Please visit the NEW SITE for Flatbush Gardener
In the archaeological museum in Naples, I learned something else about how the ancient Romans gardened--with loads of erotic art. For over 200 years, one of the great embarrassments of the excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum--another ancient city in the Bay of Naples buried in ash at the same moment--were all the dirty things that were dug up.And I just read today, from Blather in Brooklyn:
- Sex in the Garden
When the [Salon des Refusés] opened, Manet’s painting [Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe (Luncheon on the Grass)] caused a public outcry. The critics were not offended by the nudity, but by the fact that the nudes had no supernatural or religious connotations; rather, they were shown as real people, modern, recognizable Parisians enjoying what appeared to be a bawdy, drunken picnic on the grass.Definitely visit both blogs to read the full posts.
- Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe
Seventeen private gardens may be visited on this self-guided tour through the three historic Brooklyn neighborhoods of Ft. Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights. Free shuttle van service will be provided, circling between the three neighborhoods. This may be your last chance to see a pair of adjacent gardens in Prospect Heights. These two gardens occupy the western edge of Brooklyn's first botanic garden, Parmentier's Horticultural & Botanic Gardens. They currently fall within the footprint of Bruce Ratner's proposed 22-acre Atlantic Center and are threatened with condemnation through use of eminent domain.
Highlights of the tour include a triple lot garden with several cascades & ponds, a double lot garden with brick cottage & mature trees. Both of these gardens evolved over a long period of time created by individuals, avid gardeners,long time residents of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, who owned adjoining properties and instead of filling space with building additions, used the empty spaces to create garden oases.I'm hoping I can make it, weather cooperating.
The Brownstone Brooklyn Garden District, sponsor of the Garden Walk, is a coalition of three Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights, with a common interest in improving quality of life through greening of the urban environment. Garden Walk ticket sales support the Annual Fall Bulb Give-Away for planting flowering bulbs in public spaces throughout the Garden District.
