Comments on: Urban plant tags

By: pjcamp

pjcamp — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:28:00 +0000

I was interviewing for a job in New London, CT once and noticed that all the fire hydrants seemed to have CB radio antennas sprouting from them, gaily colored in red and white stripes. They went about 7 feet high as I recall. I asked my hosts why they needed to radio the hydrants and he said that was so they could find them in the snow.

So there’s that.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:23:00 +0000

When the botanical garden in SF put in a native plant garden 20+ years ago, I used to go there all the time to sketch or just sit. Then the signage came in. It was so obtrusive that it killed the esthetics of the garden.

By: ymendel

ymendel — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:02:00 +0000

I believe the correct word would be “cultivar” to stay in keeping with the plant theme.

By: DWax

DWax — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Boing Boing fans might also enjoy the street art project “Declare it Art”, where artist statements are weatherproofed and affixed to non-art items in public places.
Here is one of my favorites: http://declareitart.com/2011/11/10/in-lieu-of/
Another good one: http://declareitart.com/2010/09/20/surveillance-statement/

Please check it out and consider writing your own! http://www.declareitart.com

By: Timothy Krause

Timothy Krause — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:48:00 +0000

It would be fun to distinguish between phyla (or whatever) of benches, like the nice open ones pictured above, and the spiky, mean kinds that have raised armrests etc. to keep folks from sleeping on them.

By: ChicagoD

ChicagoD — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:09:00 +0000

So, I guess I will be the one who has to poop at the party. I am not entirely clear why I would want these scattered around town. They seem like they are pollution waiting to happen, and while quirky, really don’t add any information at all. Also, I saw a different web page that said they were a step in a guerrilla marketing campaign. In which case they are not cool at all.

By: Amorette

Amorette — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:09:00 +0000

I live in Montana. There are places here where all sorts of things stick up in the summer because otherwise, they would be buried in the winter. Even the reflectors on the side of the highways are extra high in the mountains because of snow.

By: tré

tré — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:42:00 +0000

“Perhaps you are confused by the fact that this fire hydrant appears to be on a stilt. That’s because it snows so much up here in Minnesota that they have to build the fire hydrants tall enough to clear the winter snow cover.” Lived here almost all my life, never noticed our stilted hydrants until now. The entire world is different.

By: Lupus_Yonderboy

Lupus_Yonderboy — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:42:00 +0000

I’m in NOLA and it’s the same here. I believe that there’s a higher statistical likelyhood of house fires when it’s raining heavily (due to poor wiring, etc.) so it does make sense.

By: Beth Rich George

Beth Rich George — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:15:00 +0000

We recognize hydrants on stilts down here in Texas as well, but because of flooding. Always seemed a little strange to worry about accessing water when inundated with water.

By: royaltrux

royaltrux — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:28:00 +0000

Funny plant tags, an oldie but goodie: http://sniggle.net/plants.php