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| The Great Imperial Crown |
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| Stroll Before the Ball |
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| Candore omnia vincit |
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| The Playing Monarchs Projectc |
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| Fabergé Egg Garden |
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| Empress’ Fans |
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| On the Occasion of 400th anniversary of Romanov Dynasty |
I turned the corner of the Mikhailovsky Garden
in St. Petersburg, Russia, to skip the long queue of people waiting to visit the sixth edition of “The Imperial Gardens of Russia International Festival.” Left behind the suggestive Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood nearby, I rushed towards the entrance of the Mikhailovsky Palace, seat of the State Russian Museum of which the Garden is part. I bought a ticket entrance, and, in a few minutes, I was triumphantly emerging into the Garden, right by the stage where Japanese women were presenting their traditional Kimonos. This was one of the events presented during this annual exhibition that combines a rich cultural program with a contest among themed gardens. This year, the driving idea of the competition was enclosed in one word: Plantomania. The unusual but effective motto came from the past, from Catherine II, Empress of Russia, who, writing to Voltaire, used it to explain her passion for gardening, and in particular for the English gardens:
“… Anglomania rules my plantomania.” (1)
Strolling around, I discovered that the development of this idea implied formal style and geometric forms, a massive use of conifers, topiary trees and contrasting foliage, splashes of colours, and great attention to decorative details. The 29 gardens participating to the competition were divided into three sections: “The Monarchs’ Gardens,” inspired by the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov House, “Shelter by the Glory of Muses Blessed,” exploring the environment where famous artists had created their immortal works of art, and “Beauty will save the world,” connected to more contemporary ecological and conservation issues. Sculptures and a group of smaller gardens offered further interest and amusement.
Here is my gallery with some of the gardens inspired by the theme of the Russian Monarchy.
The composition “The Great Imperial Crown” presented the supreme symbol of the power and richness of the Imperial House with a structure that recreated its peculiar shape, in a size appropriate to its importance, covered with a compact mass of flowers. This was inspired by the complicated design of the Crown whose two semi-spheres, symbol of the unification of the East and West in the Russian Empire, are encrusted with a cascade of diamonds and pearls, on top of which is a precious and rare stone, a large red spinel. Included in the “Special Project Haute Couture Gardens,” the composition returned the beauty and majesty of the Imperial Crown created in 1762 for the coronation of Catherine the Great, and today on display in the Kremlin in Moscow.
The protagonist of the second photo is a ball gown completely covered with white and pale pink roses, inspired by one of the refined dresses created by the talented and innovative fashion designer Nadezhda Lamanova (1861-1941). Flowers evoked the soft fabrics and delicate colours of her best outfits, embellished with rich and sophisticated decorations. “Stroll before the Ball” paid homage to this little known couturier, who dressed the aristocracy during the Belle Epoque and the proletarian women after the Revolution.
In 1718, 429 of the 550 trees received from Holland the previous year were sent to the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg from Kadriorg Park, in Tallinn, Estonia. The garden “Candore omnia vincit,” or “Purity conquers all” recalled this event. The four columns, made of a golden metallic grille filled with moss, represented the trees, mainly chestnuts, whose interlaced boughs were evoked by the vaulted arches. The vase of yellow lilies in the center of the composition was more than a decorative element. The name and concept of this garden, in fact, were inspired by a lily with the inscription “Candore omnia vincit” painted on a wall of the Great Hall at Kadriorg Palace.
Conifers and geometric forms triumphed in the composition entitled: “The Playing Monarchs Project.” A crown of low and sharp Thuya bounded the chessboard where some of the chessmen, white stylized sculptures embellished with coloured mosaics, stood out among small beds filled with green shrubs, mainly low conifers, and hosta.
The “Fabergé Egg Garden” recalled the famous jeweled eggs created by the House of Fabergé between 1885 and 1917 for the Russian Tsars as Easter gifts for their wives. In the garden, the simple but perfect shape of the egg was recreated with a high Thuja hedge decorated with golden flakes. The hedge enclosed a Japanese yew, a perfect green orb, dripping with stylized golden eggs. Beams radiated from the yew towards the hedge replicating the elaborated decorations of the Imperial Eggs, whose precious stones where transformed in white and pink rhododendrons. A path separated this area from the lower part of the garden. Here, benches allowed visitors to rest looking at a bed of white flowering shrubs evoking the beauty of the natural Russian landscape.
