CHAPTER THREE: Louis XIV Knows Weeds
continued from 8/30/2005
The end of the seventeenth century was the time when Europeans in large numbers began arriving in North America and drew this continent into Europe's uproar and excitement. Native Americans had been living in America thousands of years before the European settlers arrived and had obviously been altering the landscape in various ways. We know now that different Indian tribes were planting gardens, growing crops, cutting down trees, and on occasion deliberately burning grassland. Plants had been adapting and changing long before they greeted the newcomers from Europe. But the arrival of Europeans sped up a number of changes and introduced new plants that had not been present before.
The first colonists who arrived in America in the seventeenth century found mostly annual grasses, not the pasture grasses that were in Europe. The native grasses were far less nutritious, and many of the farm animals starved to death in the early years. Different types of European grass slowly replaced the native grasses.
As more ships arrived in the latter part of the seventeenth century, diverse kinds of grass and weeds arrived, dumped and discarded near the various ports. Virginia Scott Jenkins in her book The Lawn A History of an American Obsession mentions that in 1672 someone provided a list of European 'weeds' that were common in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The dandelion was one, having already "stowed away" aboard ship and prepared to make a new start in America.
By the eighteenth century June grass was a permanent resident in America and 200 years later would be our choice as possibly the most popular lawn grass, needing to be constantly protected from the weed. Its most common name today is Kentucky bluegrass. More and more of the native grasses disappeared, to be replaced by grasses from other regions in the world.
Weeds made themselves at home in their new land. Farmers that overgrazed or simply wore out their land found new residents appearing such as thistles, briars, and sour grass, as soon as the farmers deserted these old fields. Some pasture grasses would not grow in parts of the country where it was simply too hot or too dry. Grasses that would grow, like Bermuda grass, were considered weeds.
At the same time, European explorers were sending back to the Old World seeds and strange new plant specimens, such as poison ivy and the Venus flytrap. As well, wealthy Europeans were demanding exotic new items like tobacco, beans, squash, and corn from America.
America by the middle of the eighteenth century was growing in population and moving westward. Along the way they acquired new plants from Europe and Africa, as well as discovering ones native to North America. As more land came under cultivation and the popularity of the "parlor gardens" increased, the weed played an increasingly more important role. Americans were also beginning to hear about the "English" lawn.
The word "lawn" makes its first official appearance in America in the third decade of the eighteenth century. The lawn started in France and in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. It referred to grass near the house ( house meaning palace or chateau ) that was mown--not by a lawnmower of course. A few wealthy Americans learned of these European lawns. In fact, some of the Founding Fathers like Washington and Jefferson began experimenting with lawns, following European guidelines. The Lawn, however, did not become a common word in America until after the Civil War.
Versailles has to be one of the grandest movie sets ever built. It certainly must have overwhelmed its daily visitors in the late seventeenth century, as they strolled through the palace and the hundreds of surrounding acres. Louis created an illusion that had hardly been seen since Rome was at its zenith.
The illusion was the domination of nature. The king was well aware that this so-called human domination of the natural world was not real, but like any astute, absolute dictator, he knew good theater was as important as a powerful military force in maintaining his control and influencing others. ( In the winter of 1999-2000 a freak storm caused havoc throughout Europe and in the process destroyed many of the trees and vegetation first planted at Versailles during Louis' reign.)
Through the discoveries of men like Copernicus ( the heliocentric universe ), Kepler ( the elliptical movement of planets ), Galileo ( inventor of the telescope ), and Descartes ( the originator of analytical geometry ), Louis had a scientific underpinning for his vision, as vast as the recently discovered universe.
Louis employed some extremely talented landscape designers and gardeners, who created a terrain that seemed to extend into infinity, blending in to the natural environment, but without any apparent limits whatsoever. And the truth is if you visit Versailles today and stand on the hill behind the palace and gaze off into the distance, you find yourself looking at an infinite horizon.
Of course it was only under an absolute monarch, assisted by a few brilliant financial talents in the early years of the monarchy, which allowed a Versailles to be built and maintained in the first place. Ultimately it would collapse under its own weight; it was, after all, an illusion.
