Visit Les Jardins de l'Imaginaire
The garden of Erik Borja is situated in Beaumont-Monteaux in the Drome department of the Rhone-Alpes region.
Visit the Jardins d'Erik Borja
The main inspiration is Japanese especially in the parts of the garden close to the house. Next to the house is a traditional raked gravel area with a rich planting of ornamental trees and shrubs of different shades of green. There is also an ornamental pond adding to the tranquility of the scene and taking inspiration from the importance of water in a Japanese garden.
Erik Borja is a sculptor and has been devoting his artistic flair to this delightful garden since 1973. The garden is now about 3 hectares in size and consists of a tea garden, a meditation garden, a mediterranean garden, a riverside arboretum and the 'south garden' with two large ponds.
Here, as elsewhere in the garden, many of the trees have been cloud pruned including common hawthorn trees giving me an idea for some that are growing as weeds in my own garden!
Further away from the house are the tea gardens with two large ponds with miniature waterfalls and a wonderful selection of plants and shrubs to admire. The noise of the frogs in this part of the garden is absolutely deafening. The garden is obviously home to a large array of wildlife.
In the South garden there are two bigger ponds shaded by three large oak trees.
Japanes sculptures and plants such as the wonderful flowering dogwood - Cornus florida, add to the Japanese theme and a huge wisteria covers a tree in scented purple flowers.
The Mediterranean parts of the garden are inspied by the years Erik Borja spent in Algeria and particularly by the Jardins de Tipasa.
The Jardin's d' Erik Borja Garden Guide:
The Jardin's D'Erik Borja are open by rendez-vous only but you can ring or email to make an appointment. The gardens are located close to Valence in South East France.
Address:
Les Jardins d'Erik Borja
530 chemin du Jardin Zen, 26600 Beaumont Monteux, France
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
tel: 04 75 07 32 27
Other gardens to visit nearby:
In the Drome department there are numerous villages which have been labelled as botanic villages for their interesting planting. Each village has chosen a theme and ensures there are a minimum of 150 varieties of plants in their chose theme. Attractive villages combined with attractive planting - you couldn't ask for more.
Albon - plants chosen for their magical and symbolic qualities
Barnave - drought tolerant plants
Chabrillan - peonies and sweet peas
Hauterives - attractive foliage
Grignan - mediteranean plants and roses
Manas- rare and unusual shrubs
Mirmande - plants and shrubs chosen for their foliage
Montelier - trees and shrubs chosen for their berries
Montvendre - oriental plants
