Parc de La Villette

Today it is fashionable to grapple with the idea of collective meaning and memory in landscapes. Conferences are held, books written, different styles of garden analysed, all debating how far deliberate messages and associations can be conveyed through designed landscapes. My favourite article on the topic is Marc Treib’s wry “Must Landscapes Mean?” which examines [...]

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Autumn – the year’s last, loveliest smile

We have enjoyed a glorious Indian summer in Paris, lingering well into October, with temperatures in the 20s and bright sunny skies almost every morning. But the trees know. Shorter days and cooler nights have signalled the changing seasons to them. Here is one beautiful example from last weekend, in our local parc Monceau. I [...]

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A gay old (s)park

Tucked away in the heart of Paris, the Square du Vert Galant sits on the western tip of the Ile de la Cité. Its name – which my dictionary amusingly translates as ‘gay old spark’ – is a reference to the raffish king Henri IV, who used to cavort on this spot with some of [...]

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Trouble at the Tuileries

I have just written an article for Gardens and People on the extraordinary 1990 proposals by Bernard Lassus to reinvent the Jardin des Tuileries. They were an entry in a state-run competition and, sadly, a less adventurous plan by Louis Benech and Pascal Cribier was chosen for implementation. My article is part of a series [...]

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Cool plants for hot days

The gardens of the Hotel Biron are currently a sea of creamy hydrangeas and soft green foliage. A few weeks ago I posted on the lush roses and paeonies that filled the grounds in June. It appeared to be the peak of the summer. But now everywhere is a mass of lacecaps and mopheads, all [...]

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The Emperor’s own park

The Bois de Boulogne, once an ancient oak forest, was for centuries a royal hunting ground. In the 1850s, it became the first of many public parks created by the Emperor Napoleon III. His team of engineers, designers and horticulturalists produced what they saw as an English-style landscape, with sinuous paths, rock features, clumps of [...]

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C’est pour offrir?

One of the pleasurable things about living in Paris is the fleuristes – the many flower shops with their beautiful displays of plants and cut flowers. This one is Shivani on boulevard Haussmann in the 8th arrondissement. It currently has displays of hydrangeas, tree ferns, lavender, philodendron and orchids, all carefully set out on the [...]

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Rainbows and daisies

At one of the side entrances to l’Eglise Saint Germain des Prés in the 6th arrondissement are four little box-edged flower beds. This summer, one of them is thickly planted with rainbow-stemmed swiss chard, pink cosmos and dahlias. (There are also some rather unnecessary, straggly standard roses.) My daughter and I stood for a few [...]

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Ecole des Beaux-Arts

The Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts was established in the seventeenth century and, in its heyday, was an enormously influential school for architects, painters and sculptors throughout the world. Its alumnae include Degas, Delacroix, Givenchy, Monet and Mary Cassatt. Its current home in the 6th arrondissement was built on the site of an early seventeenth [...]

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Tennis à l’anglaise

With Wimbledon in full swing, I am reminded that there is a solitary grass tennis court in Paris. It is located, perhaps not surprisingly, in the gardens of the British Embassy in the 8th arrondissement of the city. The French, of course, prefer clay courts. The Embassy court is used by staff and visitors – [...]

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