Paris in the Fall ...

These delectable cheeses featured in a picnic lunch last Fall, while traveling through the South of France: 

purchased at a market in the delightful town of Uzès, in this instance.

But the fact is, I'm mired in the technical so-called 'back-end' of the blog today.

While I would love to do nothing more than reflect on the magnificent sights, sounds and flavors experienced in Paris & Provence last September ... Case in point, this terrific potager in the charming wine village of Tavel,

I'm engaged instead in a frustrating battle with an advertisement that I have been unable to remove from my posts here.

I would much prefer to recall the jaw-dropping beauty of Gordes, 

and the wonderful Sunday in Paris, when I strolled along the elevated gardens of the 'Promenade Plantee' - where a staircase right outside the door of my Air B&B allowed access.

C'est la vie!

Garden Alchemy in a Provencal Setting

Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste

(Above photo courtesy the Garden of the Alchemist)

Revisiting an all-time favorite ... A garden rich with atmosphere,

adjoining a lovely country inn located in the village of Eygalieres,

Update:  Mas de la Brune ~ The garden and inn are no long open, sadly.

I pay homage to the amazing landscape in a long post on:

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

21st Century Gardens .. at the Marin Art and Garden Center

21st Century Gardens: Movements, Trends, Projects 

A Presentation on Landscape as Art.

This Thursday I'll be presenting a talk to the Garden Society of Marin.

My musings on landscape at art will braid together gardens designed by Ossart & Maurieres,

land artist Alain Idoux, 

and tree sculptor - work pictured above - Marc Nucera: the subject of a recent book.

My talk takes place at 7:30 p.m. at the Marin Art & Garden Center 

Arrive early and you can stroll through the lovely gardens on this historic property.

Photo: San Francisco Chronicle - for my Garden Walks Column.

To read more about the MAAGC gardens in Ross, California,

link below to one of my San Francisco Chronicle  

'Garden Walks' columns.

Another contemporary Paris parkland that has been featured on 

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz ~ click on link below:

Parc André Citröen

gives rise to compelling design elements that are highlighted in the presentation,

along with major private gardens in Provence created in the new millennium. 

Clamor .. Murmur .. Plash! Potpourri of Fountains

The Alchemist's Garden 

Provence, France

Still pools, cascades, clamoring waterfalls & splashing fountains.

A collection of magical water gardens photographed in Spring, Summer and Fall, 

appearing on Bay Area Tendrils in 2009. 

To connect to original feature, click on garden link.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Benziger Winery - Biodynamic Gardens

Glen Ellen, California

Classical Chinese Garden

Portland, Oregon

Words and photos by Alice Joyce, Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

The theft of content and photos on the Internet is widespread.

For now, I'll be taking steps to insert links back to my site.

Darioush Winery

Napa, California

Parc André Citröen 

Paris, France

Gardens of Giverny .... I've a Story to Tell

Monet's Purple Poppies - Photo courtesy, Ginas Pics'

Monet's garden at Giverny

Shortly after moving to California, I had an opportunity to travel to France, where I toured Impressionist painter, Claude Monet's home and garden.

I've a short story to share, so do follow along: At 15, I met the father of my brother's future wife.

Charming and rather elderly at the time (or so it seemed to me), my brother's future father-in-law, 

Mr. Monet was the grand-nephew (or great-grand nephew?) 

of the artist, Claude Monet.

C'est tout!

Garden Fever .... An Agreeable Condition

In a reflective mood since receiving the award yesterday on Blotanical,

for Best California Blog.

Although a few have been deleted, 

the tally shows 130 features on Bay Area Tendrils since January 13th, 2009.

One problem is not yet solved: 

I've yet to convert my library of thousands of slides from garden visits.

 Only a very few have been scanned, like a vignette from

Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste in Provence.

I can never convey the sensory euphoria of fragrance and texture, the light and atmosphere

experienced while alone in the White Garden; totally immersed in its beauty. 

One of my first features included a scanned photograph of the doyen of English gardening shortly before his death: Christopher Lloyd, unphased by the rain, leads us from one garden room to the next on a tour of Great Dixter.

When I registered on Blotanical, I listed Great Dixter as the garden I wished most to see, 

and that I had, in fact seen it.

