The animal flowerbed

Following last winter’s exhibition on The King’s Animals, visitors can now go on garden safari at the Grand Trianon, which is playing host to an extraordinary collection of botanical beasts.

A creature-inspired creation

For summer 2022, the Trianon gardeners have created a temporary garden at the foot of the Grand Trianon Peristyle, where visitors are invited to guess the animals represented by the plants and flowers that make up the parterres. Visitors of all ages will enjoy spotting the silhouette of an animal in the curve of a flower, the patterns of a corolla or the appearance of a leaf.

The upper parterre will be filled with strange flowers with the names and shapes of animals, such as the shrimp plant, parrot’s beak, viper’s bugloss and bird of paradise.

The lower parterre, meanwhile, will be transformed into a meadow of blue and white wildflowers, interspersed with black and yellow blooms, which, at first glance, look like bees – those sentinels of biodiversity and symbol of Napoleon I, the Grand Trianon’s most famous resident. To aid pollination, two additional hives will be installed near the parterre, in keeping with the eco-responsible approach taken by the Palace of Versailles in its gardens.

A botanical tradition

In the 18^th century, during the reign of Louis XV, the estate of Trianon became a veritable laboratory for botanical experimentation. Now, almost three centuries later, the Palace of Versailles gardeners are continuing this tradition by creating a unique botanical universe in the Grand Trianon parterres every year.

This project has been made possible thanks to the patronage of Van Cleef & Arpels.

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