Our last day in Versailles. We pass through the Versailles palace grounds one last time. And then venture over to the official kitchen garden of Louis called Le Potager du Roi. It’s as wonderful as you would expect. Not only a garden but a place of education. Lovely! Lots of teenagers running around. If they learn about and connect with plants, all great in my mind!
More Space Invader on the walk over. Ha! Cute one!
The garden was created by this brilliant mastermind, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, a lawyer whose interest in plants was triggered by a Grand Tour of Italy.
La Quintinie produced 50 varieties of pears, 20 varieties of apples and 16 types of lettuce (as well as chervil, parsley, rocket, mint, tarragon, lemon balm and violets) for the King’s salad. It would be 50 years before the first greenhouses were introduced from the Netherlands. Like I said, mastermind. But La Quintinie developed ingenious methods for producing fruit and vegetables glamorously out of season. Louis loved to parade around dignitaries there, and there was even a grand king’s gate on the backside for him to enter. It is a must for gardeners, and a link to past methods that continue to inspire today.
After that, wheels up. We are back to NY.
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