Pics from Paris: Dahlias are a Big Deal

Dahlia 'Bel Amour' at Jardin des Plantes. 15 Sept 2013

Jardin des Plantes is my favorite Paris garden, and I wander through on every visit, in different seasons and it's always delightful.

Huge dahlia blooms—in many forms and colors—are abundant right now. The flower trial sign indicates the varieties were created by Label Rouge and are "Les dahlias de qualité supérieure."

After enjoying our picnic on a bench in the gardens, I snapped a few dahlia photos to share with you. I can't decide which ones I like the best—do you have a favorite?

Huge blooms!

Dahlia 'Château de la Bordaisière'

Dahlia 'Flamina'

Dahlia 'Bumble Rumble'

Dahlia 'Fripon' is a short variety, paired with echinops.

Dahlia 'Néo'

Dahlia 'Colorama'

Dahlia 'Clair de Lune'

These red dahlias show the height of most.
Paired with deep red coleus, backed by grasses.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Jardin des Plantes Is Better in Autumn

Jardin des Plantes, Paris in panorama mode. October 2012
(click to enlarge photos)

Jardin des Plantes in October exceeded my expectations with grand displays of color, especially through salvia, tropicals and grasses. This is my favorite garden in Paris, but all of my prior visits were in the spring when the tulips and forget-me-nots formed low carpets of color.

All of my photos were taken with an iPhone 4s with OS/6. Today, we went to a social hosted by realtor Adrian Leeds (you may have seen her on HGTV's House Hunters International). "Eye Phoned Paris" was presented by professional photographer Michael Honegger who introduced us to a few applications to edit and enhance photos taken with an iPhone. After I shot these photos, I played around with CameraBag and Iris Photo Suite, so some have been edited with filters. For true inspiration in photography, be sure to take a look at Michael's website.

We spent very little time in the gardens today as it began to sprinkle rain. Perhaps we'll return to the Jardins on this trip as I never made it through this one front garden, let alone the wooded paths or alpine garden. This is a true botanical garden with many (free) sections and I highly recommend visiting to stroll or admire the plantings.

Passiflora at Jardin des Plantes. Enhanced.
I used CameraBag "fish eye" and
Iris Photo Suite for the watermark.

Glorious red salvia greggii steals this scene (above).
Tall grasses and tropical foliage add height (below).

Beautiful mixed borders
fill Jardin des Plantes.

Salvia leucantha looking great.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Inspiration: FRANCiful Things I've Seen (Part One)

Fanciful and French—here are a few FRANCiful things I've seen.

Part One. Paris.

I discovered a true fairytale garden shed in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. "Shed" seems a rather shabby description of this round turret. The red French door with a lever handle is perfect.

Jardin des Plantes; April 2011 in Paris, France.

Parfait, qui?

Intricate gazebo in the Jardin des Plantes.

An iron gazebo topping a hill in Le Jardin des Plantes reminded me of a wedding cake decoration. What cannot easily be captured in a photo is the spiral of hedges winding around that layered hill to reach the destination. Picnickers had already filled the gazebo to capacity on our sunny April day.

Of course, what gardener doesn't dream of a fabulous greenhouse? A pair of matching glass houses are literally filled with jungles of tropicals and other indoor plants. We can dream, can't we?

To visit Le Jardin des Plantes in Paris, I highly recommend jumping on a Batobus (boat) on the river Seine. Float through Paris and disembark at the stop for the Jardin des Plantes.

There are multiple street access points to the gardens: 57 rue Cuvier, 2 rue Buffon, 36 rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, place Valhubert 75005 Paris.


When to go? I have been the first week of April and the first week of May on warm, sunny days. Layering your clothes for Paris is always good idea. On a trip one June, it was cool enough for a jacket. 

Please watch for the upcoming: Part Two. Provence.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Inspiration: Tulip Varieties in Paris

When gardening gets too hot, it's time to stay indoors and browse flower bulb catalogs. The catalogs begin appearing in my mailbox between July 4 and 14—coincidentally, America's Independence Day through France's Bastille Day.

Tulips are very popular in the spring gardens of Paris. The Jardin des Plantes, the Jardin des Tuileries and the Jardin du Luxembourg boast proud displays of tulips, often planted with forget-me-not, dusty miller, erigeron, wallflower or primula.

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris France, April 2011:
Tulip, primula, dusty miller, erigeron and forget-me-not.

Tulips just beginning to bloom in April at the Tuileries,
located between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde.

The group planting at Luxembourg is so inspirational, but there were no labels for me to identify the tulip varieties. The Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens) and the Jardin des Tuileries are large parks, typically used for outings, strolling and enjoying the outdoors. The Jardin du Luxembourg, located in the sixth arrondissement, is the second largest park in Paris. The Jardin des Tuileries is easy to find as it is located between the Louvre Museum and Place de la Concorde.

At the Jardin des Plantes, a botanical garden in the fifth arrondissement of Paris, the plants are usually identified. The display is more for collectors who are interested in plant identification and genus. (Click any photo to enlarge.) If the color or shape inspires you, but you can't find the bulb, perhaps you can locate a similar substitute. Unless entering special exhibits or greenhouses, the botanical garden is free to the public. It is easily reached by taking a Batobus (or similar boat taxi) on the Seine and hopping off at the clearly marked Jardin des Plantes stop.