Actually, not true. 

Garden Fever is an agreeable condition, but forceful in its way. 

There are innumerable gardens I hope to visit, despite fond memories of 

Great Dixter's perfect presentation of Arts & Crafts structure with contemporary panache.

A garden writer can't go wrong when featuring a major historic site of exquisite resonance:

Spain's Alhambra & gardens of El Generalife.

However...

when Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

 features a stunning Modernist landscape, 

such as the expansive

 Parc André Citroën

 in Paris, the response is generally less enthusiastic.

I love every type of garden, perhaps in equal measure.

I'll have to think about it, but this may be the case.

Events such as The Late Show Gardens

.... inaugurated this September in California Wine Country, 

give me reason to ponder and write about important issues such as climate change,

while soaking up ideas, innovative designs, 

and the opportunity to peruse the best of the best new plants.

The photo above - a detail - is from opening day of The Late Show Gardens,

the day after I first photographed 

 The Grow Melt Project 

during the Preview Party. 

Roasting temperatures in Sonoma caused the wall of ice to melt rapidly.

Today in my garden, Scrophularia 'Lemon and Lime' ...

I'm a plant geek, what can I say.

- Congrats to all the Blotanical finalists and winners -

It's a great group, good wishes to my California cohorts!

Town Mouse and Country Mouse

Daffodil Planter

Tulips in the Woods

Cindees Garden

Listening to Trees ... Marc Nucera Le Sculpteur d'Arbres

Marc Nucera - Sculpteur en Arbre  

(Tree Sculptor)

A l'ecoute des arbres  (Listening to Trees)

Actes Sud, May, 2009

Aline Dautresme photographs/Anne Hauben text

Wondrously Magical - The Alchemist's Garden

The Garden of the Alchemist

and .. Mas de la Brune

Imagine the quietude of early morning, in a place where you're enveloped by the fragrance of Iceberg roses. A gentle breeze causes the tall plumes of miscanthus to brush up against your face and you lose yourself in the sensory delights unfolding along the garden paths.

My all too brief stay at Mas de la Brune enabled me to wander in the Alchemist's Garden whenever I wished. 

It's an experience that remains as potent in my memory as it was in the moment.

 The Alchemist's Garden is nestled in the bewitchingly blue Alpilles mountains of France, in the picturesque village of  Eygalières in Provence.

The garden opened to the public in 1999 on a site adjoining Mas de la Brune, a country hotel housed in a Renaissance manor. The owners worked with designers Arnaud Maurieres and Eric Ossart to create a uniquely conceived, contemporary gardenscape.

Looking through the circular entry to the White Garden, from the 'Garden in Red'

Inspired by the belief that the property's main building had once been the home of an alchemist,  the garden took shape using symbols, colors, shapes and forms, directing visitors along a trail of discovery.

The sensual atmosphere of the garden is experienced after traveling through a narrow labyrinth sculpted into a section of dense hedging. 

Going forward, one enters a garden of magic plants, serving as a prelude to the Alchemist's Garden.

Here, an ample, open layout is intersected by wide aisles, where the plantings celebrate the esoteric repute of local flora; taking in aphrodisiac qualities, divining rods crafted of hazel branches, nettles, and a botanical assembly from olive trees to apothecary's roses. 

Decorative devices employed in the magic plants' garden include a vine-shrouded arch, spanning the garden at midpoint to provide a pleasing balance.

A long rill cut into the ground plane flows silently crosswise, while magic forests - wooded plots with curving paths -bracket the outer boundaries.

A far-reaching row of white curtains stands oppose wreathed fencing of living willow, acting to screen and separate horticultural groupings of magic plants from the mystical garden beyond. Composed in 3 parts, the Alchemist's Garden - Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste, proposes a transformative walk through the stages of life - from the early years to mellow adulthood, and finally, to a spiritual state of being. The alchemist's methods are presented in the enchanting guise of tonal works, i.e. the work in black, in white, and in red.

Each area is imbued with an acute materiality. The black garden features a shaded passageway upholstered in leafy shrubbery, transitioning into a space furnished with black mondo grass aligned in pots perched on metal stands. Around the corner, emerald hedges set the stage for a queue of terra cotta planters showcasing fleshy, claret-hued Aeonium arboreum.

