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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 18:14:16 GMT
The Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondissement is the Paris botanical garden and was created in 1635 as “the king’s garden.” It was renamed the Jardin des Plantes after the Revolution and was turned over to the botanical scientists of the time who took care of it with the utmost dedication. This didn’t stop it from becoming a hotbed (intentional pun) of nocturnal sex in the 18th century. Rétif de la Bretonne in his book “ Les Nuits de Paris” wrote « I will not describe their amusements, but it’s a good thing that the gate is locked after dark. » No, you are not going to get those photographs, and anyway all of the activities in the bushes have moved to other areas of Paris. Anyway, you get your first impression of the size of the place when you arrive at the entrance along the Seine, with the Museum of Natural History at the far end. The esplanade is 500 meters long. It is not like the other gardens of Paris, because less care is taken to perfectly symmetrical flowers beds and such. It is perfectly normal to have a lovely display of flowers on the right… … and empty flower beds on the left, because the time has not yet come to plant the specimens. I think that all of the little signs are great, because I have no idea what most of the flowers are called. Not that I remembered any of the names this time, but if I had a garden of my own, I would have had a notepad with me to write down the names of what I would want to plant. Obviously, there are some purely decorative areas as well, such as these magnificent poppies. I was surprised to see them all in full bloom in April, because the traditional red poppies that you see all over the fields of France are normally not even visible until May. As a botanical garden, obviously not all of the displays are floral, but the vegetation is always fascinating. (to be continued)
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Post by bjd on Apr 27, 2010 18:21:53 GMT
It's a different variety of poppy, Kerouac.
I find that there has been tremendous progress made in French parks over the past 10 to 15 years. Before, and for God knows how long, French parks were boring. Flowers lined up strictly and with no imagination. Same old plants everywhere, including those horrible plantations in small towns with the name of the town picked out in little begonias or marigolds. But, now they actually make an effort to combine various colours, heights, etc, so going to a park, especially a botanical garden like the Jardin des Plantes, is a real pleasure.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 18:50:55 GMT
Well obviously they are different varieties of poppy. Otherwise they would be red!
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Post by fumobici on Apr 27, 2010 18:50:57 GMT
I think those are bred from Iceland poppies, thus their scant need for heat to bloom. I love that I can go almost anywhere in the world and have the commonality with other plant folk of the Latin binomials.
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Post by fumobici on Apr 27, 2010 18:55:12 GMT
Well obviously they are different varieties of poppy. Otherwise they would be red! Actually the common field poppy (papaver rhoeas) has been bred to produce many colors- look at Shirley poppies to see some of the possible variations. In Tuscany some people think the poppy, which is considered a pest by growers of grain, has been too effectively controlled and they miss the annual displays of bright red in the Spring fields, less in evidence today.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 19:47:44 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 20:16:13 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2010 20:50:00 GMT
I am overwhelmed! You've shown some wonderful public gardens in Paris before, but I adore this one. It's so wonderful to see plants grown with others from the same kind of habitat. Plant markers make my heart sing. One way to learn plants is to label those in your own garden. After a while the Latin names sink in, plus it's another aid for learning to really look at a plant. There are some great surprises here, such as the area of parrot feather, the immensely pleasant naturalness of the plantings, the variety -- on & on! You really outdid yourself on those poppy pictures. Bravo! I was going to tell you about Shirley poppies, but Fumbobici beat me to it. No matter, here is some further info on poppy varieties: www.gardenguides.com/2555-poppy-shirley-seeds-bulbs.html
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 27, 2010 20:55:55 GMT
Oh yeah ~~ one more thing. You wrote: This didn’t stop it from becoming a hotbed (intentional pun) of nocturnal sex in the 18th century. ... No, you are not going to get those photographs, ... You have photographs from the 1700s??! Cool! I wanna see!
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Post by lagatta on Apr 27, 2010 21:16:03 GMT
DIRTY pictures from the 1700s...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 21:28:36 GMT
Splendid !!! I love this!! I love the fact that they are attempting to educate people of the various plants and their usage both in the displays of and of course,the labeling/marking of. There is nothing so frustrating (to me) than to go to a botanical garden and fall in love with a plant that isn't labelled and no one knows the name of. I loved seeing the workers,it's always a pleasure to see people tending flowers whether in a public or private garden.So often one sees gardens empty and devoid of people. The various microclimates represented are incredible. And I love seeing the plants names written in French. Oh, I could go on and on. I can't believe how huge the entrance to this place is!! Jeez!! Great thread! I will come back to. Did they have many greenhouses with tropicals on the premises?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 21:41:50 GMT
What a beautiful place.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 22:06:43 GMT
The “winter garden” was closed unfortunately. The sign said that the indoor itineraries were being redone. Actually, the day was quite warm and I was sort of glad not to go inside – I would have come out of the jungle dripping with sweat. I stopped to look at a map of the garden. About half of it is taken up with the “menagerie,” which was the second zoo ever created. It is much too small to be a “humane” zoo and thank goodness, all of the animals that were unhappy there have been removed over the past 30 years – elephants and tigers and such. Even the new Zoo de Vincennes when it reopens in 2012 will not have elephants anymore. They are happier in the drive-through “jungle parks” with much more space. But the menagerie remains, because the children love the monkeys and goats and other cute little animals. Anyway, I did not visit it this time. I liked the solar panels behind the fountain – a definite contrast covering about two centuries. Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon was the administrator of the Jardin des Plantes until the Revolution. Actually, he died a year before the Revolution, in 1788. Before television and the internet, people like this had all the time in the world to devote themselves to botany and biology. That was probably lucky for us in these later years. How many people are really devoting themselves to this kind of stuff now? The photo above is the Grande Galerie de l’Evolution. It suffered quite a bit of damage in WW2 (it is right next to the Austerlitz train station, which would explain that) and was closed in 1966 because it was too decrepit. It remained closed and in ruins until… 1994! François Mitterrand took an interest in it and managed to get the funds to completely renovate it. It is absolutely spectacular and merits a report of its own, which I promise that I will do one of these days. It has numerous specimens that can be seen nowhere else in the world, including a molded clay model of the dodo (no taxidermy version exists on the planet) and also some recent items like the only giant squid ever naturalized (“soft” animals are extremely difficult!), a 9-meter female captured in 2000. The first large animal ever naturalized is also exposed: a royal rhino that lived in Louis XV’s personal menagerie in Versailles. It should also be mentioned that the collection is so enormous that more than 95% of the animals have never been exhibited. Try to imagine the collection: 75 million specimens! No, it is not possible to imagine, is it, even when you include the 40 million insects. How about a million fish or 80,000 birds? It is truly incredible. Yes, yes, I promise that I will do a report on it. Okay, back to that row of trees. I really enjoyed the old gnarly branches. I’ll see if I can wrap up this subject tomorrow.