Hundreds were employed to maintain this vision. Villages and fields were plowed under and peasants were forced to move. Canals were built, fountains constructed along with underground water systems, elaborate walkways assembled, and of course the gardens themselves, where the aristocracy played and performed literally and figuratively.
While there was an overall structure and organization to Versailles, its garden parts were varied and never the same. Some sections had elaborate fountains with numerous water jets, other areas were filled with statutes depicting mythological figures, and still other areas had geometrically arranged flower beds, trees, and hedges. Flowers were an important part of Versailles; Louis had a passionate interest in them, especially exotic plants and flowers such as Tuberoses. He employed several botanists at Versailles throughout his reign to conduct research as well as seek out new species.
The weed was not a welcomed visitor in the king's garden. Louis wanted to control nature, organize it, and keep it under his grip. The only spontaneity he desired was that which he approved of at any given time. The many workers in the gardens were kept busy making sure no uninvited guest arrived. The height of the grass was vigorously maintained, topiary design clearly defined. There was no margin for error. Every plant had to fit into the overall cosmology of the king's universe.
The ideas espoused at Versailles influenced garden design, plant science, as well as building construction for decades to come. But the scale that Louis XIV captured would not last. By the beginning of the eighteenth century it was already running out of steam. Today, you can still get the feel of the former grandeur of Versailles, but much has changed. It's simply too wasteful and expensive to maintain in the way it once was.
Some time ago I came across an article in the New York Times entitled "Big, Bigger, Biggest: The Supersize Suburb." The writer tells of some Washington, D.C. suburbs, where a number of homeowners want their property designed and landscaped so it will look huge. These owners apparently desire fewer trees and less vegetation in order, according to the writer, to impress "prospective admirers" driving by. In a few instances people are asking builders to create a hill on their property so the house can rest on top of it. Louis XIV would have understood completely the illusion.
By 1700 the economic power of France was in decline and Louis' army was about to suffer a series of military defeats. The Sun King would die in 1715.
to be continued....
The end of the seventeenth century was the time when Europeans in large numbers began arriving in North America and drew this continent into Europe's uproar and excitement. Native Americans had been living in America thousands of years before the European settlers arrived and had obviously been altering the landscape in various ways. We know now that different Indian tribes were planting gardens, growing crops, cutting down trees, and on occasion deliberately burning grassland. Plants had been adapting and changing long before they greeted the newcomers from Europe. But the arrival of Europeans sped up a number of changes and introduced new plants that had not been present before.
The first colonists who arrived in America in the seventeenth century found mostly annual grasses, not the pasture grasses that were in Europe. The native grasses were far less nutritious, and many of the farm animals starved to death in the early years. Different types of European grass slowly replaced the native grasses.
As more ships arrived in the latter part of the seventeenth century, diverse kinds of grass and weeds arrived, dumped and discarded near the various ports. Virginia Scott Jenkins in her book The Lawn A History of an American Obsession mentions that in 1672 someone provided a list of European 'weeds' that were common in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The dandelion was one, having already "stowed away" aboard ship and prepared to make a new start in America.
By the eighteenth century June grass was a permanent resident in America and 200 years later would be our choice as possibly the most popular lawn grass, needing to be constantly protected from the weed. Its most common name today is Kentucky bluegrass. More and more of the native grasses disappeared, to be replaced by grasses from other regions in the world.
Weeds made themselves at home in their new land. Farmers that overgrazed or simply wore out their land found new residents appearing such as thistles, briars, and sour grass, as soon as the farmers deserted these old fields. Some pasture grasses would not grow in parts of the country where it was simply too hot or too dry. Grasses that would grow, like Bermuda grass, were considered weeds.
At the same time, European explorers were sending back to the Old World seeds and strange new plant specimens, such as poison ivy and the Venus flytrap. As well, wealthy Europeans were demanding exotic new items like tobacco, beans, squash, and corn from America.
