"une clairière dans un forêt"

[muckefuck]

Speaking of gardening, I just came across a flamboyant description in Gautier ("Quelle surprise!" I hear you all saying) of an English garden on the Avenue Gabriel. And whereas I've been pretty good so far at just chugging through and ignoring any descriptive terms I don't know (since, really, it's not going to improve my appreciation significantly to know exactly what kind of sumptuous garment is dripping from the Countess' ivory frame), I just can't stand to blip over plant names in quite the same way. Donc, voilà la liste:

myosotis forget-me-not
cactier raquette
asclépiade incarnate swamp milkweed
millepertuis St John's wort
cymbalaire toadflax
joubarbe Sempervivum (succulent genus which includes hens-and-chicks)
lychnis des Alpes Alpine catchfly
lierre d'Irlande Irish ivy
aristoloche birthwort
grenadille bleue blue passionflower
gypsophile baby's breath
glycine de Chine Chinese wisteria
périplocas de Grèce silk vine
vernis du Japon Japanese lacquer tree
tuyas du Canada American arborvitae
plane de Virginie American sycamore?
ray-grass = ryegrass?

Now that I've looked them up, I don't feel so bad about not recognising them. Many are species which I simply haven't come across here, and even some I know aren't known by these names any longer in French (e.g. I'm assuming Gautier's plane de Virginie is what is commonly called platane d'Occident, i.e. a tree I've known all my life as a "sycamore").

Comments

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Whereas in the Revolutionary Calendar, Mayday is le jour de sainfoin and the jour de muguet falls on the 26th of April.

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

oh. It probably was April 26th. My French is still not exactly conversational.