Sunday, November 6, 2011

Well Coiffed


Since most of my trips to Paris have been in the late fall and winter, I have been able to observe the trees in the gardens and along the Champs Elysées sans feuilles.   I've always been fascinated by the time consuming trimming that it must take to keep them all in shape.  Here in Tuileries late on a January afternoon, you can see the effects of pollarding.  One day I hope to catch the tree trimming crew in action and see exactly how the do it.  Merci to my blog friend Karin Bugge, who also happens to be a docent at the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena. She knew the term off the top of her head.  Trés impressed.

17 comments:

This is Belgium said...

The pallarding certainly has contributed to make this picture out of this world !
http://whatisbelgium.blogspot.com

Cezar and Léia said...

Awesome scenery there, I like a lot! :)
Here for me it's the end of my school vacations.
C'est la vie!
Hugs and a nice week ahead,
Léia

Unknown said...

A beautiful winter scene from Paris Virginia.
Costas

Holly said...

Makes for a great shot too! Wonderful.

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Oh yes...sometimes even MORE beautiful in this state, for we can see the bare bones of the trees that have been there, that have SEEN much and have weathered time...

M said...

Virginia, this is surreal and I think the B&W is perfect!

Harriet said...

This works beautifully as a b&w. I have also wondered about the number of people and hours it must take to keep all of the trees looking so 'proper' in France.

Anonymous said...

That Karin sounds like an awful show-off. (This photo, j'adore.

Anonymous said...

The trees all have crew cuts!

martinealison said...

Bravo aux coiffeurs de la nature...
Et merci pour cette jolie photo.
gros bisous

Alexa said...

What a great picture, V! I've seen them "squaring up" the trees in the little park behind Notre Dame. I'll just say that hydraulics were involved.

Owen said...

Our neighbors just had a crew of people in pollarding their trees, it was really something to see them high up climbing around like monkeys with chainsaws...

Summer in Paris is nice too though... :-)

Virginia said...

Owen, yes summer in Paris is delightful, but travel/money issues require the winter months. I would love to see the crews. Alexa says hydraulics are involved! Bien sûr!
V

Bill said...

I've never seen anything like that! Truly a marvelous photo. Like most people, I love trees!

Pamela said...

I learn something new everyday! I have never heard of pollarding! Leave it to the French to even have their trees looking elegant!!
Here on the Island everything is so wild and unkepted it drives me crazy!

Petrea Burchard said...

Love the B&W, Virginia. This photo's special. Yes, catch them at it, would you? I'd love to see it.

Elizabeth at Eiffel Tells said...

Black and white enhances the drama of this shot. Is pollarding like pleaching? Warm regards