Most tulips may be grown in zones 3-8, but rely upon the information provided with the varieties you purchase. In warm zones, the tulips may not return due to the heat and many gardeners treat them as annuals. Grow tulips out of reach of marauding critters such as deer, squirrels, voles and rabbits. For me, that means containers only!

If you are interested in more photos of Jardin des Plantes, the Luxembourg Gardens or Monet's Gardens—many include vignettes of tulips—check out my page on Monet Gardens and Paris.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Lilacs are Here, There and Everywhere

Lilac 'Miss Kim' in full bloom in my home garden.
Chapel Hill, North Carolina; April 2011.

Fragrant and beautiful, lilacs are perhaps among the most romantic of the spring-blooming shrubs. There are modern offerings of this old-fashioned shrub that make it possible for me to grow lilacs here in my warm, zone 7b garden in North Carolina. Lilacs perform much better in the cooler northern zones. This shrub has been reliably deer and rabbit resistant in my garden. No munching, even though the deer walk right past the shrub year-round as they sneak through my shrubbery to drink from our water feature!

It has taken four years for my 'Miss Kim' to bloom abundantly. I first planted her in full sun and she toasted in summer. I transplanted her to a space between two tea olives (osmanthus fragrans) to give her some shade. Between the fragrance of the lilac and the fragrance from the tea olives, the combined perfume is very heavy and can be enjoyed from all area of my garden. Not unlike walking into a department store and being overcome by the scent of hundreds of perfumes!

Another reason why I squeezed 'Miss Kim' in between the evergreen tea olives is because she gets to be a bit dowdy looking when not in bloom. So, I let her bloom. Take her photo while she is stunning, then cut the panicles of perfume to bring indoors.

Lilac 'Miss Kim' (syringa pubescens susp. patula)
zones 3a-7b
4-6 feet
full sun (partial sun is better in the warmest zone)

While visiting JC Raulston Arboretum in mid-March, I found 'Miss Kim' blooming along with a cutleaf lilac (syringa x laciniata). The cutleaf lilac has an open, airy form and is taller and looser in structure.

Cutleaf lilac (syringa x laciniata)
zones 4-8
6-10 feet
full sun

Cutleaf lilac at JC Raulston Arboretum.
Raleigh, North Carolina; March 2011.

Blooms of cutleaf lilac.

Nearly everywhere we went in Paris—tucked into city streetscapes and along the River Seine; or growing in full glory in the parks, such as the Jardin des Plantes—lilacs were in full bloom for the first week of April.  While the shrubs were not labeled, there was no doubt about the fragrance! By the time we reached Provence, I had stopped taking photos of lilacs, but they were still blooming in abundance, especially in our quiet little neighborhood in Aix-en-Provence.

Lilac in full bloom in Jardin des Plantes.
Paris, France; April 2011.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Garden Inspiration: Poppies in Paris

For fields or gardens filled with poppies in the spring, sow seeds in autumn!

Annual poppies are easy to grow from seed. Last year, I sowed seeds in mid-October and had seedlings in December. In May, the poppies bloomed and created a nice display in my cottage garden. I played it safe last year and planted pink poppies.

After seeing the outrageous riot of orange, white and yellow poppies at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris this spring, I decided to go bolder and plant red this year.

The papaver rhoeas 'American Legion' were chosen to bloom along with my red salvia greggii in spring. With 8,000 seeds in the packet, I will plant around the red salvia in the butterfly garden and around the red salvia on each side of the garage path.

Last year, I mixed the tiny seeds with clean play sand (bought in a bag at the big box store) and put them in a spice shaker to try to distribute them evenly. With my best efforts, I still ended up with too many seeds too close together, but I gently transplanted quite a few of the poppy seedlings for better distribution.

Poppies will self-sow if you leave them in the garden when the seeds ripen. So, I will probably have a few emerge in the cottage garden and don't plan to sow more seeds there this year. I have very limited space in that garden, so the new poppies will have to go outside the fence. Poppies are deer and rabbit resistant.

If I only had enough clear ground, I would plant the orange, white and yellow combination in big swaths as seen in the gardens of Paris!




Words and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: Jardin des Plantes, Paris, France; May 2009

Paris: Jardin des Plantes

Paris is a beautiful city and we enjoyed a week there to slow down and take our time to get to know her better. The romantic River Seine was just under our windows at our wonderful studio apartment on Île de la Cité, an island in the river that is also the location of the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.

Our convenient location on the Seine made it our top choice for transportation around Paris. We hoped on and off of the Batobus river shuttle boats with a five-day pass. With only about ten minutes between stops on the route, it is a pleasant way to savor the sights along the river.

One of the stops on the Batobus shuttle route is the Jardin des Plantes, a 24-hectare (59 acres) botanical garden (free) that includes a natural history museum (fee). Parisians use the large and beautiful gardens for jogging, outings and botanical education.

Jardin des Plantes was originally known as Jardin du Roi (Garden of the King) as it was first a medicinal garden planted for Louis XIII in 1633.

There were large floral displays of spring plants - myosotis, tulips, wallflowers, and poppies of all colors. In addition to the display gardens are greenhouses, an Alpine garden, a potager, a rose garden and a botanical school.







Even avid gardeners have to eat lunch, especially when there is so much fabulous food around. We jumped on a bateaux (boat) and headed back to our apartment before seeing all of the very large Jardin des Plantes.

P.S. Check out Jardin des Plantes in October 2012. Great fall flowers!

Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: Paris, France; May 2009