America by the middle of the eighteenth century was growing in population and moving westward. Along the way they acquired new plants from Europe and Africa, as well as discovering ones native to North America. As more land came under cultivation and the popularity of the "parlor gardens" increased, the weed played an increasingly more important role. Americans were also beginning to hear about the "English" lawn.
The word "lawn" makes its first official appearance in America in the third decade of the eighteenth century. The lawn started in France and in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. It referred to grass near the house ( house meaning palace or chateau ) that was mown--not by a lawnmower of course. A few wealthy Americans learned of these European lawns. In fact, some of the Founding Fathers like Washington and Jefferson began experimenting with lawns, following European guidelines. The Lawn, however, did not become a common word in America until after the Civil War.
Versailles has to be one of the grandest movie sets ever built. It certainly must have overwhelmed its daily visitors in the late seventeenth century, as they strolled through the palace and the hundreds of surrounding acres. Louis created an illusion that had hardly been seen since Rome was at its zenith.
The illusion was the domination of nature. The king was well aware that this so-called human domination of the natural world was not real, but like any astute, absolute dictator, he knew good theater was as important as a powerful military force in maintaining his control and influencing others. ( In the winter of 1999-2000 a freak storm caused havoc throughout Europe and in the process destroyed many of the trees and vegetation first planted at Versailles during Louis' reign.)
Through the discoveries of men like Copernicus ( the heliocentric universe ), Kepler ( the elliptical movement of planets ), Galileo ( inventor of the telescope ), and Descartes ( the originator of analytical geometry ), Louis had a scientific underpinning for his vision, as vast as the recently discovered universe.
Louis employed some extremely talented landscape designers and gardeners, who created a terrain that seemed to extend into infinity, blending in to the natural environment, but without any apparent limits whatsoever. And the truth is if you visit Versailles today and stand on the hill behind the palace and gaze off into the distance, you find yourself looking at an infinite horizon.
Of course it was only under an absolute monarch, assisted by a few brilliant financial talents in the early years of the monarchy, which allowed a Versailles to be built and maintained in the first place. Ultimately it would collapse under its own weight; it was, after all, an illusion.
Hundreds were employed to maintain this vision. Villages and fields were plowed under and peasants were forced to move. Canals were built, fountains constructed along with underground water systems, elaborate walkways assembled, and of course the gardens themselves, where the aristocracy played and performed literally and figuratively.
While there was an overall structure and organization to Versailles, its garden parts were varied and never the same. Some sections had elaborate fountains with numerous water jets, other areas were filled with statutes depicting mythological figures, and still other areas had geometrically arranged flower beds, trees, and hedges. Flowers were an important part of Versailles; Louis had a passionate interest in them, especially exotic plants and flowers such as Tuberoses. He employed several botanists at Versailles throughout his reign to conduct research as well as seek out new species.
The weed was not a welcomed visitor in the king's garden. Louis wanted to control nature, organize it, and keep it under his grip. The only spontaneity he desired was that which he approved of at any given time. The many workers in the gardens were kept busy making sure no uninvited guest arrived. The height of the grass was vigorously maintained, topiary design clearly defined. There was no margin for error. Every plant had to fit into the overall cosmology of the king's universe.
The ideas espoused at Versailles influenced garden design, plant science, as well as building construction for decades to come. But the scale that Louis XIV captured would not last. By the beginning of the eighteenth century it was already running out of steam. Today, you can still get the feel of the former grandeur of Versailles, but much has changed. It's simply too wasteful and expensive to maintain in the way it once was.
Some time ago I came across an article in the New York Times entitled "Big, Bigger, Biggest: The Supersize Suburb." The writer tells of some Washington, D.C. suburbs, where a number of homeowners want their property designed and landscaped so it will look huge. These owners apparently desire fewer trees and less vegetation in order, according to the writer, to impress "prospective admirers" driving by. In a few instances people are asking builders to create a hill on their property so the house can rest on top of it. Louis XIV would have understood completely the illusion.
By 1700 the economic power of France was in decline and Louis' army was about to suffer a series of military defeats. The Sun King would die in 1715.
to be continued....
posted by mumpsimus | 1:02 PM
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