Another Brussels view: the tower of the Town Hall from Rue Ravenstein.
And in Lyon
During three days in Lyon, France, last month, we also found some wonderful pollarded London plane trees in the old city areas of Vieux Lyon and Presqu’île.
Along the Saone River in Presqu’ile.
On the other side of the Saone in the Presqu’ile area.
In Vieux Lyon, near the Saone River.
Also in Vieux Lyon, along the Saone River.
A square in Vieux Lyon.
Click on any thumbnail in the gallery to scroll through larger images.
Pollarded trees in Brussels
An advantage of visiting Brussels in the final days of winter is being able to see the bare knobby limbs and whippy branches of the city’s many pollarded trees. They “can look weird,” wrote Landscape Designer Clive West in The Guardian at this link. But, like him, I am fascinated by the particular aesthetic of their gnarly forms — ancient and modern at the same time.
It was near dusk, and I took these photos with my husband’s Blackberry.
This was the Nouveau Marche aux Grains just off Rue Antoine Dansaert.
but it was within walking distance of the Grand Place.
I don’t remember the street of this little square,
I loved these bright yellow tables.
In a square at Avenue de Stalingrad and Jagersstraat.
Click on any thumbnail in the gallery to scroll through larger images.
Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Follow Up: Whittemore House
It’s wet and gloomy again this morning (the rainy season) and nothing in the garden really inspires me at the moment. So I went back to the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection at the Library of Congress website and searched ‘foliage.’
This was what came up, and it’s quite something.
It was the interior of Whittemore House, at Dupont Circle* in Washington, D.C. Johnston took the photo sometime between 1890 and 1920. In addition to the copious foliage, it features a leopard rug and a moose head.
The house has been the home of The Women’s National Democratic Club since 1927 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, judging from the club’s website, the current decoration, while pretty, is more conventional. (Rooms are available for private parties, weddings, and special events.)
Whittemore House was built from 1892 to 1894 for opera singer Sarah Adams Whittemore, a descendant of President John Adams. She lived there until her death in 1907. The interior in the photo may be hers, as Johnston took her portrait in 1900.
Thanks to Pam at Digging for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Foliage Follow Up the 16th of every month.
*1526 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Vintage landscape: wildflowers
While the hand-colored images are the stars of the recently released collection of lantern slides taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston, among the new material are these lovely black and white photographs of wildflowers. Johnston used these pictures to illustrate her popular lecture, “Wild Flower Gardening.”
The slide at the top is “Unidentified house, woodland pathway, 1920.” All the portraits of flowers below were taken between 1915 and 1927.
Wood anemone. (All labels by the Library of Congress; click any photo to enlarge it.)
Wildflowers.
Bell flower (campanula).
Woodland mushrooms.
Wildflowers in bloom.
Bell flower (campanula).
Lupin (lupinus).
Unidentified garden or park, woodland daffodils, 1920 (also the photo below).
All photos are from the Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day in April
I’m afraid this will have to count for my Bloom Day post this month — it’s pouring outside. To see what’s blooming in other garden bloggers’ gardens, go to May Dreams Gardens, here.
enclos*ure 