Category Archive: Gardens
Great Lawn
I want to rip up our boring lawn and replace it with a flowery mead, the carpet of tiny flowers you find in Medieval paintings and 15th century tapestries. The smallest blooms—birdsfoot trefoil, thyme, hawkbits, ladies’ bedstraw, self-heal, cowslip, viola,…
Tulipomania
The tulips are blooming everywhere. You probably know something about the legendary obsession with tulips in old Holland and Flanders, a flowery fad based on bulb-price speculation that briefly drove the local economy in the mid-17th century—until the market crashed….
Descartes’ Rainbow
In Encyclopedia of the Exquisite I write about maraviglia, the marvels that 16th century and early 17th century European princelings expected from the artists they hired in order to keep themselves amused. Chief among these marvels were giochi d’acqua, or “water jokes,”…
Very Cherry
It is the height of cherry-viewing season in Japan, according to my online Cherry Blossom Forecast, with blooms at their peak in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Since the 5th century, when Emperor Richiu had himself rowed around his lake under…
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