In paradise

The Jardin des Paradis--sine qua non of small-space gardens.

10/14/2009
In paradise
For years, I'd wanted to visit the Jardin des Paradis in the medieval village of Cordes-sur-Ciel in southwest France. The garden is the creation of Eric Ossart and Arnaud Maurières, who along with Jean-Paul Collaert, are the (re-)inventors of the modern incarnation of the French floral tapestry. So I was expecting to find some really stellar examples of floral tapestry in the Jardin des Paradis. I quickly forgot my surprise at their absence in the wonder of discovering what this garden is all about.

Well, think about the word "paradise." Promised land and garden of Eden are two terms that come to mind, both of which can be applied to this garden. But in fact, "paradise" comes from an ancient Persian word meaning enclosure or enclosed terrain. Effectively, there is no better way to describe this stunning series of garden rooms, each delimited in its own way and the whole assembled in an ingenious way to give a sense of spaciousness and suspense to what is actually a very small garden.

The Jardin des Paradis is also a consummate lesson in how to garden on a very difficult site: essentially, a rocky, sloping ledge clinging to a steep hillside. You enter the garden at its top end. Almost immediately you're confronted with examples of the whimsy that are one of the hallmarks of this garden. A forest of brightly painted bamboo stakes turns out to support plants with blossoms color-coordinated to their stakes. (These physalis pods will shortly turn brilliant orange.) The yellow stakes were garlanded with black-eyed susan vine.

Suddenly you hear a polyphony of running water. You come upon a big stone basin of water, populated with koi, and framed by buckets of running water. The overflow of the basin runs through an ingenious series of buckets
forming a watery 'bannister' for a long set of stone steps.

You have the sense that these humble galvanized buckets, many of them with rust blossoming through their silvery coatings, are actually accompanying you on your way beyond the basin and down the steps. As I would many more times in this garden, I had a "why didn't I think of that" moment.

The water is key in this garden as in any garden, but especially here, as the location is steep and the subsoil pure stone. The flow of the water throughout the garden is handled with joy until it finally re-pools quietly at the foot of the garden. Meanwhile, notice how the buckets seem to be filled to the brim with sky (in reflection).

The decor of this garden changes regularly. At the time of our visit, the theme was verticality, set by the planted totem (main photo above) which we encountered first thing upon entering the garden. It goes without saying that, although he did not create this flowering totem in particular, the spectacular and pioneering work in vertical gardens of the garden designer and botanist Patrick Blanc was clearly inspirational in this theme.

In keeping with this theme, the garden at the time of our visit was populated by a series of vertical sculptures. These slender menhirs popped up almost everywhere, amid pools of water as well as from among the blossoms.

This garden is strong on vertical accents of a permanent nature as well. Not only are there a series of retaining walls, necessitated by the steepness of the site, but vegetal verticals abound. A living fence of espaliered apple trees, festooned with temptingly scarlet fruit, enhanced that Garden of Eden atmosphere. A striking plessis (woven living willow fence) was artfully pruned of its lower leaves to expose the open lattice of the stems, which in turn artfully framed the exuberant border beyond (photo below).

The plant selection in the Jardin des Paradis is nothing if not eclectic. Exotics mingle with native plants; pots with borders. But in general I would say the emphasis is on low-maintenance plants. Grasses, self-sowing annuals, and easy ground-covering perennials such as the reynoutria pictured below right definitely predominate.

Absent are the finicky belladonnas like delphinium. And did I mention that the Jardin des Paradis is an idea garden? It is simply full of inexpensive and ingenious ideas . For instance, did you ever think of using pot shards as "gravel" on a pathway? Not only is it economical (assuming you have or can get hold of enough), but the terra cotta shards do an ingenious job of "grounding" the terracotta containers that are scattered throughout the garden (photo below).

Of course, the Big Theme of this garden remains the idea of paradis (plural)--the series of garden rooms that entice you to wander from one end of this switchbacked garden to the other. To visit this garden is to meditate on the genius with which this principle has been employed. As the garden descends the hillside, you can be stunned at how small it actually is, as you look upward and realize how small its dimensions actually are. The creation of the series of linked rooms is of course key to this impression of spaciousness. Each small room captures and holds your attention, preventing it from wandering beyond--for the moment anyway. And it's amazing how little is needed to convey the impression of being in a room. If you're thinking creating garden rooms is way too complicated for you in your small space, think again. How complicated--and how adorably light-hearted--is this simple curtained "doorway"? This was one of my favorite features of the garden, as much as anything, because this curtain reminds me of how important it is to keep a sense of (good) humor in the garden!

The Jardin des Paradis organizes numerous garden events and workshops throughout the season. This year, one of the themes for these was the plants of Africa. Near the bottom of the garden is an entrance into a display space stone-arched cellar of the garden's building. Here, a beautiful display of astounding seeds from African plants was on view. As some of you may know, I'm fascinated by seed forms, so I truly enjoyed peering through the display cases at some of the world's most bizarre examples, such as these tripart pods filled with brilliant turquoise berries.

After I emerged from the display, I thought the garden visit was over, but no, more discovery--and especially whimsy--were waiting just around the corner. By this time we'd spent a good hour in the garden, after having driven for a long while and, well, a certain need was making itself felt. With perfect timing, I found myself in a shady corner with plants growing out of the walls, and even out of the door--of the WC! Here was a true gardener's toilet... (Yes, that is the toilet door in the photo, with a WC sign helpfully hanging from the door handle.) I felt like Alice in Wonderland as I opened the door. Inside, spare rolls of pink toilet paper were perched on an antique wooden seed threshing machine! The other decor items were only slightly less interesting.

I emerged reluctantly to discover the water garden and the Persian open-air reading pavillion that mark the terminus of this magical garden. As I stretched out on a chaise longue in the pavillion and thumbed through a garden book, I thought about the banner explaining the garden I'd seen at the beginning of our visit.

"Paradise is a word of Persian origin. It signifiesa delimited parcel, an enclosure. Your walk will thus traverse several paradises. Colors, perfumes, and gurgling water will be your guides. Follow them to the Persian Pavillion."

P.S. I had more photos of this magical garden than I could squeeze into this article. To see them, go to the Jardin des Paradis photo story.

The garden is open May-early October. Adult admission: €5
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