Plan of Parc del Retiro
I am going to be letting the pictures do a lot of the talking in all posts from this trip. Madrid was the first leg. A beautiful city, where “c” is “th”, “v” is “b” and you must rrrrrroll your r’s… I had to get the concierge to tell the taxi driver to take me to the Prado because I couldn’t say it properly. Very near the Prrrrrrado lies the Parc del Retiro, which clearly represents the high value the city of Madrid places upon its gardens.
Reflecting Pool in Formal Gardens. Elaborate water features are abundant in Madrid--found in private gardens, street roundabouts and public parks.
Heavy pruning is also common. I like the contrast against the natural shapes of the cedars.
How's this for a sculptural tree? Granted, it's not achieved by nature, but transforming a boring juniper into such an interesting form deserves respect.
A closeup of the trunk.
The contrast between the man-formed and the natural enhance the beauty of both.
A panoramic view of the formal gardens, click to enlarge
This was an especially cool double-duty detail. The paths are pitched to the rills, and the rills connect to the treepits, thereby watering the trees with rainwater runoff.
A closeup, for my landscape-architect friends
The chestnut allee
The placement of statues of historically significant figures along the allee reinforce the linear axis.
They LOVE their fountains. This one, because of its setting and its relative subtlety (relative being the operative word,) is particularly nice.
The paving around the aforementioned fountain displays the Spanish disposition and talent for masonry.
Next up–a garden I’ve wanted to write about for ages, Musee Rodin en Paris!
Love it! Reviewing with Steve – you would be impressed. He worked the up, down arrows on the computer.
Gorgeous!! Love the detail shots of the rills/tree pits. Thanks for the shout-out, too!!