VW: Second Life
Location: Ottawa, ON
Country: CA
Category: Garden
While Marie Antoinette had a gaggle of gardeners to prepare the grounds of the Petit Trianon for her elaborate parties, I'm very content to be working away on my own in SL. After all, where else can you get away with wearing an elaborate ballgown while hauling fresh bales of hay!
My latest adventure in decorating coincides with the All Hallows' Costume Dance which is being hosted by the Duché de Coeur & Rocca Sorrentina on October 25th. Having decided that the French Garden Parterre would be an excellent spot for a party, I waded in and got to work clearing the summer gardens to start with a fresh canvas.
Before I knew it, new trees were taking root and autumn leaves were everywhere!
Designed to feed both body and soul, the potager or ornamental kitchen garden isthe ultimatecombination of parterre and vegetable patch.
Fruits & vegetables, flowers & herbs,are artfully arrangedin symmetricalgarden beds that are surrounded bylow clipped box hedges. These individual plots, separated by sand or gravel paths,are precisely placed to form striking geometric patterns.
Initially developed by French monks, the potager evolvedthroughthe French Renaissance
styled garden to the more formal Garden la franaise with an emphasis on beautyrealized through the studied application of measure and proportion.
In 1678 when Louis XIV, the Sun King, demanded a kitchen garden or " Potager du Roi " befitting his palace of Versailles no expense was spared in providing it for him. The king, a great amateur gardener, wanted his fruit & vegetable paradise close to the chateau so that he could inspect it at will and enjoy its beauty. It is even said thathe learned even to prunehis ownfruit trees!
Petit Trianon: French Garden Parterre SL (Bumblebee view)
An early spring has given me the gift of renewed energy &inspiration which I am using to tackle my favourite Second Life (SL)endeavour, the Petit Trianon. This project has languished for far too long but improvements to SL building tools were just what was needed to help get it off of the ground again. So what did I do? I pulled the whole place apart and started again!!
Though this has resulted in more than a few holes in the walls& floors (if you come for a visit make sure to watch your step) I'm very excited about the progress I have been making. I'm currently working on the exterior facades and if you know anything about the Petit Trianon it's that each side of the building has its own unique character.
The side facing the French Garden is probably the most beautiful and the most complex with its impressive terrace and a parterre that provides an introduction to Le Jardin Franais home to the French Pavilion . It's very interesting to note that beneath the terrace is a network of passageways which were used to keep the servants out of sight and facilitate their movement from the outdoors to the kitchen and preparation areas of the Ground Floor. For some reason those passageways were always my particular bte noire when building so I'm very relieved to have them almost finished.