France, Loire Valley - Château de Villandry III (The Water Garden)

Above the Ornamental Garden, at the far south of the estate, is the Water Garden. 

This boulingrin, or sunken garden, bordered with grassy banks known as glacis, 

consists of an ornamental pond at the centre in the form of a Louis XV mirror, 

embellished here and there with square parterres of lawn, 

a network of perpendicular avenues and four secondary ornamental ponds.

It's then surrounded by cloister of linden trees.

The present-day Water Garden dates from the early 20th century. 

The original ornamental pond was built when the gardens of Villandry were transformed into a jardin à la française (formal garden) 

in the 18th century. 

The redevelopment of the grounds in the 19th century in the romantic English style, 

led to the classical ornamental pond being replaced by one with more natural lines.

Drawing on 18th-century designs, Joachim Carvallo recreated the ornamental pond 

and gave this area the clear, regular appearance it has today.

France, Loire Valley - Château de Villandry II (The Kitchen Garden)

The Ornamental Kitchen Garden is the high point of the gardens of Villandry. 
In a purely Renaissance style, it consists of nine patches all of the same size, 
but each with a different geometric motif of vegetables and flowers. 
The patches are planted with vegetables in alternating colors – blue leek, red cabbage and beetroot, jade green carrot tops, etc. – 
giving the impression of a multicolored chessboard.

The vegetable garden has its origins in the Middle Ages. 
Monks liked to lay out their vegetable patches in geometric shapes. 
The many crosses in the Kitchen Garden at Villandry evoke these monastic origins. 
In addition, to liven up their patches, the monks would add rose plants, 
whose blooms also served to decorate the statues of the Virgin Marie. 
According to an old tradition, the roses, planted symmetrically, symbolize the monk digging his vegetable patch.

The second influence comes from Italy. 
In the Renaissance, Italian gardens were enriched with decorative elements, fountains, arbours and flower beds, 
skillfully laid out to divert the stroller, 
thus transforming the “jardin utilitaire“ (utilitarian garden), into a “jardin d’agrément“ (ornamental garden).

French gardeners in the 16th century thus combined these two sources of inspiration – French monastic and Italian – 
to create the garden they needed for roses and the new vegetables from the Americas, 
which they called a “potager décoratif” (decorative kitchen garden).

Here are some technical details about the Kitchen Garden:
Two plantings are made each year: one in spring, which remains in place from March to June; 
the other in summer, from June to November.
Forty species of vegetable belonging to eight plant families are used each year.
The layout of the vegetables changes with each planting, both for the purpose of achieving harmony of colours and forms, 
and due to horticultural constraints requiring triennial crop rotation to avoid exhausting the soil.
Watering is carried out by an automatic irrigation system buried in the ground.

France, Loire Valley - Château de Villandry I

The Château of Villandry, in the Centre Val de Loire region, 

is the last of the great Renaissance châteaux to have been built on the banks of the Loire River. 

Although the estate is renowned for the harmony of its architecture, 

it is especially well-known for its gardens that spread across three terraces and combine aesthetics, diversity, and harmony.

The lands where an ancient fortress once stood 

were acquired in the early 16th century by Jean Le Breton, Minister of Finance under King François I.

When he arrived in Villandry in 1532, Jean Le Breton had the old feudal fortress razed to the ground, except for the keep, 

a dramatic testimony to the conference held on 4 July 1189 

at which Henry II Plantagenet of England admitted his defeat before King Philip Augustus of France, 

signing the treaty known as "La Paix de Colombiers" (The Peace of Colombiers) two days before he died.

In place of the fortress, he had three apparently simple main structures built adjoining the keep, 

to form a horseshoe opening onto the valley through which the Cher and the Loire flow. 

Arcades, mullioned windows surrounded by richly decorated pilasters, high lucarnes with sculpted curves and broad, 

steeply sloping slate roofs frame a main courtyard in proportions of rare elegance, 

all stamped with the architectural principle of the period: symmetry.

Villandry makes way for a simpler, purely French style. 

The château remained in the Le Breton family for more than two centuries until it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. 

During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century, 

Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother Jérôme Bonaparte.

In 1906, Joachim Carvallo purchased the property and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing it 

and creating extremely beautiful gardens. 

Still owned by the Carvallo family, the Château de Villandry is open to the public and is one of the most visited châteaux in France.

In 1934, Château de Villandry was designated a historic monument. 

Like all the other châteaux of the Loire Valley, it is a World Heritage Site.

Villandry’s originality lies not only in its avant-garde architectural design; 

it is also to be found in the use made of the site on which it was built, 

in complete harmony with nature and stone, with gardens of outstanding beauty.

The sober elegance of its architecture combined with the charm of its outstanding gardens 

make this one of the jewels of world heritage.

MySpot: Live Like It's Spring

"The Sun – just touched the Morning –

The Morning – Happy thing –

Supposed that – He had come to dwell –

And Life would all be Spring!

She felt herself supremer –

A Raised – Ethereal Thing!

Henceforth – for Her – What Holiday!

Meanwhile – Her wheeling King –

Trailed – slow – along the Orchards –

His haughty – spangled Hems –

Leaving a new necessity!

The want of Diadems!

The Morning – fluttered – staggered –

Felt feebly – for Her Crown –

Her unanointed forehead –

Henceforth – Her only One!"

Emily Dickinson