PJH Studios

Tag: detroit

  • Growing Sequoias in Detroit

    An effort started in 2020, seeks to grow an urban forest of sequoias in Detroit.

    Giant sequoias are not native to Michigan. And, yet, they’re somehow thriving in the state, which has a much cooler and wetter climate than their native California.

    The biggest giant sequoia east of the Rockies is a 77-year-old specimen, called the Michigan Champion, that was planted in 1948 on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. The tree measures roughly 116 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter.

    “They’re safer here … we don’t have wildfires like [California],” Kemp tells the Associated Press. “The soil stays pretty moist, even in the summer. They like to have that winter irrigation, so when the snow melts they can get a good drink.”

  • Detroit Art City

    Economic collapse means you can build a lot for your buck amongst the rubble, especially if you’re an artist in Detroit.

    But its particular brand of civic and economic decay has also drawn something unexpected: a small but well-publicized movement of artists and other creative types trying to wring something out of the rubble.

    TED, Banksy and Make Magazine are some of the big names, and the mayor has hired a special position to help coordinate art events.