As a gardening enthusiast (one with more enthusiasm than expertise!) I love to visit gardens when I travel, compare different approaches to planning a garden, and pick up ideas that I may attempt to translate into my own little garden.  I am always impressed by formal gardens, but it’s the unexpected, tucked away parts of a garden that I find most captivating.  Even the most meandering and naturalistic gardens tend to have an underlying structure that lends order and a sense of calm. 

In today’s blog post, I’m sharing pictures and reflections from 3 of the French gardens I visited over the summer while traveling with my family.  

I spent my junior year of college living and studying in Aix-en-Provence, but never made it to the Loire Valley.  Ever since, I have been dreaming of going back and cycling to the Châteaux of the Loire Valley. It turns out, this is a crowd-pleaser for the whole family!  Our boys loved cycling, and I got my fill of garden inspiration.

Of course, the interior spaces of the châteaux are exquisite, which I’ll be writing more about next week. 

Our first cycling excursion took us to Château de Chenonceau, which gracefully spans the Cher River, and has gardens named after two of its early royal residents, Diane de Poitiers (1499 – 1566) and Catherine de Medici (1519 – 1589).  Both of these women oversaw important architectural and landscape improvements at the châteaux. 

Above is an image of the château photographed from Catherine’s Garden.  These gardens are lovely, and I would absolutely stroll them with all of my influential guests if I were the Lady of Chenonceau, but I found myself most drawn to the intimate, tucked-away parts of the garden – the labyrinth with a shady pavilion at the center, and the cutting garden.

 

 

So, let’s talk about this cutting garden because the other thing I learned while touring Château de Chenonceau is that there are 2 year-round florists who prepare fresh flower arrangements for the rooms using flowers and foliage cut from the gardens.  Such a dream job!  

Below is one of the creative flower arrangements, incorporating the Allium Globemaster seen in the picture above.

Our second cycling excursion took us to Château d’Amboise, perched on the hilltop of the charming town of Amboise, which is also the town where Leonardi da Vinci spent the final 3 years of his life.

I was enchanted by the use of topiary in this garden, and how the sculpted spheres of boxwood emphasize the rolling hilltop.  Boxwood can feel very formal, but here it felt whimsical and created an extra allure to the winding paths. 

While in France, we made sure to spend a few days in Paris to see some of the classic attractions, which of course, included Château de Versailles.

The gardens of Versailles were designed to impress visitors, and the grandiose scale matches the Château itself.  But there are tucked-away moments that I find easier to relate to. One of my favorites is the allée of trees off to the side of the formal garden.  It is a relief to arrive at this protected shady walkway after the exposure and vastness of the upper terraces.

Our European adventures continued with travels through Norway, and in a few weeks I’ll be sharing some of the sweet garden sightings we had during the second leg of our trip, so stay tuned!