Even with gardening, it’s all about the details. In thinking about how people circulate through the MoMA PS1 Salad Garden, I wanted to encourage people to do what they don’t often easily do at the museum – touch, interact, use their hands and their sense of smell. To most New Yorkers, a garden can be an alienating and foreign place.

So, it occurred to me that some playful method of labeling the myriad of plants we have growing up on the roof  (over 50 rare varietals!) would draw people in, and inspire them to ask questions.

My friend Claire Typaldos is a very talented ceramicist, printmaker and floral designer. We got together to come up with a ceramic solution to the plant label question. We stayed within the perimeters she usually works with – blues, greys, black and white, and repeating, hand drawn pattern. The result was perfect. The stakes are substantial in size and feel good in your hand, and have proven to elicit questions: What are Spilanthes, or Saltwort per se?

Come and check them out.