Seuss, aka Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), took the art of Surrealism and the architecture of Antonio Gaudi, combined them with childhood memories of early cars and machinery in New England and then the flora of his adult home in southern California, and created the famous illustrations for his over sixty books. (His Green Eggs and Ham is the fourth best-selling English-language children’s book of all time.)
His strange plants and landscapes — tops of mops, spikes, and feathers; elongated, twisty trunks; improbable angles, odd hills and rocks — form a visual vocabulary that we all understand and use routinely. These are just a few of the many, many snapshots I found by typing in “Dr. Seuss” and searching Flickr.com.
Photo by Randy Robertson, labeled “Dr. Seuss Plant Silhouette.” All three photos via Flickr.com, under CC license.“Dr. Seuss Bush” by Shawn Henning.“Dr. Seuss Trees” by Allan Ferguson.
A 2010 article from the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, has a list of plants that also look Seuss-y, here. Among others, they recommend weeping sequoia, Nootka cypress, and contorted hazelnut.
If you want to visit a Dr. Seuss-style landscape, the blog SPOTCOOLSTUFF has 10 “Places That Look Dr Seuss-ish” around the world, here.
ADDENDUM: Today is also the NEA’s Read Across America Day, here. And The Washington Post is calling for Seuss-inspired verse about current events, here.
Look closely at the lower right corner: the huge Chateau d’Amboise has a ‘little yard’ — cortil in Old French — and a side door.A closer look.At the top.Another view of the chateau.The chapel.
If you would like to see and read more about living in Rwanda, check out the charming blog A Year+ in Kigali, Rwanda by Helaina. I particularly liked her posts here (about the language) and here (culture) and here (food).
Her photo of this female mountain gorilla is one of the best that I have seen. (And, living here, I’ve seen quite a few.)
Also, here’s something I just found out: the smallest waterlily in the world, Nymphaea thermarum, was native to the hot springs of Mushyuza in southwest Rwanda. Unfortunately, it has not existed in the wild since 2008, when its habitat was disrupted by farming. However, in 2010, a scientist at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens was finally able to germinate its seeds (there were only 20 left). Its flowers, which are only about 1/4″ (less than 1 cm.) in diameter, are white/lavender with yellow stamens.
A west window of Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest revealing a view of the curtilage. Photo by Jack E. Boucher, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Curtilage –a piece of ground (as a yard or courtyard) within the fence surrounding a house. Origin: Middle English, from Anglo-French curtillage, from curtil garden, curtilage, from curt court. First known use: 14th century. — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
A bit more: a cortil was ‘little yard’ in Old French: cort + il (diminutive suffix). A ‘cortile’ (in English, in architecture) is an internal courtyard of a palazzo.
As a legal term, curtilage means the land immediately surrounding a residence that “harbors the intimate activity associated with the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of life.” In U.S. law, it is important for dealing with cases involving burglary, self defense, and unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment.
I came across the word while reading the website of Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s second home and getaway (I remembered something about it after Apartment Therapy posted a slideshow of presidential retreats). Its curtilage originally included an octagonal house (possibly the first in America), orchards, ornamental and vegetable gardens, and slave quarters. It was surrounded by a ‘snake’ or ‘worm’ stacked-rail fence, as well as fields of tobacco and wheat.
Because little visual evidence of Jefferson’s plantings remain, the 61-acre area is being reconstructed through archeology and research of his papers. Letters do indicate that a sunken garden behind the house contained “lilacs, Althaeas, g[u]elder roses, Roses, and clianthus.”
At Poplar Forest, Jefferson was working from a concept of “an ornamental villa retreat within an isolated agricultural setting.” He was thinking of ancient Roman villas, as they were reinterpreted in the 16th century by Andrea Palladio.
The estate is located in Forest, Virginia, near Lynchburg.
I’ve been thinking a lot about New Orleans and its special style since we were finally able to watch season one of the HBO series, Treme, in December and January. We lived in an Uptown neighborhood briefly many years ago, and I think the Crescent City is like Paris or Rome: any time passed there stays with you deeply.
It was that way for Walt Whitman, who was editor of the New Orleans newspaper The Crescent for few months in 1846.
Once I pass’d through a populous city, imprinting my brain, for future use, with its shows, architecture, customs, and traditions. . .
— Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
I tracked down a column by Dave Walker of The Times-Picayune on its website, nola.com, called “Treme Explained,” which explicates all the local references in each episode. I’m trying not to read ahead, because we’ll eventually get season two here.
More recently, I found these beautiful photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston of courtyards and gardens in New Orleans in the late 1930s.
Broussard’s patio, 815 Conti Street. All photos on this post are of New Orleans, La., in the late 1930’s, via the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.Gaillard Cottage, 915-917 St. Ann Street. Click on any photo to enlarge it.
From 1933 to 1940, Johnston photographed buildings and gardens in nine southern states, funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. She was one of the first to photograph and record southern vernacular architecture.
Her entire collection is fascinating. It contains 7,100 images of 1,700 structures and sites.
There are more Johnston photos of New Orleans in the gallery after ‘Continue reading’ below. Click on any thumbnail to scroll through all the pictures in full size.
In 1945, Johnston moved to New Orleans, where she enjoyed the lively bohemian atmosphere. She lived in her house on Bourbon Street until her death in 1952 at the age of 88. These two photos are from the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection of the LoC.
Johnston’s cats, Hermin and Vermin, seated on the brick railing of her New Orleans house.Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952), ca. 1950, in New Orleans.
You can buy prints of Johnston’s photos at Shorpy.com here.
If you’re thinking of visiting the Big Easy, you can read “36 Hours in New Orleans” in The New York Times travel section.
Tulane University’s Southeastern Architectural Archive maintains the Garden Library, a collection of over 1,000 titles, including published materials associated with women’s garden culture. Currently, the Archive is showing an online exhibit of vintage Reuter’s Seed Company catalog covers (here). Continue reading “Nostalgia for New Orleans”→
ADDENDUM: Today is also the NEA’s Read Across America Day, here. And The Washington Post is calling for Seuss-inspired verse about current events, here.
enclos*ure 