Tis the season for outdoor drinking, and it looks like some folks created a nice setup at 1071 Manhattan Avenue. Liquor within walking distance: check. Tree: check. Seating: check. Table: check. Tulips: check check check. Just be discreet. Miss Heather spotted the street furniture, and says, "whoever designed and executed this, the best tree pit in Brooklyn, deserves some real and lasting recognition be it from our municipal government or the design community as a whole." Agreed. In fact, perhaps the city should commission some creative folks to dress up more tree pits around town. If you want to take matters in to your own hands, here's the Parks Departments guide on how to care for tree pits, and maybe next year yours can be the greenest block. more ›

Tishman Speyer, the real estate company that bought Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 billion in 2006, is going on a landscaping binge at the sprawling housing complex. The company plans on planting approximately 200,000 plants across the property's 80 acres, including 10,000 trees and more than 3,000 shrubs. The net effect on one resident was that it feel as if she were in a suburban oasis in the city. more ›