Botanic Wonderland
Vertical Gardens With A Nod To Van Gogh Come To Monaco.
ONCE UPON A TIME, in the spectacular town of Monaco, there lived a woman who had a passion for all things blue, green, and beautiful. She had always been fascinated by the idea of bringing nature indoors and creating stunning displays of flowers and plants and, at the same time, educating children to preserve the world’s waters and to respect nature.
No, it’s not a fairytale. We are talking about Helga Piaget, the founder of Passion Sea, a Monegasque association that since 2015 has been involved in different projects around the world, with educational and artistic initiatives pushing ocean conservation. But there is more to the story.
Last spring, as she was walking across Casino Square and looking at the gardens, she had a brilliant idea to organize an event called Flowers4art® to showcase the beauty of green walls. Helga wasted no time in getting to work. With her team, she reached out to invite several landscapers or garden designers to show their living green walls, also known as vertical gardens or green columns. Their design had to be a plant and flower artwork, inspired by the movements and vibrant colors found in the works of renowned artist Vincent Van Gogh.
The event, organized at Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo from November 28 to December 1, under the High Patronage of Prince Albert, will host Patrick Blanc, the famous botanist and inventor of the Vertical Garden (mur végétal). During their meeting, Patrick revealed to Helga he’d be honored to attend Flowers4art®, especially because he has a deep affection for Monaco. “It has to be said that I have quite a long history with Monaco, because when I was a teenager, I was passionate about aquarists and I was a member of the Association Française des Aquariophiles. At that time, Jacques Arnaud was the director of the Monaco Oceanographic Museum and really set the bar.
“Jacques was interested in fish, of course, and aquatic plants, but also in the living plant world in general. So, I was imbued with this aquarium association and all these people who knew how to talk about nature so well. Little by little, I found myself immersing more and more in plants, and it’s true that growing plants horizontally, of course, was a challenge.”
Patrick Blanc is a botanist specializing in plant adaptations to the dim light of tropical undergrowth. He has traveled for over 30 years to study how plants grow in dark environments. Talking with Helga, Patrick said that his interest in plant cultivation began by creating a plant wall system to purify aquarium water, but very soon, he realized that he could develop innovative and sustainable artificial gardens. The Flowers4art® showcase will explore the concept of green walls in major cities around the world and the potential benefits they could bring to both our own environment and health in the Principality of Monaco.
“Clean rivers, seas, and oceans start with changing our behavior in whatever we do on the mainland. Creating a healthier environment in our cities improves the air quality. On our planet, everything is connected. Implementing green walls into urban and interior architectures is not just decoration because they offer a range of advantages. These walls help lower outdoor temperatures to combat the urban heat island effect. The Flowers4art® showcase hopes to offer the best practices to introduce these into urban areas, giving importance to minimal water usage and effective irrigation techniques. For cities like Monaco, it is important to have projects allowing vegetation to embellish the city using as little floor space as possible,” says Helga.
Flowers4art® will also include professional meetings, workshops, and conferences, as well as an exposition of different artworks painted by children from around the world in respect towards our planet, overseen by the Passion Sea Association. There will also be a charity art auction, led by Wannenes Monaco, to support the work of the association. For four days, in a small space, people from far and wide will see the stunning green walls, transforming two open spaces into a botanical wonderland.
Helga’s passion for green walls has ignited a spark of creativity in others, and her vision has blossomed into a truly magical tale of beauty, creativity, and the power of nature to inspire us all.
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