Walkin' the High Line

Traces of tracks 

Excellent avenues

This morning I caught the subway to manhattan and explored The High Line. This is the most wonderful space. It gave me that excellent joyous feeling where I walk around with a smile and I suspect people think I'm drunk-except for the ones who are also smiling and then we just nod at each other and sometimes I do an awkward single or double eye wink. Good times. 

Anyway, almost as soon as I mounted the steel stairs to this great park, a lovely local grandpa figure all in white {sun visor, glasses, shirt, shorts, socks, shoes all glowing white} started chatting to me and pointed out buildings that I would have missed because I often think that I only see plants and flowers wherever I am and my tunnel vision precludes me from seeing the rest. 

The High Line was a railway which until about 7 years ago was a reportedly unsightly spectacle that was lobbied to be torn down until some enterprising individuals noted the wild flowers growing on it and turned it into a privately funded park space. It is such a treat! It's right in the city but elevated enough that you are aware of the traffic sounds/busy life noises but you are removed enough that it is muted and kind of a nice reminder that you are in a wonderful landscaped garden walkway in the midst of the city. 

Great elements have been retained, original tracks peep through the greenery and are echoed by the lines in the wooden benches and steel embedded in the concrete paths. There are generously sized wooden sun lounges scattered throughout and great sculptures and viewing platforms. The whole walk is spectacular, a seamless blending of old and new both in the park and in its surrounds. It is currently about 1 mile long with ongoing work being done to expand. 

What a space!

Loire Valley:::wandering, dreaming

The journey here was a longish one, I flew from Sydney to Paris via Dubai we had a 2 hour delay, then a train to St Pierre des Corps which takes about one and a half hours and a car hire and two hour drive to our home for the week in Chinon which is a pretty cute town, river adjacent and alive enough so that it didn't feel slightly abandoned like some French villages I've seen. 

Our house was great, old but slightly renovated. We had a tiny and wonderful courtyard with high ivy and rose covered walls and a large clump of hydrangeas with a little table and a few reading/breakfasting chairs. Why do roses/hydrangeas/everything grow so well here?! The days were long and summery, lots of good wandering and eating. I was tagging along with some family who were looking at properties in the area so I also saw some great homes. Mostly we looked at formets {spelling may be out} they are French farmhouses. They look adorable from the outside but are kind of cramped, dark and awkward inside. This is mostly due to the fact that heating is expensive and the walls were built really thick, ceilings low and windows kept to a minimum. I think Australia's climate has ruined me for this kind of house. They were a lot of fun to look at and mostly I just enjoyed looking at people's rambling gardens and their house stuff because other people's stuff is intriguing. 

The last property we looked at was somewhat different. It's on 8.5 acres, about half of which is a nicely established garden with pine trees, spruce, roses-various types, hydrangeas, dahlias, windflowers, rhodos, cosmos, a little veggie patch, fig trees as well as an orchard containing red and white currants, pears, apples, walnuts, apricots, plums and cherries. Oh. Ok. It also had a little stable because the previous owner won a donkey at a local donkey winning fete. The donkey has since moved on. The style of house is called a maison de maitre. It's big and lovely and light. It needs a bit of work inside but it's a good sized job, enough to make it interesting but not enough to be a headache [maybe]. An offer was made/the house may change hands. 

We did a bit of sight seeing too, a highlight was the Chateau de Villandry. The gardens were great, there were lovely long avenues of established grape arbours and low espaliered crab apple and pear trees. Also huge rose arbours and some of those French partiere gardens where plots look like mazes and/or hearts, diamonds, crosses etc. I always admire the time and dedication these must take, but their order frightens me. Happily, a later addition was made to the gardens and after wandering through the ordered ornamental vegetable gardens {weird concept} and passed the great lavender mazes you come through a hedge to 'The Cloud Garden.' It was a garden of planned disorder. The plants and flowers were spilling over the paths, butterfly and those hilarious ponderous bumblebees were pottering around. The first garden was all blues and whites, the next one oranges and yellows. 

I can only imagine how pretty it all looks in spring when the pear/apple trees are in blossom---> shall have to revisit. 

Oh! And I almost forgot---> there are ten lilac trees on the property we looked at. They weren't in bloom as I was there in summer but they looked pretty fetching. 

  

belated recount of plant wandering

This poor blog, it's become a starved greyish kitten with matted fur mewing into the darkness. I have been a little busy. Having some excellent adventures, such as a visit to the Plant Collector's Fair {I adore being around old people who know a lot about plants, where they share information and wonderful tales and their eyes are twinkling. Yep, I love old people who love plants}. I ended up bring home a Brassia Rising Star orchid, a zygopetalum orchid {most amazing scent ever!}, a beautiful beautiful rose called Lavender Pinocchio {insanely pretty, a gorgeous lilac hued deep beigey milky coffee kind of wonder}, a new begonia {tuberous variety, my first} which has a beautiful fully creamy bloom {most of my other begonias were chosen for their interesting leaves}, a couple of bearded iris {green and gifted variety-I took a photo of the photo of the bloom, cannot wait to meet it in person}, [recounting my haul, I am a little embarrassed at my indulgence...not really], I found three tiny little vines that had the greatest seed heads ah! My first clematis, I thought they didn't grow in Sydney and finally at the last moment, we sighted some gorgeous and extremely precious double violets. They are white and named Comte De Brazza. The first one bloomed this very morning. It smells so beautiful, so strong for such a tiny flower. My friend make some violet granita with these petals {I tried it, the smell made my taste buds sing} and also gelato {talented friend}. I plan to attempt some tinctures and potions myself.

                                                                   ---plant joy---

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clematis. silvery perfection

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bearded iris, I will meet you soon! You with your wonderful chocolatey stripes and lilac tones

rose hips

in about one year, my Brassia may look like this

orchid, you are an octopus