Monday, March 26, 2018

Old-West / Crafty garden-style, in Paris

Our very fist day in Paris, wandering around Notre Dame, I noticed what felt to me like a style disconnect.
Everything we saw in Paris felt old, and substantial and elegant. These woven planting bed borders though, they felt a little crafty. Homespun.

Down-home (connected with an unpretentious way of life, especially that of rural peoples or areas). Not an insult, just an observation.

I think this photo was taken at the Square René Viviani.
And I am sure this one was, the woven edging — with clever seat additions — surrounded the ancient Robinia pseudoacacia in that square.

These old-west style split wood "corrals" were on the Île de la Cité, near Notre Dame and Le Marché aux Fleurs, which I've yet to write about. Again, the style just seemed out of place.

And don't even get me started about the weeds.
Although this certainly is a fine thistle.
More corrals at Jardin du Luxembourg.
At least there were no weeds here.

Also at Jardin du Luxembourg, mega corrals!
What do all these seemingly out-of-place bits have in common? Maire De Paris, their municipality, aka Parks Dept. Someone there must really like this style of garden work.
Does it seem a little incongruous to you? Or is it just my issue?

I would really love to know what you think.

In closing I have just one more example, on a sidewalk cafe. Although this one is stylized ...

Weather Diary, March 25: Hi 54, Low 43/ Precip .10"

All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden (dg). Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

16 comments:

  1. Some of it is, alas, your issue. The things that you call "corrals" really do seem a bit odd. But the others are wattle fencing which is a medieval European style, including making a seat around a tree. Since you were at the Cluny Museum, which is a museum specializing in medieval textiles, it all seems logical and appropriate to me. Former art student with lots of art, textile, garden history mouths off!

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    1. Thanks for the name (wattle fencing) and education Linda! I really wanted to go into that textile museum btw, but it was late when I passed by and I didn't ever make it back that way.

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  2. I was about to comment with some of the same points as Linda, that the wattle fencing actually seems appropriate to me, since it's a style of fencing with a long European history behind it. Here's a website with some info: https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-season/2015/whence-willow-wattle

    The corrals look temporary to me. The trees they enclose look newly planted, perhaps their purpose is to protect the newly planted trees somehow until they're more established?

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    1. Thanks for the link Alison, I really hadn't stopped to look at it that way (European history). And I agree about the corrals looking temporary, but if that's the spirit in which they were built then someone forgot to go back and remove them, as they were around mature trees as well.

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  3. If not for the split-wood corrals, where would one tie his/her horse while visiting the saloon?

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    1. I knew this was a Peter comment before I even looked at the name. Thanks for making me laugh!

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  4. I can't see "unpretentious" as anything but a compliment. The "corrals" are odd. I don't like them. The wattle fencing (thanks, Linda, for the correct terminology) I think does fit in a way. Somehow, for me, it simultaneously contrasts with the surroundings (in materials and horizontal lines vs. vertical) and complements in the intricacy of the construction.

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    1. Back when we were coworkers, not yet dating, Andrew called me pretentious because I refused to go to Taco Bell, instead preferring Taco Time.

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  5. Although wattle fencing may have been common in the era in which the castle-like structures were created, I have to wonder if it would have been used around structures like that. It seems to me that a lot of that fencing, most especially the corrals, were probably created to keep the hordes of tourists that have descended on Paris in recent centuries out of planting areas. Dukes and princes probably didn't have a lot of "riff-raff" trudging through their properties.

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  6. Maybe the city folks long for a bit of the country? Old style. LOVE Peter's comment - lol!

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  7. I'm way more pretentious than you Loree, I avoid and sort of chain restaurant fast food or otherwise, and I never under any circumstances drink Coors. The corrals are rather odd-I would expect to see wrought iron , but the lodge poles are probably significantly cheaper !

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    1. Spokane's Taco Times were once not at all chain-like. Salsa bars for example, and real food. Alas that has changed. I wonder if I've ever had a Coors? Can't think of a time. I do know I've had a Bud Light though, as those used to be mainstays in my parents fridge.

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  8. re:the wattle fencing, could it also be, this was a good use for all the water spout regrowth that occurs after pollarding all those street and park trees?

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  9. Hmmm. Looks very French to me--that's how they do their potageres, mais non?

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