Archives for category: Nature

Morzine

December 11, 2013 //

For our final weekend in France for the year we went to a friend’s house in Morzine. I learnt (not very gracefully but nonetheless) to ski backwards and we had a great two days on the pistes. Compared to summer (check my other alps post here) when the insects and birds and water fill your ears it was so very quiet in winter. When we stopped yabbering to one another there was a beautiful peacefulness.

Morzine

It was good to be surrounded by nature once again. We made a wreath for the maison and enjoyed breathing the clean air in the sun that shone all day long.

Thank you all for a lovely weekend x

Morzine All photographs by Sophia Kaplan

Tags dried flowers, les alpes, morzine, nature, ski, snow, snowboard, surf, the alps, wreath

Categories Nature, Photography, Photos by Sophia, Travel

The Planthunter

December 6, 2013 //

So incredibly excited to be published in The Planthunter today. My sister and I put together a simple little guide to making foraged floral wreaths. Check it out here. I love what founder/ editor Georgina Reid is doing and very much look forward to contributing again in the future.

The Planthunter

Tags buttes chaumont, christmas wreath, foraged floral wreath, foraging, how to, paris, the planthunter, wreaths

Categories Design, Nature, Plants

Dancing Leaves

November 27, 2013 //

Living breathing dying nature by young Shanghai based artist Yuntan Fan.

All images by Yunfan Tan.

Tags dancing foliage, dancing leaves, dying leaves, plants, stop motion plants, yuntan fan

Categories Art, Nature, Photography, Plants

Into the Desert

November 21, 2013 //

This is the last of the summer travel posts. I can’t wait until next years adventures.

In September I did a roadtrip with some friends from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. We stayed in the Majave Desert before heading to Death Valley. Even though it was the end of summer Death Valley was still incredibly hot – mid 40s almost all day and not dropping much at night. It was interesting to see what nature survived and thrived in this brutal climate.

Driving through the Joshua tree plains was like being on another planet. Going off road we stumbled upon abandoned mines and cattle yards, eery when we felt so alone.

Desert California The Badwater Basin is a salt pan 86 metres below sea level. It was so very, very hot.

We slept in some curious places and met a lot of weird and wonderful people. It was a good crew to road trip with.

California All photographs by Sophia Kaplan, Emily Morrison, Max Rapley & Sam Reid.

Tags abandoned mine, american road trip, badwater basin, cactus, death valley, desert plants, jeep, joshua tree, las vagas to los angeles, mojave desert, road trip, salt flat, the secret garden blog

Categories Nature, Photography, Photos by Sophia, Travel

Le Jardin des Plantes

November 10, 2013 //

The Jardin des Plantes is one of my favourite gardens in Paris. We visited on the weekend and caught the end of the dahlias and some beautiful autumn scenes. In the grounds is the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. The main hall with huge whale skeletons and taxidermy is reminiscent of the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Very Night at the Museum. We also checked out Alchimies by Sarah Moon – a photographic exploration of the museum and surrounding garden. Well worth a look. Afterwards we headed across the road to la Grande Mosquée de Paris for pastries and mint tea. All in all a pretty excellent day.

Final photograph by Sarah Moon, the rest by Sophia Kaplan.

Jardin des Plants: 57 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris

Alchimies runs until 24th November in the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution.

Tags dahlia, france, gardens, Grande Galerie de l'Évolution, greenhouse, jardin des plantes, le Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, National Museum of Natural History (France), natural history museum, paris, parisien gardens, photographic exhibition, sarah moon, the secret garden blog

Categories Flowers, Garden, Nature, Photography, Photos by Sophia, Plants

Corse & Monaco

November 5, 2013 //

Following on from my last travel post… after our week in Tuscany we headed across to Corse with a few new friends. Initially we followed the same route my sister and I took when we were on the island last year, Bastia – Calvi – Ajaccio, but this time we continued on to Bonifacio and Porto-Vecchio. This is really one of my favourite places. The landscape is so stunning and the water constantly inviting, and my lord the sunsets.

Here the crew parted ways with some heading to Spain while we got the ferry across to Monaco to visit (the much featured on this blog) Tiffany. On our ferry we passed a pod of whales. It couldn’t have been more beautiful.

In Monaco we spent a very chilled day at Plage Mala before climbing the giant mountain behind to have dinner in the ancient Èze village.

All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.

Tags ajaccio, Èze village, bastia, bonifacio, calvi, corse, corsica, corsican roadtrip, monaco, plage mala, porto-vecchio, roadtrip, the secret garden blog

Categories Nature, Photography, Photos by Sophia, Plants, Travel

Countryside

October 22, 2013 //

I apologise for the lack of posting lately, but it’s because of good news! I have started an apprenticeship with a florist in Paris. A really good one at that! I cannot believe that my dream of working with plants and flowers in Paris has come true. I feel so incredibly happy. Along with the new job I have also moved into a new apartment which has kept me busy and away from my laptop. Hoping to get back into the rhythm starting now…

This past weekend we went to a friends place in the countryside a couple of hours south of Paris. We cooked yummy food, made a bonfire and just relaxed. As usual I spent a lot of time in the garden – picking flowers, cutting herbs for dinner and collecting walnuts to take back to town. It’s beautiful and calm and just what we needed.

Countryside All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.

Tags apple tree, bonfire, countryside, dahlia, france, hydrangea, loire et cher, portage, roses, sarthe

Categories Flowers, Garden, Nature, Photos by Sophia, Plants

Musée Carnavalet

September 30, 2013 //

The always gorgeous Tiff visited me in Paris last weekend. We spent one afternoon wandering through le marais where I introduced her to one of my favourite little gardens in the entrance to the Musée Carnavalet.

Swirling hedge designs are bordered by seasonal bright flowers and even some rainbow spinach. I used to live just around the corner and it was a always peaceful spot for me to escape the bustle of the street.

All photographs by Olivia and Sophia Kaplan.

Tags dahlia, echinacea, garden, hedge, le marais, musee carnavalet, paris, rainbow spinach, swirling hedge, the secret garden blog, yellow flowers

Categories Architecture, Flowers, Garden, Nature, Photos by Sophia, Plants

Turkey

September 22, 2013 //

In June this year my mother and sister visited Turkey. Here are some of their photographs from Istanbul and Ürgüp.

Turkey Turkey All photographs by Olivia Kaplan.

Tags Ürgüp, Flowers, flowers in turkey, istanbul, sophia kaplan, the secret garden blog, turkey, wildflowers

Categories Flowers, Nature, Photography, Plants, Travel

New York

September 14, 2013 //

We are about to venture into the California desert but while I’m still sitting in a nice hotel in my robe in Las Vegas, I can post some pics from New York. As per usual we basically just ate our way through the city. We stayed in a beautiful apartment in Soho with giant palms, caught up with loads of friends, visited Union Square Park Market, went to a few shows at New York Fashion Week, partied on rooftops, and visited a bunch of little gardens.

All photographs by Sophia Kaplan.