Sunday Gowanus Lounge Interlude: A Small Triumph for Nature on the Gowanus and in Red Hook

Flowers and Pilings in Gowanus Canal, originally uploaded by rsguskind.

Gowanus Lounge was so shocked to happen upon this wonderful juxtaposition of nature and Gowanus that we probably shot a hundred frames of these babies. The flowers are located at the Union Street Bridge, and they speak to the ability of nature to triumph over adversity.

Below is a lovely photo of the same type of flower taken in Red Hook by Sonja Shield and posted as part of her always wonderful flickr photostream. Sonja did some research and writes "These are Clematis flowers, a native plant which is part of the buttercup family. Supposedly, these are hard to grow. Evidently, this abandoned shipyard has all the right ingredients for them to flourish unattended." The flowers are on a site adjacent to the former Todd Shipyard and future home of Ikea.

Now that we're looking, Gowanus Lounge has also seen these flowers in Williamsburg, on North 11th Street. Clearly, these buttercups dig all the hipster Brooklyn nabes.