spreading plants. Last year it was completely cleared out by the super, but with nothing done by the tenant, seed, roots, and rhizomes returned with a vengeance. To the right is another backyard filled with a knotweed thicket. Two houses over to the right, atop the roof, is this garden, nicely illustrating how high-rise penthouse and slum (horticulturally speaking) coexist in the city.
Beyond the Back 40
5 responses to “Beyond the Back 40”
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But at least there’s green there. Preferable to the all-too-common cracked cement backyard landscaping, no?
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Absolutely.
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Nature always wins!
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Amen, as my spiritual advisor and stop-shopping consultant Reverend Billy says.
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Thanks for the 66 Sq. Ft. blog link. I spotted that she had 2 posts about the Highline. I want to see it in person!
Backyard and Beyond 
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