Déjà vu Marché aux Fleurs

Supposed to be out and about in the garden today but alas rain has stopped play and I'm indoors now keeping myself dry.

So what else to do? Reminisce and write about it! I make it sound a bit negative but it is a wonderful thing to do, especially life can get so fast paced that looking back can become very tricky...

Not today anyway.

Only a few days ago we featured our visit to Marché aux Fleurs on our most recent visit to lovely Paris. Around the same time Loree of Danger Garden has featured it too. Now is my time to wade in as I share my take of this central Paris plant and flower market!

First things first, before we actually got in to the market we checked out one of the quirky knick knack shops we passed along en route and spotted these mini succulents and pots, nice! Forgot the name of the shop though, oops!

Although we can bring plants across the channel, we went away without buying any of these cute beauties. Now on to the market.

With spring finally descending upon Paris then (with London remarkably behind), there were lots of colour already going on in the market. Ahh Paris in the spring time!

And once in awhile you have to take customary 'pose with the plants' shot, with Gaz for scale.

Walking through the pathway I can't help but admire these vistas...

My favourite though were the stalls selling exotic plants and succulents.

I was intending to bring one of these back with us but alas we didn't get the chance to pass by here again the next day, Alocasia 'Stingray'.

Hopefully they'll still have some available on our next visit!

Mark :-)

Read More

Marché aux fleurs revisited

Having only just returned from Japan, we had another short break last weekend, with two days in Paris to celebrate our anniversary.
 
Paris in the Springtime! We are fortunate that Paris is a short journey for us either via Luton airport or train (just one change from the station five minutes walk from home).
 
With only a short stay planned we decided not to have too much of a plan and just enjoyed being there. A favourite haunt of us both is Marché aux fleurs, a flower market on Île de la Cité (one of the two islands in the Seine in central Paris), close to Notre Dame.

Its quite an eclectic market, with produce aimed at both tourists and locals alike. After all there's not many tourists that could take home a large bamboo or yucca as a souvenir.

Although most of the weekend was bright and sunny, we did seem to manage to visit the market during the only overcast period in the whole weekend!



Notre Dame

Shortly after we had left the market the sun was back!

Gaz

 

Read More

A Glimpse of New Caledonia

One of the benefits of visiting botanical glasshouses is that you get a glimpse of far flung places via their flora.

As the third and final feature on our recent visit to the glasshouses of Jardin des Plantes in Paris,we now take a look at the Glasshouse of the flora of New Caledonia.

Read More

Deserts and Arid, History of Plants - Jardin des Plantes

Here's the second in the series of blog posts regarding the glasshouses at Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

The biggest section of the glasshouses are the plants from the humid tropics and the remaining three sections are much smaller yet still packed with several interesting plants. The arid section is on the same glasshouse as where the humid tropical section is but it along a narrow section that connects the front to back parts of the structure.

It is more like a Desert and Arid corridor...

A skinny Desert and Arid section with a modest selection of xerophytes

Mixed arid plants with overly prominent tags.

Agave filifera (is it about to flower??)

Agave desmettiana

Agave parrasana

That's a bit better!

We loved the form of this Opuntia microdasys

A wide selection of barrel cactus, again the display could have been more engaging to the visitor.

Sulcorebutia steinbachii var. gracilior - tongue twister of a name but I really like this one!

Agave tequilana (?)

We whizzed through this section and just took photos as we passed by, not just because it was comparatively small but also it still lacked the impact of planting as what you'd normally expect in glasshouse specimens. Perhaps this section is newly planted and the plants haven't grown or settled in yet? Newly planted or not they could do with more plants in this area or re-think the planting altogether for more impact.

After passing by this 'dry and white' corridor you go back into the humid tropical section where there is a passageway to get to the New Caledonia section (more of this on the third and final instalment). The last part, which was oddly not connected by glass walkway and is separate from the rest is the History of Plants (Evolution) glasshouse. Small selections of lichens, horsetails, ferns, conifers, and cycads are to be found there, arranged in a way to demonstrate their timeline of appearance on the face of the earth. This section is interesting enough for a ten minute amble. Curiously, this part has a security guard...

The primitive genus that is Equisetum

...and the delicate and fern-like beauty of Selaginella, the spikemosses

Blechnum brasiliense

Fossilised tree trunk

It may be winter outside but it's only autumn inside the glasshouse - Ginkgo biloba leaves

Encephalartos lehmannii

A large Podocarpus salignus at the back

Cyathea robusta

More Equisetum (I wonder if this was deliberate or just spread around...)

Quite a contrast of a post, from dry to moist and lush! On the next and final instalment will be a short yet very interesting glimpse of the plants from New Caledonia.

Mark :-)

Read More