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Post by Jazz on Apr 27, 2010 22:32:28 GMT
I am somewhat overwhelmed. I was going to wait until 'the end', but....I love this! Again, you have taken some remarkable photos, of course, the plants,the crows, the fountain and solar panels, the lovely benches, the map of the zoo...all of it. Children must love it here. ( I feel so pissed off at myself...my apartment was only about 10 blocks from here, on rue Maitre Albert and I didn't find the time to go! now I'm worried sick that I'll never get to Paris again. )
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2010 22:37:01 GMT
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Post by hwinpp on Apr 28, 2010 2:23:41 GMT
I had to learn this by heart (and interpret) in 10th grade or so: Der Panther Im Jardin des Plantes, ParisRainer Maria Rilke Sein Blick ist vom Vorübergehn der Stäbe so müd geworden, daß er nichts mehr hält. Ihm ist, als ob es tausend Stäbe gäbe und hinter tausend Stäben keine Welt. Der weiche Gang geschmeidig starker Schritte, der sich im allerkleinsten Kreise dreht, ist wie ein Tanz von Kraft um eine Mitte, in der betäubt ein großer Wille steht. Nur manchmal schiebt der Vorhang der Pupille sich lautlos auf -. Dann geht ein Bild hinein, geht durch der Glieder angespannte Stille - und hört im Herzen auf zu sein. Rilke seems to be quite popular in France. Here are some English translations: www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/rilke/rilke3.htmlpicture-poems.com/rilke/panther.html
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 4:58:59 GMT
Thank god there are no more panthers or lions there anymore.
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Post by fumobici on Apr 28, 2010 5:10:22 GMT
Or privileged nocturnal libertines
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 5:43:54 GMT
Actually, there’s not much to add to finish this report. At different seasons, the gardens will look completely different – for example, the huge rose garden is just beginning to sprout and won’t really bloom until June. Later in the summer, the beds where the poppies are will probably be replaced by fabulous dahlias… The groundskeepers were hard at work on Monday. While it was nice to see the energy with which they were going about it, it is not really a pleasure to listen to eight lawnmowers operating simultaneously. Meanwhile, all of the benches have been replaced in recent years. The traditional green wooden Parisian benches are gone (too much upkeep) from the garden and have been replaced by modern steel ones. Now, however, you can adopt a bench. Many already had plaques on them, but plenty of others are still available. I was pleased to notice this one just one day after it was installed. Perhaps I saw it even before Alexandre did. End of report!
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Post by ilbonito on Apr 28, 2010 6:44:58 GMT
My favorite fountain in Paris was just outside the Jardin des Plantes. I lvoe the crocodile and the serpents ... and (if you can make it out) the fish-munching walrus at the nymph's feet:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 11:02:06 GMT
I had an early morning dream incorporating some of this...am so inspired!!!
(I didn't see any leaf blowers and nary a leaf in sight...)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 12:13:10 GMT
You'll have to see it in November then!
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 28, 2010 16:12:46 GMT
The tree ballets make me so happy I can hardly stand it -- so beautiful!
I think the metal benches look great.
Re: Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon and his devotion to botany and biology -- not to downplay his achievements, but there are people across today's world whose whole lives are devoted to those subjects.
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Post by Jazz on Apr 28, 2010 21:40:01 GMT
Beautiful and moving poem, Hwin. He gives a voice to the prisoners.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2010 21:45:07 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2010 21:26:05 GMT
And so, today I returned in a completely different season. The crows lurk, as they always do.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2010 21:49:48 GMT
Today's mission was to visit the renovated tropical hothouses, which have reopened. Unfortunately, it was not a cold day, so the tropical warmth was not appreciated as much as it could have been at other times. I was fascinated by all of the botany students (art students?) hard at work with their drawings. Obviously, all plants can be easily photographed now in every detail, so why draw or paint them? And yet, I would imagine that we all agree that superb botanical drawings are far more fascinating than any photograph. The details that need to be noticed are more precise, and you don't need to compare multiple images to understand exactly how a plant should look. So hurray for the young people still learning to reproduce images of plants manually!
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2010 23:15:54 GMT
Is it perverse that I enjoyed the chilly scenes outside more than the bright green hothouse?
Kerouac, those views of autumn in the garden couldn't be more beautiful!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2010 23:31:05 GMT
But it was not a chilly day! It was along the lines of an outrageous 18°. In Paris, in November!
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2010 23:44:47 GMT
64.4° F ~~ getting towards brisk!
You must have had some very cool nights to provoke the color change, no?
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