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Spring-time in Paris is just sublime. They manage such artistry in the planting of massed annuals. As you will know from 'Sydney Eye', there seems to be two themes emerging from this longer stay in Paris: parks and gardens, and cemeteries.
I have visited four cemeteries now: Passy, Montparness, Pere LaChaise, and Montmatre. Although I have shown a little of their story, there is still so much left to gossamer out to you over the coming months.
There are sooo many parks to add to those already seen: Tuileries, Jardin des Plantes, Jardins de Luxembourg, Parc du Laboure, and Parc Monceau. The Champs de Mars is not so much a park, as a parking lot - for coaches! Still to visit are: Buttes Chaumont, Vincentennes (and its floral parc), and Parc de Bagatelle which is part of the Bois de Bologne. All three are long metro journeys, but the metro is sooo smoothe and frequent!
Now, to what I have here to delight you. The top photograph was taken in Jardins de Luxembourg as were photos 5 and 6. It is truly a most handsome park. I have yet to return there on a quest to find the original Statue of Liberty. Might manage that on the way home today.
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Photograps 2 and 3 and 4 were taken in Jardins de Plantes down in the 5eme. This is not really a 'botanic' gardens; well, not a patch on our botanic gardens in Austraia. There is not sufficient labelling and attention to botanic detail to inform the masses. Don't get me wrong. It is a delight! I loved the landscaping and the jumble. But I went there to learn - which was misguided of me. The garden beds were down the 'guts' of the Jardin, but the day was 25C and I was sans chapeau. So I wandered the avenues of Plane trees (the same tree that lines roadways down in the south of France).
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Now, you will ask me detail of the gorgeous pink flower. To aid my memory, I photograph signs, too. So the pink flower is a variety of Peony (the label says 'Paeonia (Shin tohen) from the family paeoniaceae). I have not encountered the bush form before this. The flowers are massive and abundant. There is a grove of them along the Seine edge of the Jardins des Plantes. Red, mauve, pink, apricot, white. Overwhelming.
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This final image is from the Montparnesse Cemetery, which is probably the most 'beautiful' of the cemeteries which I have visited. However, it did not have an abundance of bedded flowers. These were near the main entrance. The beauty of this cemetery was in the arrangement of flowering cherry and plum trees. I have shown you some of this on 'A pied'.
Springtime in Paris is a joy. But so is autumn. Soon I will take the bit between my teeth and visit during the depth of winter. I suspect I will never visit during the height of summer.
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