The garden “On the Occasion of 400th anniversary of Romanov Dynasty” celebrated the Romanovs as human beings part of a beautiful and immense country rather than as the fabulous rulers of the Russian Empire. The passage of time was an essential element in the composition, and it was represented by the circular form of the garden, and by the four arches that connected its two half separated by the alley. A maze was arranged in each half, symbolizing the difficulty of life. One maze was composed by shrubs with intense crimson foliage, the spilled blood, the opposite maze with golden shrubs, to represent “the imperishable glory, the inexhaustible faith and the incredible spiritual heights of the peoples that inhabit our wide expanses.”(2)
The installation “Empress’ Fans” was inspired by a collection of Russian Imperial fans, an accessory deemed essential in the life of a lady of the 18th century. Precious, practical and elegant, it allowed communicating the most secret feelings just with a movement of the wrist. The three fans on display in a corner of the lawn spoke this secret language: “... a fan open by less than a quarter symbolizes “modesty, uncertainly”, …an opening fan indicates “approval” … a fully opened fan indicates “unconditional, universal love”(2). Small fan-shaped flowerbeds surrounded them, connecting this fashionable accessory to gardens, where this shape was used in the past to create decorative beds, and more in general, to nature.
If I rule the whole world,
I would like to wave it like a fan;
I would cool everyone with its zephyr
And would be the shield of the whole universe…
G. R. Derzhavin
(2)
Notes:
(1) From the official site: "The Imperial Gardens of Russia" The Landscape Design Exhibition Plantomania.
(2) From the official presentation form.
Garden Gallery:
“The Great Imperial Crown” – Project authors: N.V. Bazhenova, O.N. Radeev.
“Stroll before the Ball” – Flora-Point LLC.
“Candore omnia vincit” – Author project: Kadriorg Palace and Park Ensemble, Estonia.
“The Playing Monarchs Project” – Author project: Pastushenko Gennady.
“Fabergé Egg Garden” – Author project: Udo Dagenbach.
“On the Occasion of 400th anniversary of Romanov Dynasty” – Author project: Artem Parshim.
“Empress’ Fans” – Creator of the idea: O. A. Cherdantzeva, manager of the Imperial Gardens of Russia Festival. Project manager: O.S. Fokina.
Photos: TravelinaGarden, St. Petersburg, June 2013.
Further Links:
"The Imperial Gardens of Russia" Sixth Annual International Festival June 7-16, 2013, St. Petersburg, Russia.
http://igardens.ru/english/main/
As the days went by, the long days without nights of the Nordic summer, it became clear that I would not be able to see all the places I wanted to see in Moscow and surroundings in just one week. With a wish list still too long, I eventually decided to spend my last hours in Russia visiting the Moscow Flower Show. This was the third edition of the Russian International Festival set in a corner of the Central Park of Culture and Leisure, or Gorky Park, along the banks of the Moscow River. Following the style and organization of the most famous Chelsea Flower Show in London, gardens on display were part of a competition and were divided into themed sections: Show Gardens, Urban Gardens, Country Garden and Art in the Garden. In a separate area, under white pavilions, essential tools for gardeners, plants, home accessories, and fashionable accessorizes were on sale with books, paintings and food. A number of events, workshops and lectures were planned for the week. I reached Gorky Park at a quarter to 10.00, but the intense activity that was still going on inside the area fenced for the Show made me suspicious. Security kindly informed me that the opening of the Show was postponed from 10.00 o'clock to 11.00 o’clock. 
Looking at the mess of rakes, brooms and watering cans, pallets full of flower pots, rolls of grass piled around, busy workers and photographers, this seemed a rather optimistic statement. But, they worked faster than I could imagine, and the delay allowed me to observe what happens behind the scenes of a famous Flower Show. There was a serious little dog guarding a maze scattered with white gravel like crunchy confetti; the Italian team was well under way but in urgent need of "un buon caffè," (a good coffee); the two English gardens were ready and silent; a young girl was arranging an endless number of pale pink cosmos around a sinuous chute, whose meaning and function inside the small garden I did not catch; a boy was intent to brush big round stones with a transparent varnish, while a girl scattered thriving pots of ferns among them; a woman was searching the perfect position for three cushions and a basket of cherries; and a small bulldozer buzzed around. 
