French Garden Design

French Garden Design is a very formal, very ordered gardening style with lots of straight lines and symmetry.

The focus of the garden tends to be the house, usually a palace or chateau and paths radiate out of this creating long axial views. Paths tend to be gravel and edged with clipped hedges and topiary laid out in symmetrical patterns. Water is often a key feature of French garden design and lots of round pools and long rectangles of water will be incorporated, the reflection of the water adding to the symmetry and tranquillity of the scene.  Fountains and cascades are also very common features.

 In the great French gardens statues are very common and were usually the work of the great sculptors of the time. Pavilions and 'follies' are often incorporated too.

Trees are used in long avenues adding perspective and reinforcing the symmetry of the garden.

Parterres, or knot-gardens, are widely used and generally made up of clipped box, lavender or rosemary. Inside the parterres coloured gravel or bedding plants are used to provide contrast. Flowers are definitely a secondary interest in French Garden Design and tend to be limited to the use of a limited range of bedding plants inside the parterres.

The French Garden Design is above all a style created to impress. Andre Le Notre created the extraordinary gardens of Versaille and the style was copied by nobility throughout France and, indeed, by some of the large aristocratic buildings of Europe too.

                                                                  

Château d'Azay, French Garden Design at its simplest. Photo is copyright

 

There are many examples of French Style gardens to be seen in France including the Gardens of Versaille, the Gardens of Villandry, the Chateau d'Azay and the Parc Maupassant de bois Savary.