Last week I got to spend six days guiding Keith Kirsten’s group of South African garden enthusiasts around the private gardens of the Ile de France (organized by the Académie des Arts de Vivre). Here are just a handful of the hundreds of photos I took.
We visited gardens of every size and type, from chateaux and arboretums to tiny home gardens (like the one above) and even the Courson Plant Festival.
The weather was fabulously warm and sunny for the month of May (alas, not so great for the thirsty trees and flowers). Many of the plants flowered three weeks early this year.
Does anyone here know how many privately-owned gardens are within the Pais PeripheriqueÉI have heard for years its only about 400, from tiny to huge…
Wonderful pictures. Love the one of you "testing" the bench. As much as I love gardens, it shames me to say that I've never gone looking for the gardens in the Ile de France. Too much time at Harry's (or Jacques Melac's bistro a vin) I suppose.
As we say in South Africa, how "lekker" (proche de "sympa") There must be a whole sub-set of touring opportunities in France for gardening-enthusiastis, what with the secret gardens of Cahors and of course, Monet's gardens at Giverny etc. Thank you for sharing some of your photos, Heather!
Ooooh gorgeous photos Heather – what a lovely time you had!And I must second the previous commenters recommendation of the Musée Albert Kahn out at Boulogne (only a few steps away from Métro Pont de Saint Cloud the end of the line 10). The gardens there are GORGEOUS, and it's designed in such a way that each time you visit, according to the seasons, it's different. Highly recommended.
Why does no one ever talk about or refer out of country visitors to the Albert Kahn Musee and Jardins–no one seems to know about them?As a New Yorker soon visiting Paris, I happened upon a web site purely by accident and heard about Albert Kahn through a tv program on our Public Broadcasting System.