Entrance to Brion Cemetery by Carlo Scarpa The entryway represents the otherworldly architectural style of Carlo Scarpa, who used equally dramatic plant material to drape his concrete masterpiece (completed in 1978 before his accidental death). The Brion family founded Brionvega in 1945, an electronics manufacturing company. The cemetery is located at San Vito d’Altivole near Treviso, Italy. 

Entrance to Brion Cemetery by Carlo Scarpa

The entryway represents the otherworldly architectural style of Carlo Scarpa, who used equally dramatic plant material to drape his concrete masterpiece (completed in 1978 before his accidental death). The Brion family founded Brionvega in 1945, an electronics manufacturing company. The cemetery is located at San Vito d’Altivole near Treviso, Italy. 

Boxwood and Birch, Parc André Citroën, Paris, France. 

This is one of the public garden projects that Gilles Clément was involved in (along with landscape designer Alain Provost and architects Patrick Berger, Jean-Francois Jodry and Jean-Paul Viguier). The wedge-shaped parterre, developed in the 1990’s, is filled with block-shaped boxwoods deliberately clipped at irregular heights. 

Clément’s Royal Gardens of Blois, here.

Groundbreaker: Gilles Clément Clément, an international Renaissance Man when it comes to the concepts of “design” and “gardening” and “ecology.” He developed the conceptual design tools of the Moving Garden, the Planetary Garden, and his more recent concept, Landscapes of the Third Kind. Clément has degrees in both landscape design and agronomy, and has worked on numerous public gardens including Parc André-Citroën, the Henri Matisse Park in Lille, and the Valloires Abbey gardens ~ but refers to himself as a “gardener.” In 1999, the French national prize for landscape architecture was bestowed upon him without his permission. He insisted that the real architects of the landscape are actually the farmers and foresters. Pictured: The Royal Gardens of Blois PHOTO BY: Georges Lévêque  Boxwood and Birch Garden, Parc André Citroën, Paris, France, here.

Groundbreaker: Gilles Clément

Clément, an international Renaissance Man when it comes to the concepts of “design” and “gardening” and “ecology.” He developed the conceptual design tools of the Moving Garden, the Planetary Garden, and his more recent concept, Landscapes of the Third Kind. Clément has degrees in both landscape design and agronomy, and has worked on numerous public gardens including Parc André-Citroën, the Henri Matisse Park in Lille, and the Valloires Abbey gardens ~ but refers to himself as a “gardener.” In 1999, the French national prize for landscape architecture was bestowed upon him without his permission. He insisted that the real architects of the landscape are actually the farmers and foresters.

Pictured: The Royal Gardens of Blois 
PHOTO BY: Georges Lévêque 

Boxwood and Birch Garden, Parc André Citroën, Paris, France, here.

Chateau de la Chatonniere, France. The Garden of Abundance (established in 2000) is a leaf-shaped potager consisting of ornamental cabbage, onions, eggplant, tomatoes, celery and an assortment of herbs. It is just one of twelve different garden “scenes” at the Chateau. The other gardens include the Garden of Silence (a contemplative garden), Garden of Romance (with a Viking labyrinth design), Botanic Sciences Garden (for medicinal studies), Vale of Elegance (French Renaissance style), and the Gardens of Dance (with over 40,000 blooming daffodils in May), to name but a few. 

The castle (built centuries ago along the road taken by Joan of Arc during the Middle Ages) was a four-towered fortress with enclosed village, stables, church, and underground cellars. It was not until after the Hundred Years War that it was transformed into a country manor home by Mrs. Vacher de La Chaise, and to this day remains a privately held property. The current owner, Mme. Beatrice de Andia, began the garden transformations in 1990 with the assistance of a Head Gardener. The gardens, but not the home, are open to visitors. 

The Geraniums of Cordoba, Spain, above. 

The common geranium becomes extraordinary when planted en masse. Ivy-leaf geraniums (Pelargonium peltatum) grow like vines, up to three feet or more in length, making them an ideal selection for hanging baskets and window boxes. 

Scented geraniums (Pelargonium graveolens) have edible flowers and fragrant leaves, and work well as house plants. Flower production is more modest than the ivy-leaf geraniums, but the soft, fine-textured leaves make up in fragrance for the lack of showy flowers. Choose from rose, lemon, nutmeg, peppermint, or apple-scented geraniums. 

Color-massing geraniums in window boxes or planters for decks and patios is an inexpensive way to add seasonal color to outdoor living spaces. Use large containers so they don’t dry out quickly in the heat of summer, and group them together to make watering easier, and create more of a visual impact. 

Geraniums are heavy feeders. A regular feeding schedule (once a month) will produce an abundance of blooms. Mildly acidic soil is ideal (pH 6.5) for healthy plants. Be sure to water plants first thing in the morning, before the heat sets in, so the roots are well irrigated. Plants weakened by drought are much more susceptible to unwelcome pests and diseases.