On Starting: The Street Forest Method

By Jen Hirt

The Author’s Street Forest

The reporter takes in the “street forest” covering about 40 square feet in front of my house in the city—mostly terraced foliage instead of seasonal flowers, flourishing against the brick house, spilling out on to the sidewalk, just feet away from the on-street parking. She points, I identify. Ferns, vinca, phlox, ribbon grass, mint. Next level, elderberry, bush cherry, indigo, monarda, hydrangea, and chocolate vine. Houseplants hide in their shade. In...