Zinc pots at Monoprix

You can tell that spring is going to arrive - the winter bargins are replaced by brightly coloured, light clothes in light fabrics that feel much too cold to wear right now! You can also see the new gardening ranges creeping out in cleverly located displays that make us all feel guilty that we haven't been in the garden for ages and make us want to get gardening.

Well, I had a moment like that in Monoprix!  They have the prettiest little zinc two handled troughs and cache pots in plain and green zinc, with a lace cut out border.  Really pretty.

You can see the table of 'green' which is mainly full of fake indoor plants, which are pretty good fakes in fact, and cute candle cactii.

And spring has even got its hands on the cushion range with these two lovely cushions.  I especially liked the thistle pattern which also appears on a cutting board.

It's not expensive in Monoprix and the good stuff goes fast and is limited, so if you fancy a injecting a bit of greenery (fake or real) into your home, it's just the ticket!

All boxed up! Easy and effective display

I love box!  I noticed these lovely simple, elegant displays outside a restaurant on the Boulevard des Italiens.  They would look simple and effective on a small balcony or a deck, or for a larger space, repeated to give a minimalist but pretty green display.

Box is a very versatile plant.  It likes dry conditions, so it doesn't fuss too much if you forget to your watering, in fact it doesn't like being waterlogged.  It does well in shade or sun, dry soils, it's evergreen, can stand a frosty winter and a hot summer.  It's flexible in that you can trim it to all sorts of shapes.  The only thing is that it grows ever so slowly so either you need patience or a large budget to buy mature plants (they are really expensive - for example a small ball of 35-40cm might cost around 55 Euros and a larger one of 90 - 100cm is a whopping 400 Euros).  But it's easy to plant and very rewarding.  There are many types of box, each with different sizes of leaves, different shades of green and so on, so that you can play around with them and use them to great effect.

Here's a useful link if you'd like to know more about growing box (buxus sempervirens).

http://www.boxtrees.com/topiary.html

And here's the pictures:-

ps I saw some box hedges at a pub this weekend.  They were, very obviously, FAKE!  Don't go there, it is so easy to grow and faked, it looks really nasty.  Must try harder!

My front garden :-(

We're getting connected to the sewers.  It's messy, muddy, dusty and there's rubble and workers everywhere.  I've been growing, pruning and caring for a box hedge surrounding the garden for 7 yrs and I have two robust slow growing bamboo plants that had reached a good, bushy size.  One morning with workers swarming over the garden, digging deep deep holes = garden destroyed, plants pulled up and tossed aside, even the robust bamboo.  I was pretty sad when I got home.  Nothing I didn't, in my heart of hearts expect, but the brutality was all too much.

After the hole was partly filled, I was able to partly save the situation by replanting the bamboo and even the hedge is partly back in place.  They were only out of the ground for 48hrs and even then they were resting in a huge mound of soil. but who knows if they will survive.  I'm watering a lot hoping to get the roots established.  Unfortunately there's also a whacking great grid in the midde of where the garden used to be so some creative solutions need to be found.  Here's some photos of my 'malheur'.

Green in the City

It was such a lovely day yesterday, bright sunshine, mild, unseasonal weather and blue skies over Paris.  I spotted this tempting roof terrace atop a very stylish building and I REALLY wanted to be on it!  Just look at those large bushes peeking over tantalisingly!

I also spotted this robust bay tree adding a touch of nature to the area round the Bourse (French Stock Exchange).

I am so dying for spring to arrive in Paris!

And another lving wall

They are everywhere here in Paris, can't turn round without seeing one these days (well, almost). I spotted this living wall used, again, on a modern building. This time it's on a branch of Monoprix in Nogent Sur Marne. The branch has had a makeover and I rather like the stark exterior with the plants complimenting the copper coloured wall. I defy anyone to go into Monoprix and spend no money. I love this shop, it's a mixture of Boots, Waitrose, Marks and Spencer (with trendy designer lines at reasonable prices). It sells kids' clothes, toys, nice home and garden ware, buttons, elastic and the list goes on....Anyway, here's the mur vegetal.........

Mur Vegetal Living Wall

or 'Living Wall'.  Here's two nice ones, used to great effect on two modern buildings.  First one at La Défense outside the new entrace to the 4 Temps shopping centre.

The second living wall I saw this weekend was framing the entrance to the Jean Nouvel building for the Fondation Cartier d'art Modern in 14th arr, Boulevard Raspail in Paris.

I liked the use of lights at La Défense and loved the lush, jungle effect of this living wall outside the Cartier Fondation, especially since it has bare branches sticking out of it just waiting to burst into leaf in spring so the wall will change with the seasons.  Really effective use of greenery in a fairly stark modern building.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss or Art for Gardens

I passed by this artwork on the Parvis at La Défense (the Parisien version of Wall Street or the City of London).  I found the juxtaposition between the green and the glittering lights of the high rise blocks.  The artwork was part of a series in 4 major cities in France - Paris, Lille, Marseille and Lyon, organised to celebrate the International year of Chemistry.

http://www.uic.fr/Annee-internationale-chimie-2011.asp

The artwork is called  Le recyclage : « Rosae Plasticae » de Marie-Hélène Richard

This is her website; http://www.mhr-artinsitu.com/jardin.html and interestingly she creates art for gardens, there are some very interesting pieces on her website, it's well worth a look.

Her work was a breath of fresh air and an interesting addition to the city landscape.