My Tres Petit Trianon Garden is Ready for Spring : )

For Spring 2017, I'm taking an ever more natural approach to the wee garden. You may have seen it here at Toile La La or the Art Fashion Creation blog - as a venue for a small fashion show I created using my poupees de modes dolls first and then collage models the next year. I like the work of Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf and have over the years started focusing more on perennial plants and native wildflowers. This year I decided to expand the borders of the garden and move out of its former rectangular shape. This decision was inspired by the appearance of purple wildflowers - within and without the rectangle - which are attracting bees large and small daily. 

In 2015, my husband and I visited Versailles and nearby - The Musee de la Toile de Jouy in Jouy en Josas, France. The palace of Versailles and the surrounding gardens are very impressive - beautiful, but my preference is a look of wild and flourishing - almost untamed Nature. And that is what I found at the Queen's Hamlet - Versailles, also - to some extent there was a similar look within the gardens greeting visitors to the Musee de la Toile de Jouy. In the 18th and 19th centuries, charming fabric often printed with country scenery was printed in Jouy en Josas. In long strips, the fabric was stretched out under the sunshine to dry, so today the museum displays colorful flowerbeds shaped like those expanses of fabric.

photo - C P Oberkampf Instagram, Musee de la Toile de Jouy

Working in my flowerbed today, I drew inspiration from Piet Oudolf, the Queen's Hamlet, and the flowerbeds of the Musee de la Toile de Jouy. I'm also hoping to treat the birds, bees, and butterflies with some of these new additions - as well as myself (who loves color and fragrance).

Although my really little Trianon garden is now predominantly filled with perennials, which return year after year, I couldn't resist planting a few annuals this year. Here, a look at what I planted - and views of some perennial Lily of the Valley (wonderfully scented!) and the purple wildflower I-don't-know-the-name-of with bumblebees and honeybees buzzing among its tiny petals.

Lily of the Valley, photo Jennifer Hawkins Hock

Honeybee on purple wildflower - photo JHH

Bumblebee on purple wildflower - Photo Jennifer Hawkins Hock

photo - JHH