Garden design by the greatest French masters.


The French Garden	Monet's Garden : Through the Seasons at Giverny	Edible French Garden (Edible Garden Series, 3)	Le Notre's Gardens	1100 Decorative French Ironwork Designs (Dover Pictorial Archives)

French garden design as we know it with it's ornamental waterworks, splashing fountains, hedges and flower beds with their formal designs, were introduced in the Loire Valley by artists who accompanied Charles VIII back from Italy. One, Fra' Pacello da Marcogliano, is credited with the introduction of open spaces copied from the Sicilian orange groves of his home. Certainly no visit to France would be complete without a tour of the Chateaux of the Loire Valley and their beautiful gardens: Angers, Chenonceaux gardens of Catherine De'Medici and Diane de Poitiers, and, of course, Villandry with its 3 levels of gardens--the ornamental vegetable gardens, the ornamental flower and hedge gardens, and the orchards crossed by shaded paths.

Probably the best known garden design, thought by many to be the crowning achievement, is Versailles by the French master, André Le Nôtre (1613-1700), who also created the gardens of Les Tuileries in Paris. The famous gardens of Versailles were transformed from marshes to grand terraces along great axes with a series of groves, panoramas and vista points, with statues, vases and fountains designed by Le Brun, all under the direction of the Sun King, Louis XIV. Well worth a trip to Versailles is the sight of the Green Carpet or Royal Avenue (1099 feet long and 210 feet wide) which leads from the Fountain of Latona to the Fountain of Apollo (at sunrise the gold of the god on his chariot drawn by 4 horses and surrounded by dolphins and tritons is almost blinding), and then on to the Grand Canal decorated with 17th century marble statues and vases. Once finished, the Canal was the center of many festivities from skating and sleigh riding in the winter to gondola rides in the summer. Although it has undergone many changes over the years, the rare sight (usually only 1 hour each month) of all the fountains alive with water brings you back to the glory that made France the most copied court in Europe. If you're looking for inspiration, you've found the best!

Garden Design: French Historic Styles & Periods General Reference

(Dates are approximate guidelines only)
Gothic: 1140-1500
Renaissance: 1500-1610
Baroque: Louis XIV 1643-1715
Rococo: Regency 1715-1730 Louis XV 1715-1774
18th Century/Neoclassicism: Louis XVI 1774-1789 Directoire 1789-1804
19th Century: Empire 1804-1820 Restoration 1830-1870 Louis-Philippe 1830-1848

Design Elements


Decorative French Ironwork Designs (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)	1100 Decorative French Ironwork Designs (Dover Pictorial Archives)	Wrought Iron in Architecture : An Illustrated Survey	Ornamental French Hardware (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Garden Design: General


The French Country Garden : Where the Past Flourishes in the Present	French Gardens: A Guide (Gardeners Travel Series)	Gardens in Provence	Gardens of the French Riviera


The French Garden	Monet's Garden : Through the Seasons at Giverny	Mirrors of Infinity: The French Formal Garden and 17Th-Century Metaphysics	The Gardens at Giverny: A View of Monet's World

French Kitchen Gardens


The Cook and the Gardener : A Year of Recipes and Writings for the French Countryside	Potager: Fresh Garden Cooking in the French Style	Kitchen Gardens of France	The Art of French Vegetable Gardening	Edible French Garden (Edible Garden Series, 3)	In the French Kitchen Garden: The Joys of Cultivating a Potager

Garden Design by Le Notre


The World of Andre Le Notre (Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture)	Le Notre's Gardens	Andre Le Notre : Gardener to the Sun King

Villandry

Villandry, famous for its garden design, was originally a fortress and was the site of the meeting between Philip II Augustus and Henry II of England in 1189. Construction of the chateau by Jean le Breton, minister to Francis I, began in 1536 in a U shape around a court of honor with typical Renaissance elements. It was surrounded by a moat and gardens on three levels. The "French garden design" borrowed geometric patterns from the Italian style gardens which Francis I had seen on his travels there. The gardens at Villandry are a perfect example. Avenues run along the flower beds surrounded by low hedge borders to set off the flowers. Water is collected on the top level which is planted with orchards and shady paths extending to woods, the middle terrace (ornamental garden) is the same level as the ground floor of the castle, and a lower level contains the ornamental vegetable or kitchen gardens. The vegetable gardens have been perfectly reconstructed based on the original plans. Geometric designs in multicolor are created exclusively by fruit and vegetable plants. Apple and pear "lattices" define each bed.