In a vase on Monday: Paris

Rosebud in Paris, 2016, enclos*ure
Passing by the windows of Rosebud Fleuristes, 4, Place de l’Odéon, Paris. In the vase are lupin, viburnum, and hydrangea flowers.

We spent the long holiday weekend in Paris, just getting back this afternoon — so I don’t have a flower arrangement of my own today. But I can offer a few pictures of the windows of two florists in the area north of the Luxembourg Garden: Rosebud and Stanislaus Draber.

Rosebud, Paris, 2016, enclos*ure
Foxtail lilies and viburnum flowers at Rosebud, which was mentioned in the Paris-Match article as having been created with “a concept of florist-art gallery” (à l’origine d’un concept de fleuriste-galerie d’art).

On the train to France, I read an article in Paris-Match magazine, “La Fleur Fait Sa Révolution!”

“The flower has become a symbol of an urban renaissance, creative and super-cool,” it said. “One talks flowers with the same appetite that characterizes the foodistas for cooking. The opening of peonies, the Japanese [pruning] knife, and the art of the bouquet are now at the heart of urban conversations.” The trend is “embodied by the explosion of the neo-artisans who are also called the ‘makers’ (les «makers»).”

The article also mentions that the flower-market gardens around Paris “have almost disappeared in favor of the industrialized Dutch market. If nothing is done within ten years, there will be no bouquets of real scented garden roses for the high fashion Parisian florists.”

In a vase on Monday, Paris window, May 30, 2016, enclos*ure
Peonies, roses, and sweet peas in the window of Stanislas Draber, 19, rue Racine, Paris.

To see what other gardeners/bloggers/makers have put in vases today, please visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

ADDENDUM: There’s an interesting video clip by Rick Steves of a giant Dutch commercial flower auction here.

The Sunday porch: Munich

Chinese Tower, Munich, May 2016, enclos*ureChinesischer Turn and beer garden in the Englischer Garten park, Munich, Germany.

Not a porch, of course, but a grand garden pavilion first built in 1790 — the year the park itself was laid out (officially opening in 1792).

Chinese Tower detail, Munich, May 2016, enclos*ure
The all-wooden tower is five storeys and eighty-two feet tall.

The tower was designed by Joseph Frey, a military architect.  He was inspired by the “Great Pagoda” of the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens in London.

The 1790 structure burned down in 1944 after a heavy bombing of Munich.  The current tower, true to the original, was built in 1951.

panoramic Chinese Tower, Munich, May 2016, enclos*ure
Click on the image to enlarge it.

The beer garden surrounding the Chinese Tower seats 7,000 people.

On early Sunday mornings in the late 19th century, up to 5,000 servants, soldiers, students, and other working-class people would gather at the tower to dance to a brass band.  These Kocherlball or cooks’ balls would end by 8:00 a.m., so that the attendees could get back to work or go to church.  The dances were outlawed in 1904, but were revived in 1989 as a annual event every third Sunday in July.

Munich, early May 2016, enclos*ure

As its name implies, the Englischer Garten public park (the oldest in Germany) was laid out in the English landscape style associated with the work of Capability Brown.  Its principal designer was Royal Gardener Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell, who had studied in England.

The park has an area of 910 acres — making it larger than New York City’s Central Park.

I took these photos with my phone while biking through the park last Sunday morning. (There are over 48 miles of paths in the park.)

There’s a brief history of beer gardens in America here.

Wordless Wednesday: axes

Munich5, enclos*ureSchloss Nymphenburg, Munich, May 7, 2016.

Wordless Wednesday: krokus

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The King’s Garden, Copenhagen, March 24, 2016.

In a vase on Monday: Copenhagen

119 Copenhagen market, March 26, 2016, enclos*ure
We spent the Easter weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark.  This picture was taken at the Torvehallerne (or food market, located here and on Instagram here) on Saturday.

To see a few more photos of flowers at the market, please click on any of the thumbnail images below.

The outdoor stall is Stalks and Roots.

To see what other gardeners have put in a vase today, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.