Private Gardens of the Ile de France

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 visted gardens of every size and type, from chateaux and arboretums to tiny home gardens (like the one above) and even the Courson Plant Festival.

Chateau de Courances

Chateau de Courson and the Gardening Show

A private garden...but not a tiny one!

Irises and decorative garlic at St Jean de Beauregard

The Conservatory of Holly

Another private "Persian" Garden.

The Gardens of Courences.

A fat peony in a private garden.

What plane trees look like if you leave them alone! Each of those boulders are big enough for four people to sit on them, easily.

Cute succulents at Courson.

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.

The restored ruins of the Chateau de la Madeleine, overlooking the Vallée de la Chevreuse.

The gardens of the Chateau de Breteuil.

One of the chateau owners gives us a tour of his family's home.

More accessible to the general public, the candlelight nights at Vaux-le-Vicomte are a must-see.

A gorgeous alley at Chateau de Courences.

Amusing plant names at Courson.

Maples and Heather shrubs (aka bruyère en français) at Les Grandes Bruyères.

Keith and some of the tour members pose with the garden sculptures. How could I not have fun with a group like this?

Caught sitting down on the job (I was just testing the view from the bench, I swear!)

Comments

[L Sherman]

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.

[Katia]

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.

[Cara]

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!

[Michael Stewart]

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.