Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg introduces us to a recent episode of The Perennial Plate titled "A Tale of Two Rooftops," which looks at urban gardeners in Hong Kong and Beijing "who have created leafy green escapes among the high rises of their respective cities."
"The New York Times attributes the trend in Hong Kong in part to a desire for organic produce and a distrust of farming methods in mainland China," says von Baldegg. "The Perennial Plate's video seems to suggest that above all, gardening is just a pleasure; Zhang [in Beijing] takes visible delight in his vegetable patch and Lam [in Hong Kong] says, 'it's relaxing hobby, growing something. It's like a tranquilizer for city people.'"