The Plants of Taipei
For last month’s article, I wrote about the abundant verdancy of Taipei, but I feel that this is the kind of topic where photographic evidence is a must.
Here’s the view of our patio. On the left is July 2020, the right is from last week. Our building was built in an older neighborhood, and was completed in 2019, so it stands out quite a bit. Even so, it’s quickly acquiring the dirty omnipresent earth tone on the walls, as you can see here. Our patio was used as a selling point by the realtor, but unless I take up being bitten by mosquitos as a hobby, it will continue to go unused.
The patio wraps around another side of our apartment, and that’s where this tree has grown out from between the bricks. We do not pay much attention to this side, so I’m actually not sure how quickly its grown, but given there appears to have been a drain there… Hopefully my landlord doesn’t see this.
This is a view from the roof of our apartment building. Some of these buildings are abandoned, but not all of them. What’s crazy about this photo is how close we are to bustling, busy streets, but you’d never know it from this vantage. I love the roofs that have been completely subsumed.
Each of these photos was taken within a five minute walk of our home. The top left is a dragon fruit plant, complete with a fruit, growing from the top of a telephone pole. The top right and bottom left are things abandoned long enough to be part of the landscape, which might be a decade or a few months. The bottom right is part of the block of houses next door: a tree growing from the second floor of a building where I’m 100% sure people live on the first floor.
The accidental and purposeful growth bleeds together. For many people, potted plants are utilitarian: they prevent that space from being taken by someone else, usually for scooter parking.
I desperately wish I had a time lapse video of this plot.
This is an example of a construction green wall. These, along with sound meters, are standard alongside most big construction projects. I have no idea if it’s a net positive (sometimes the plants die, and it’s a lot of plastic to implement), but I love the spirit of it.
Here are some of my favorite planned examples. The above is one of many, many collection of potted plants at National Taiwan University. I believe this cluster belongs to the admins of the Center for General Education, but I’m not 100% sure. Then in the below, our neighbors have this lovely burst of blue on their door plus the colors of the flowers.
But my real favorites are the unplanned, the examples around us of pure botanical perseverance.
This tree is in Huashan 1914 Creative Park. It is perfect.
Even downtown is not immune to the creep. The short, darker brown building just in the background is Taipei City Hall, then Taipei 101 is not far behind. Even in the shadow of the tower, in the heart of downtown, vines and graffiti work together to claim territory.
This little one outside my classroom at NTU didn’t last long, but not for lack of trying. I could end with some cheesy message here about the fortitude and grit it takes to exist in situations where you are not meant to exist, but forget that. Instead what I love about these plants and these photos is that moving to a new environment, to a walkable city, and away from a lifestyle that meant always sitting down in front of a steering wheel to get from Point A to Point B has given me the opportunity to see these little tiny scenes of beauty. And I am so thankful for that, and working hard to make sure I don’t take it for granted.
RIP Benjamin Shoe. You were a nice friend who probably deserved better than us.
