11th International Festival of Gardens at Chaumont-sur-Loire

This year's theme: eroticism in the garden.

07/26/2002
11th International Festival of Gardens at Chaumont-sur-Loire
Eroticism in the garden? Every garden is full of naturally erotic forms and events. Flowers are after all sexual organs, their flamboyant colors, shapes, and fragrances specifically evolved to attract the pollinators which enable flower sex to take place. I confess that the idea of designing an erotic garden is one I've incubated for many years, but never gotten a chance to execute. While I've had all sorts of landscape design clients, no one has yet approached me to design an erotic garden. I think the client for that one will have to be us--Denis and me.

So it goes without saying that I found the theme of eroticism in the garden absolutely irresistable. Biding our time before end-of-summer vacations begin, we organized a weekend of garden visiting in the Loire Valley, dedicating an entire day to this famous festival on the grounds of the Château Chaumont-sur-Loire.

Even without the festival, which runs this year from the first of June through October 20, the grounds and the chateau itself make for an interesting visit. Situated in the heart of the Loire Valley, a region famous for its mild climate, its chateaux, and its wine, the Château Chaumont-sur-Loire serves as an international garden conservatory.

There is a wonderful and constantly changing Experimental Garden permanently on display. This inventive garden is meant to serve as a wellspring of ideas to take home with you. If it seems supercharged with ideas, that's because it has profited from the creativity of 11 years of the International Garden Festival, which draws creators (not all of them have been gardening professionals) to express the current year's theme each in their own idiosyncratic ways. Past themes have included the potager (vegetable garden), water in the garden, mosaiculture, just to name a few.
The jewel-like floral tapestry below left consisting solely of sedums at left is just such a relic.

Most of the 25 gardens created annually for the festival are the result of collaborations among artists of many different disciplines. The result is a foment of creativity where the arts and the garden meet. Many of the best ideas of past festivals come to rest more-or-less in permanence in the Experimental Garden or elsewhere about the grounds of the chateau. For example, adjacent to the tables and chairs of an outdoor restaurant on the grounds is their humorous echo in topiary (right).

One of the most enchanting features of the grounds at Chaumont-sur-Loire is the Chemin des Fers Sauvages, or "Path of Wild Iron(works)." Incorporating sculptural elements of past festivals, this path leads you through a wonderland of iron sculptures toward the festival gardens themselves, and in so doing, warms you up for the wonders to come. Here I am about to embark on the path, on an enchanting bridge, itself a sculpture. (For you freeloaders who read these pages and never shop online, notice I'm wearing my new French Catalan bigatine sandals. Check them out!)

The path leads on through a forest studded with wonders made for the most part of humble rebar, including a graceful teepee-like sculpture that arches over the path. The path itself twists and turns, so you never know what is going to await you around the next bend.

As we neared the end of this adventurous pathway and approached the gardens beyond, we came out in a sunny clearing where the vegetation was completely wild--that of a sunny meadow or pasture. Amid the tangle of summer grasses was a sculpture of artfully stacked open orbs of chestnut branches that was absolutely breathtaking--and inspiring. Here, we thought, was what we needed to have in our orchard meadow behind the house in Normandie.

But this was just the first of countless inspirations to come. By the time the day was finished, I was almost on inspirational overload. Of the 25 gardens participating in this year's festival, a good 20 were absolutely extraordinary. A handful were nothing short of sublime. The first garden we entered was designed by a Vietnamese American, and featured an enactment of an ancient Oriental play. Bamboos sprouted among ribboned paths of pebbles of green and blue recycled glass. Me: Hmmm. Would glass paths work in Normandie?

While in this garden, the colors stayed in a tranquil range of greens and blues, most of the rest were united by their choice of more inflamed hues. A concensus seems to exist among the designers of erotic gardens that the colors of choice are in the spectrum of red through purple--the classic paintbox of passion.

Most of the rest of the gardens were so enchanting that after much deliberation, I've decided to devote a short "visit" to each of them in this column. So stay tuned for individual visits to the best of the 11th International Festival of Gardens at Chaumont-sur-Loire. And if you're planning to travel, don't forget, the Festival runs through the 20th of October. Also to be enjoyed while you're there: two boutiques, numerous restaurants on the grounds, a children's garden, numerous workshops, an exhibition in the Chateau, and of course, the Chateau itself with its beautiful constellation of stables and other farm buildings.

Chaumont-sur-Loire is located between Tours and Blois, 185 km south of Paris. Take Autoroute A10, exit at Blois or Amoise, and follow the signs. Or, take any one of a number of trains running between Paris and Tours, getting off at Onzain. Hours are 9:30 until nightfall. Individual entry costs 8 euros; children 8-12 are 3.20 euros. For more information, write the Conservatoire International des Parcs et Jardins et du Paysage, Ferme du Chateau, 41150 Chaumon-sur-Loire, FRANCE. Tel: +33 (2) 54 20 99 22; fax: +33 (2) 54 20 99 24. The festival runs through October 20th.
Share

Products of Interest:

Fashionable garden hat

11th International Festival of Gardens at Chaumont-sur-Loire

View gardens in different regions: