Hello everyone!
On the Internet I often saw pictures of bushes and trees trimmed in the shape of figures of animals or people. Or something else very creative. But in reality I have never seen such amazing haircuts.
But I have photographs from my trip to France in 2006 in my archive. I want to share them with you. After all, when we hear the words “French garden,” we immediately imagine a geometrically planned garden, in which not only the placement of flowers, bushes and trees, but also their shape is carefully thought out. The gardener shapes the natural crown at his own discretion.
I'll start the story with two beautiful gardens at Chenonceau Castle. They were created back in the 16th century by two successive owners of the castle.
King Henry II gave the castle of Chenonceau to his favorite Diane de Poitiers. She began to improve the castle and grounds to her taste. And the garden of Diane de Poitiers (Le Jardin de Diane) appeared.
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Very carefully trimmed bushes are planted along the smooth paths of the garden. They are given spherical or oval shapes. From a distance it is hard to believe that branches and leaves are folded into this shape.
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I don’t remember if we then determined what kind of bushes were so beautifully trimmed in the garden. But we didn’t take any closer photographs so that the branches and leaves could be clearly seen. These tall “stacks” seem to be something of a conifer.
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Low balls are a shrub with small leaves. Amazing skill of gardeners.
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View of Diane de Poitiers' garden from the castle gallery.
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And this is a view from the castle to the second garden - the garden of Catherine de Medici. During the life of her husband Henry II, she had to endure his relationship with Diana. But in 1559 the king died from a mortal wound in a duel. The widow takes the Chenonceau castle for herself. Diana had to leave there. Interestingly, Diana's garden remained as it was. And Catherine created her own separate wonderful garden according to her taste.
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Catherine de Medici's garden is smaller and more laconic. But, of course, this is also an example of a French garden. And, of course, beautifully trimmed bushes and trees are also planted along the alleys.
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These smooth balls are so attractive that you want to hug them. It seems they had small leaves.
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Another view of Catherine de Medici's garden.
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I’ll show you more trimming of bushes and trees in other places in France.
Low, even rectangular green borders and high cones near the Les Invalides in Paris.
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View of the Champ de Mars from the Eiffel Tower. There are not bushes here, but trees. But that was the first time I saw trees trimmed like this – evenly rectangular. I was amazed by both the idea and the execution.
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A wonderful little garden in the courtyard of the Carnavalet Museum in Paris. Look how delicately everything is done!
By the way, the museum is free and very interesting.
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Examples of even rectangular and round haircuts in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.
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Fontainebleau is the kingdom of balls and cones.
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Corner of the garden at the Rodin House Museum in Paris.
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On the Place des Vosges in Paris you can see another amazing miracle of garden pruning: a smooth green wall with arches for the passage.
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On that trip, we went to neighboring Belgium for one day. Brussels also loves French gardens and the gardeners there are no less skilled.
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Camera Olympus C-55Z.
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I love this landscape, it looks well-maintained.
Yes, a model garden.