Landscape architect Janice Parker has been greening New York City since the 1970s, when she did the nightly floral arrangements at Studio 54. Now she’s president of the Chairman’s Council at Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, helping to refresh the concrete jungle with several lush oases. Luxe spoke with Parker about the flowering of New York. janiceparker.com
How did you connect with the NYRP? I met Bette Midler through members of her original band in 1976. When she came back to live in New York in 1995, the city was really a mess. She started by cleaning up garbage, and the idea clicked with me completely.
What project are you most proud of? We planted a million trees in New York City. It was an ambitious rollout to figure out where to acquire them, where to put them, and how to make sure it didn’t end up being a million dead trees.
Are there any tips you can offer about landscaping in the city? You have to know the path of the sun and which plants thrive in that sun. For rooftops, you want tough specimens that grow well in exposed locations, like the seashore, so they can handle dehydration and wind.
