Sacramento is on a river. Paris is on a river. Paris has tour boats, restaurant boats, bridges, walks, and now a floating garden. Sacramento has… um… Old Town.
The garden in Paris floats on barges moored to the bank of the Seine, adding instant green space to the city – and some great places to just sit and watch the passing boats. It’s got reclining chairs, decks, lounging pads, benches, walks, gardens, everything you could ask for.
Many plants float at water level, where they will eventually develop to hide the their floating containers. Once they’ve grown, they’ll become habitat, their roots will filter the river’s water, and there will be a bit more green in the city. Since they’re floating in the Seine, they won’t need any irrigation or fertilizer.
Maybe someday Sacramento will have more interaction with its rivers. Maybe there will be places where we too can sit comfortably and watch the river flow by, at a level where we can easily see the water without being at the top edge of a wall.
Until then, we’ll always have Paris.
