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Parks and hidden gardens, from kings to ecologists

Environmental visitions that integrate into more general visits *
  •  France's classic landscaping tradition comes from its kings...
Croissy, one of the hundredchâteaux that once surrounded Paris.

 

Nobles' art de vivre linked landscaping and architecture: Courances, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Versailles.

 
The gardens of Palais-Royal

 

Main trait, from about 1650 – the domination of nature, symbol of nobles' ascendancy and of royal power.    

 

 

  • The symbolism of eastern Paris's garden associations and most recent park is exactly the opposite  

 

 

Pond -- in one of the city's most densely-populated areas

 

Gardens that neighbors share and the city's latest park – the  "biolgical garden" (opened in 2008) stress the wish to preserve nature, not dominate it.
"Insect totem" in that park

 

Highly specialized techniques allow it to look natural.

 

 

 

  • Between these extremes are parks in the spirit of the Romantics, such as the Père Lachaise cemetery (1804)  

 

It is most poetic in November, when nature evokes death serenely and All Saints' Day flowers adorn the tombs.

 

 

  • Other gardens can be hidden...

 

 

In Montmartre
"Guerilla gardeners' " clubhouse entrance

 

• This one even hides over tracks.

 

 

We climb these stairs behind a station snackbar...
to come upon a park that we will have almost to ourselves.

     

     

    • ... although some, like that which Monet created at Giverny, are famous  

     

     

    Monet, "Bridge and waterlily pond"

     

     

    • Plants can also combine science and luxury...

     

     

    One of the planet's three great orchid farms is a half-hour from Paris (and can be reached by public transport)

     

    It permits visiting greenhouses where row upon row of different bloom show its experimentation.

     

     

    • If driving, this visit can be a first stop in excursions to Courances or Vaux.

     

    The owner, who is our guide, explains how the hybrids have been developed and must be treated. We may end with refreshments, served in the family's 19th-century salon.

     

     

    • ...or it projects a message by...

     

     

        • Commemorating...

     

    as does the garden in honor of the U.S. volunteers who so greatly helped France during and after World War 1, North American flowers replace the rubble of a devastated château.

     

          • ...suggesting a reconciled world

     

     

    New Year's card from the Foundation

     

    Banker Albert Kahn (1860-1940) created an environment where plants from different climates combine and Japanese, French and English gardens merge. These gardens are part of the Albert Kahn Foundation, in southwestern Paris, a few steps from the Seine.

     

     

    The Albert Kahn Foundation is yet another way in which, between about 1850 and 1940, Jews contributed to the cultural heritage of France.  

     

     

     

     

    • Or else, we call upon botanists, residents or people who love nature.

     

     

    • Costs: please CLICK

    º Museum entry fees; orchid-farm fee for guided visit

    Credits: château / 18th-century engraving, unsigned ; biological garden / Catherine Aubin; Giverny / Bill Dudley; "Guerilla gardeners" meeting-place / Catherine Aubin; Albert Kahn gardens / Albert Kahn Foundation ; other photos / Claude Abron

     

     

    Unexpected Paris guided tours