Jardins Jardin 2010 (in Paris)

I enjoyed my second time attending Jardins Jardin in Paris, having been at the exposition in 2008 before I began this blog. I would recommend attending if you are ever in Paris during the weekend when it is held.

The first thing that caught my eye were these geraniums, named for our own city of Vancouver. Has anyone heard of these?


I couldn't resist taking a photo of this rooster, made in Africa from recycled metal if I remember correctly. A great addition to any garden!

More third-world interest was expressed by a demonstration garden showing how vegetables could be grown in the tropics on a small plot to feed many people.

Now to all things "potager"...Growing plants vertically is important when there is little space available, such as on a balcony or small patio. I saw two products that would make this easy to do, both made of heavy-duty plastic:


This company exhibited their square gardens, one with a border of lettuce and another with various veggies, eggplant, a yellow pepper, etc.



A more traditional approach was take by "Le Potager de Madame Cerise" with lovely wooden and mulched walkways and plants laid out in a beautiful and neat manner and colourful labels.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the exposition, especially some of the design ideas, although I was appalled with the tree trunks painted purple! The vegetable gardens on display, were charming, but I have to admit that I'm more interested in the "real" front-yard veggie gardens that many of you create in your own way, not one the same as another. Now that I'm back in Vancouver, I'll be scouting around for new gardens to feature on this blog.

Upon leaving, I spotted this rooftop garden over one of the food outlets and feeling homesick for fox gloves, I took this photo looking down on it . The typical metal chair is child-size, indicating the small scale of this charming garden.