Tea at Trianon: Container Gardening

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, April 29, 2016

Container Gardening

From Victoria:

You don’t need a lavish landscape to relish the pleasures of a garden. Whether a fragrant pot of herbs on a balcony or a winsome window box of flowering delights, potted plantings can brighten almost any corner of an outdoor haven. When pondering an alluring focal point for container gardening, think beyond blooms. A simple yet striking trio of tiny conifers takes center stage in this window box, while flowering annuals play supporting roles, enveloping the base of the shrubs in a living carpet of pink and white finery. Vining branches of ivy spill over the box adding a delicate flourish to the verdant vignette.Like a painting, a well-composed container garden blends multiple elements into an artful whole. Paint living portraits with an idyllic palette of plants. (Read more.)