Weeds in Queens

My life takes place amidst a world of hard surfaces. Masonry building meets concrete sidewalk meets asphalt street. Steel grates and concrete tunnels direct water in routes that must transverse windy miles underground before arriving at a treatment facility, and perhaps eventually rejoining the river - the only natural part of the water system remaining here. Trees are suffocated in tree pits, where poor maintenance pairs with an aggressive environment to drive out all but the heartiest of species. There is an utter lack of connection to what lies beneath the urban surfaces - I couldn't tell you the natural color or quality of the soil in New York - but somehow, once in a while nature finds its way through the cracks and 'thrives'. Thrives at least until acted upon in the name of 'maintenance' - some of this was first brought to my attention when I saw my Super scraping vegetation from expansion joints in front of my building, no doubt part of some local law requiring it to preserve the concrete. I wonder how different the city would be if we made the attempt to preserve the vegetation and the (somehow active) ecosystem it represents and spared the energies wasted with pavement.

Sometimes the weeds seem to have a mission of their own...

In Red Hook, Brooklyn someone is trying hard to make room for vegetation...