Musée Albert Kahn

Between the warm, April showers in Paris, our friends took us to a unique garden and museum near the Bois de Bologne just north of Paris. This museum is the former home of financier and humanitarian, Albert Kahn (1860 - 1940).

Kahn was a proponent of internationalism and felt that institutions of finance, art and science could break down cultural barriers. From 1909 to 1931, he hired photographers to travel the world, recording different cultures and customs. The result was a collection of 72,000 autochromes and photographs and 600,000 feet of film that are archived in the museum.

The gardens outside the museum reflect his philosophy by representing gardens from around the world and their native species.

This hill of azaleas resides in the Japanese garden and is meant to represent Mt. Fiji.

Among the plants that are also represented in the Lurie Garden, I found:

Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' (Bishop's Hat), a delicate plant with pale yellow flowers and heart-shaped leaves. It is found where the edge of the Dark Plate meets the Cloud Plaza. At this moment in the Lurie Garden, its leaves are beautifully mottled - bronze-colored, with veins outlined in green.

Rodgersia pinnata 'Superba' (Featherleaf Rodgersia) is planted is both the center Dark Plate and across the Plaza in the center Frame. As its leaves unfold in spring, they are a rich claret color, then later change to green. Its creamy pink flowers appear later in astilbe-like panicles above the foliage mound. By fall, the leaves have turned to red-bronze, giving another season of interest.

Jardin des Plantes

When the weather is agreeable, a visit to the Jardin des Plantes is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. This 28-hectare botanic garden houses a natural history museum, a zoo, a botanical school and many specialty gardens. We concentrated on the botanical study beds that cover one hectare and contain more than 10,000 plants that are classified by family.

I was interested in finding familiar plants of the Lurie Garden in the study beds. Paris had experienced a wet spring and many of the beds had not been refreshed. The garden staff was at work in several areas tilling the soil and transplanting from the greenhouses. Identification tags were missing in some of the newly planted beds. But we did manage to find some old friends.

In the section of ornamental grasses, several sedges were blooming. A complimentary speciman found in the Dark Plate is the Carex pennsylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge.)

Although it was early spring, a single Tradescantia was beginning to open. A stand of Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' (Spiderwort) will bloom in the center of the Light Plate, between the two paths.

Jardin de la Cité Prost

The next day, our friends introduced us to several, small neighborhood parks that have been introduced to the Parisian city landscape - something that was not available 20 years ago when they were raising their son. But over the past decade, the number of families with young children living in the city has increased. Paris' new mayor has worked to keep families in the city by providing more playgrounds and open spaces where everyone can enjoy their beautiful city.

In this case, several buildings in the 11th Arrondissement were demolished to make way for the Jardin de la Cité Prost, near the rue de Chanzy. Enclosed by a low iron fence, the garden is designed to demonstrate biodiversity by providing a natural pond, native plants and trees for songbirds and waterfowl.

This garden is very similar to the one proposed for the South Pond area in Lincoln Park. A boardwalk runs through a grove of small maple trees. The pond has water lilies and native grasses.

There is an open space for residents to sit and read or picnic. A hidden sandbox and play area keep children contained and entertained in the park while their parents visit with neighbors.

Paris, La Promenade Plantée

What better place to unwind after a long flight than a garden? Just a few blocks from our friends' apartment is an elevated walkway and garden called La Promenade Plantée (or the Couleé Verte). Built on an abandoned 19th century viaduct, the Promenade extends above the city from the Opéra Bastille to the Parc de Reuilly. One can stroll nearly 4.5 km along plantings of roses, lilacs and viburnum and under arches dripping with fragrant wisteria.

Near the Parc de Reuilly, Parisian families were picnicing on the grass while we passed through the gate to see tree peonies, hostas and climbing roses. A sweet-smelling clematis climbed up a cherry tree that had just finished flowering.


At street level, the viaduct has been restored and converted to house studios and galleries - known as the Viaduc des Arts. One can see artisans at work in their studios and purchase work from one of the many local galleries.

I miss the Lurie Garden and its wilder, more natural look. Paris' spring weather is ahead of Chicago by about two weeks, and I am hoping that I will return to the Lurie in time to see the tree peonies near the Cloud Plaza in full bloom.

Earth Day

Sunrise at 5:59 am. The garden is alive with avian activity. Aside from the usual grackles, red-winged blackbirds and robins, there are three kinds of sparrows - white-throated, song and field sparrows - scratching in the soil, looking for last year's crop of grass seed to eat. Under the low branches of Thuja (Arborvitae) in the Shoulder Hedge a wood thrush darts in and out of sight. A hermit thrush, migrating through the area, perches on the branch of an Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud).

In the Meadow, the buds of Narcissus 'Lemon Drops' (Daffodils) are nearly ready to open. A few more days of warm weather and they'll bring a creamy yellow to the garden, deeper than the 'Jenny' and 'Thalia' daffodils that are mostly white. Geum triflorum (Prairie Smoke) is about 12 inches high, but its buds have yet to open and expose the wispy stamens that give its characteristic appearance. The Dodecatheon 'Aphrodite' (Shooting Stars) won't be out for another two weeks.

Muscari armeniacum 'Superstar' (Grape Hyacinths) in the Salvia River are filling in, giving a purple hint of the deep violet swath of meadow sage that will appear in late May. Anemone blanda (Windflowers) are opening - their petals, a paler violet than the grape hyacinths, provide texture and contrast.

Two species tulips in the Light Plate should open later today - a bright yellow Tulipa aucherina and the lipstick red Tulipa wilsoniana. Both are identified by their six-inch long, curvy leaves that lie along the soil.

In the Dark Plate, the first lavender flowers of the Epimedium grandiflorum, 'Lilafee' (Longspur Barrenwort) are showing. Its young leaves are nearly the color of its flowers, making it difficult to see if one didn't know where to look. The Astilbe chinensis, 'Maggie Daley,' is showing through the mulch, beneath a newly planted Cercis canadensis (Eastern redbud).

In the next week or two, the garden will be alive with color from the nearly 120,000 bulbs that are now planted in the Lurie. I hate to miss this spectacular display, but I am off to Paris to visit friends for a week. Hopefully I will see gardens as interesting and as varied as the Lurie while I am away.