Entering the luxuriant white garden, a gently twisting path paved in glistening gravel guides you on a course through an overabundance of 'Iceberg' roses intermingled with a silvery-striped cultivar of  Miscanthus sinensis.

Delicate flowering wands of gaura nod overhead, effectively, pure magic.

One more experience must unfold before the unusual garden journey culminates - the satisfying architecture of the Red garden. 

A fountainhead rises up at the heart of the space, from a water feature shaped like the Star of David. Hue and texture marry in a level expanse of iron-red stones complemented by sections of green turf, while an ordered structure composed of row upon row of red roses radiates outward from the pool's central star.

Dreaming of Provence

My reverie on this 4th of July:

Glimpses of private

garden sanctuaries in Provence,

La Belle France!

Soon to appear on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel,

a Provençal garden on my personal Top 10 list:

Le Jardin de l'Alchimiste

A Paris Idyll, Parc André Citröen

Parc André Citröen - Overview courtesy: www.worldarchitecture.org

Cascading plantings of fragrant herbs echo the architectural form of the water element pictured below.

Photos: Alice Joyce except where noted.

Suggesting sanctuary, an array of small-scale buildings line up along a walkway. A bold rectangular opening entices me to enter, where I find an interior that capitalizes on a play of light and shadow created by a slat roof, while the floor wears a carpet of Scotch moss.

Water elements lend particular distinction to a number of compartmentalized environments.

Entering one such space, you see water flowing gently over an inclined wall, while directly across the way, its counterpart achieves drama with a decidedly vigorous deluge over a stepped surface.

photo: it_outsider

On a recent journey, I set off on a pilgrimage to 

Parc André Citröen, an inspiring representation of a

contemporary landscape design by Alain Provost and

Gilles Clement. The park rose up in the southwest corner of Paris in the Javel neighborhood, a site appropriated as part of the city's urban renewal efforts, after the closure of the Citröen car factory.

Away from the well-trod tourist paths, the park has won  praise (and criticism, alike) for the forward-looking aspects of its design: A complex geometric layout full of surprising juxtapositions and horticultural interest.

Elements of cool postmodern style appear as architectural devices, defining the character of discrete spaces. At the same time, sequestered areas are given over to lush planting schemes and shaded allées, fostering a sense of intimacy.

PHOTO © ALICE JOYCE

The parkland extends over 30 acres, and futuristic bent aside, its plan encourages visitors to linger amid open areas of lawn, a bamboo grove, and a rock garden.

Large-scale water features call to mind 

the aesthetic fountains and pools of 

classical landscapes, while inducing 

young and old to relax and refresh.

Arranged on an axis perpendicular to the Seine, the totality of the park is oriented to echo the order of historic Parisian parks farther upriver.

The overall design concept puts into play a sense of contrast, advancing from obviously man-made configurations to areas meant to reveal the spirit of untouched, natural places.

At the heart of the park is a sprawling grassy expanse set off by a wall of clipped hedges and promenade evocative of formal French gardens. Opposite this central greensward, a sloping plaza of gleaming stone looks out onto two vast glasshouses flanking a fountain programmed with leaping water jets.

Moving on, a series of small theme gardens emerges, revealing a richness of shrubs, specimen trees and perennials. Unusual plant material is noteworthy in creating atmospheric garden spaces, such as the Jardin Blanc & Jardin Noir. A tunnel passage signals the transition to another color-themed space, accented with blue salvias, fragrant mints, California lilacs, a wisteria-draped arbor, and a pergola cloaked in my favorite variegated porcelainberry vine melded with clematis.

At another juncture, towering mirrored-glass buildings are partnered with a long reflecting canal. The crisp outlines of the adjacent hedges restate the angular facades.

A sunken outdoor room of ample proportions exhibits careful planning. The five walls reveal a subtle pattern of divided stone segments with scores of diamond-shaped water spouts, arranged at a mid-point as embellishment. On the ground, vegetation takes the place of stone cutouts, and grass creates a zigzag effect where it abuts the hard surface.

Controversy about the park and its design continues, so look for more to follow on BayAreaTendrils.

When in Paris... the park is located in the 15th arrondisement: Metro stop Balard or Javel.