I liked the simple elegance of this roofline planting on an apartment building in the Châtelain neighborhood in Brussels. It appeared to be all one variety of fountain grass. I couldn’t tell if the plants were growing in a container along the edge or if they were at the front of a larger terrace garden.
On this visit to Paris we walked along the Canal Saint-Martin for the first time — starting at the Jaurès metro stop and then leaving it near the Place de la Républic (where the canal goes into a tunnel and then re-emerges after Place de la Bastille).
Along the way, the little derelict enclosed garden* above caught my attention. I found it touching and rather beautiful in its neglected state.
The canal was built between 1802 and 1825 to bring more fresh water into the growing city. Boats also transported grain and other materials. Traffic declined after the mid- 20th century, and there was talk of paving it over in the 1960s. Since 1993, it has been designated as an Historical Monument.
Today, the formerly working class, now gentrifying area is very picturesque, if still a little down-at-heel in spots. It’s definitely worth a detour from the more usual Paris sights.
Above, Square des Récollets.
ADDENDUM: There’s an interesting video clip of the canal in 1926 here.
*It was at Rue Eugène Varlin and Quai de Valmy.
Floral display on the south steps of the church of the Madeleine, early September.
The flowers were petunias and nicotiana, between rows of dwarf fountain grass. A sign said the arrangement was sponsored by the Paris Mayor’s Office and installed by “l’atelier de jardinage des Champs Élysées.”
Another quick look down.
We were walking along the Rue Caulaincourt bridge over the south end of the cemetery when we spotted this pretty planting arrangement in yellow below.
Cimetière de Montmartre is the third largest of four necropolises built in the early 19th century, just outside the Paris city boundaries.
It was placed below street level, in an abandoned gypsum quarry, which had previously received the hundreds of bodies of those killed in the riots of the French Revolution.
The entrance is at the end of Rue Rachel, under Rue Caulaincourt.
I’m sorry that there was no Sunday porch yesterday; we were out touring Stuttgart with visitors.
In the early evening, we walked through the nearby small city of Esslingen am Neckar, and I spotted this sweet doorway arrangement with espaliered ivy.
Streifzug means ‘foray,’ ‘ brief survey,’ or ‘ramble.’
enclos*ure 