As part of the redevelopment of its historic city center, the city of Mâcon commissioned us to create a living wall, immersing the “Place aux Herbes” into greenery. This green wall is custom-designed for Mâcon, with a botanical composition inspired by the ecology and history of the site.

The Shaded Alleyway
A large portion of the living wall is located in the “Passage des Frères Goncourt”, which is narrow, constantly shaded, and exposed to the wind (as the alley acts like a tunnel). Here, Fatsia japonica will create a dense volume of greenery at the base and in the northern corner, supported with understory plants whose compact foliage adapts to the wind: Hedera, Asarum, Pachysandra, and several species of ferns. Their neighbors, with variegated foliage and/or white blooms (Euonymus, evergreen Geraniums), will brighten the passageway.

The Sunny Summit
The upper right part of the wall is much sunnier, with an open view of the “Place aux Herbes”. This allows for more volume (Euphorbia, Pittosporum). Initially, the palette remains in white tones (Cistus, Cotoneaster salicifolius, Hydrangea…), then gradually shifts toward more color and fragrance as it reaches the “Place aux Herbes”: Lagerstroemia, jasmine, honeysuckle…

Alphonse de Lamartine
What a joy for Mingzhu Nerval to create a work in the birthplace of a poet we admire. Especially these lines:

Au sommet de ces monts couronnés de bois sombres,
Le crépuscule encor jette un dernier rayon,
Et le char vaporeux de la reine des ombres
Monte, et blanchit déjà les bords de l’horizon.

As a Franco-Chinese company, Mingzhu Nerval responds with a poetic homage from Wang Wei (701–761):

落霞與孤鶓齊飛，秋水共長天一色

A Chinese evocation of the rising shadows by the illustrious Tang dynasty poet: in a flight of white herons, the sky blazes and whitens, becoming one with the earth.

Thus, the top of the wall will whiten under the effect of silvery Artemisia leaves and the pale pink blossoms of the cherry tree Prunus x yedoensis, mingled with the airy foliage of wild asparagus (Asparagus acutifolius) – the latter also grows around the shores of Lake Bourget, contributing to the setting of one of the most beautiful poems in our literature.

Prunus x yedoensis
The pale pink of royal twilights once admired by Alphonse de Lamartine near Mâcon is represented here by the blossoms of the cherry tree Prunus x yedoensis… This tree is also the emblem of Mâcon’s sister city in the United States: Macon, Georgia, where thousands of them grow. A famous “Cherry Blossom Festival” is held there every year, and from now on, a few of those seeds will also bloom along the banks of the Saône…

For Mingzhu Nerval, this is his first public commission in France. Internationally, we work with the Municipality of Shanghai (for example, this green wall), the Municipality of Hong Kong (for this 170-meter-high plant tower), the Government of Albania (this courtyard garden), and the City of Singapore, which regularly sources rare plants from our Shanghai nursery for its Gardens by the Bay botanical garden.