Crimson & Green & Magenta

Crimson is the antique rose — the deep vivid crimson of the antique Gallica and Damask rose varieties cultivated in the most historically formal sections of the Boboli Gardens. The Boboli Gardens (Italian: Giardino di Boboli) were commissioned by Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de' Medici, in 1549 — Niccolò Tribolo was the first designer, followed by Bartolomeo Ammanati and later Bernardo Buontalenti and Giorgio Vasari. The garden covers approximately 45 hectares on the hillside immediately behind the Palazzo Pitti (which the Medici purchased in 1549 and subsequently expanded into the largest Renaissance palazzo in Florence). The most historically significant crimson roses in the Boboli tradition: 'Cardinal de Richelieu' (introduced 1840, deep crimson-to-purple Gallica), 'Tuscany Superb' (introduced 1837, velvety deep crimson Gallica), and specific unnamed Damask varieties grown from ancient stock — each producing the most dramatically vivid and most historically authentic crimson-to-deep-red rose flowers. Green is the cypress — the vivid dark-to-mid green of the Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens 'Stricta' — the columnar form — the most characteristic tree of the Italian formal garden tradition). The Italian cypress is the most architecturally significant tree in Mediterranean garden design — its distinctive narrow columnar form (10-25 meters tall, typically 1-2 meters wide in the 'Stricta' variety) creates the most dramatic vertical punctuation in the formal garden landscape. In the Boboli Gardens, Italian cypresses are planted in the most formally significant positions: as avenue trees flanking the main Viottolone avenue (a long allée of cypress trees terminating at the Prato dell'Uccellare — the most formally grand garden vista in Florence), and as framing elements for the most important garden sculptures and fountains. The specific dark-to-mid green of Cupressus sempervirens foliage (a dense, scale-like foliage of vivid mid-green) is the most characteristic and most immediately recognizable color of the Italian formal garden. Magenta is the bougainvillea — the vivid magenta-to-purplish-red of the bougainvillea that grows on the most sun-exposed south-facing terraces of the Boboli (specifically the large bougainvillea specimens trained against the warm stone walls of the Forte di Belvedere-facing terraces). In Florentine gardens generally, bougainvillea is planted in the most sheltered, most southerly-facing positions to protect it from winter frost — Florence sits at the northern limit of reliable bougainvillea cultivation (USDA Zone 9a). The specific magenta color of the Boboli bougainvillea creates the most electrically vivid warm accent against the dark Italian cypress architecture.