Last night Mike and I had a movie night and watched "It's Complicated". I thought it was hilarious, but the best part ... her garden!
Maryl Streep plays a baker trained in France. Her garden is more than Martha Stewart perfection. How lovely to stroll about and pluck one of those beautiful cabbages ... or eat a tomato straight from the vine! I would love a vegetable garden like this.
"The idea was it was meant to look like a real cook's garden," said Jon Hutman, the film's production designer. "We try to make the movies look real, but a very delicious version of real."
The garden is a French potager garden design. I found that Potager gardens combine the utilitarian nature of the English kitchen garden with the style and grace of French fashion. It is basically an ornamental vegetable garden. Plants are chosen for both their edible and ornamental natures and are put together in such a way that it looks pretty while still providing food for the household ... which makes sense for the character, a baker who got her training in France. I love it!
I was slightly disappointed but slightly relieved to find the vegetables were grown in a greenhouse for two months before the garden scene was shot and many of the tomatoes had been wired to the vine! Oh movie magic.
The director, Nancy Meyers, also designed Diane Keaton's house in "Something's Gotta Give" ... I loved that house! Anyway, she took the same amazing approach with this Santa Babara garden. Pictures below of her garden and beautiful cook's kitchen ... enjoy!
