Friday, September 12, 2008

More Parisian Gardens

An attempt to capture the marvellous Jardins des Tuilleries has not been entirely successful, but I plan to study these images, identify the plants, and set to work in my own garden. Notable is the use of the plant I've only referred to as prehistoric bush (prominent in the photograph at the bottom) which is found growing with abundance on the dry hillsides of Hollywood. Unfortunately, Southern California is not blessed with the same precipitous climate as that of Northern France, so some substitution will be in order. I like these gardens because they lack the uniformity of Los Angeles public garden design and they fall a little outside the box compared to classic English garden design. Plus I love the beanpoles jutting out of the soil every few feet, and one dreams of luscious runner beans, like the ones my mother picked for supper the other night, with their fire red flowers, attached to each one. The soil here needs a lot of conditioning and constant rotivation in order to maintain its consistency. The earth is prone to instant dessication and hardening especially through the one hundred degree days that apparently we've been having lately. That means plenty of mulching and barking (which the dogs provide quite happily).

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