Roxana Mihalache

Gardens

Unit 4
The French Garden

The French formal garden, or jardin la franaise is a style of

garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature.
It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of
Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect Andr Le
Ntre. The style was widely copied by other courts of Europe.
The Garden la francaise evolved from the Gardens of the French
Renaissance, a style which was imported into France at the beginning of
the 16th century. The Italian style, typified by the Boboli Gardens in
Florence and the Villa Medici in Fiesole, was characterized by planting
beds, or parterres, created in geometric shapes, and laid out symmetrical
patterns; the use of fountains and cascades to animate the garden;
stairways and ramps to unite different levels of the garden; grottos,
labyrinths, and statuary on mythological themes. The gardens were
designed to represent harmony and order, the ideals of the Renaissance,
and to recall the virtues of Ancient Rome.
Traditional French garden style was developed between the 17th
and 18th centuries. The gardens were created as extensions to the
chateaux they surrounded and as a means of exhibiting wealth, power and
royalty. The range and enormity of the elements of the garden such as
orangerie, fountains, menagerie, sculptures and aviaries reflected the
riches of the owners of the chateaux.
The garden of Versailles, located just outside Paris, France
belonging to King Louis XIV is one of the most lavish gardens in France,
reflecting the princely status of its royal inhabitants. Landscape architect
Andre Le Notre created the Versailles Gardens in 1661 on the far left of the
Chateau de Versailles. The gardens have meticulously manicured lawns,

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geometric shapes, abundant blooming flowers, valuable statues and

sculptures and impressive 1,400 water fountains.
The most notable feature of a French garden is its geometrical
designs. Squares, rectangles, triangles and circles are created using low
clipped hedges of shrubs and bushes. These geometrical beds are then
filled with lawn grass, flowers, vegetables and herbs, keeping the color
scheme in mind.
An important feature of the French garden is that except for the
hedges, no other flowers, vegetables or herbs are grown permanently in
the same place. The plants in the beds are changed every season. Flowers
with pastel colors and hues of yellow, red, lilac and blue are used
predominantly in French gardens along with different coloured hedges.
Water fountains, cascades, canals with bridges across them and
pools are an important aspect of the French garden designs. The flow of
water creates a cooling effect in the large expanse the gardens are built
upon and provide the garden with a fluid flow in its designs.
Since French gardens are built on vast areas, they include
pathways leading to another element or component in the garden design.
These pathways are usually laid with stones and bordered with trees,
neatly clipped hedges or even a wall covered with a trellis of roses or some
other fragrant flowers. One can either walk on the pathways or ride a horsedrawn chariot on it. Along the way one can find many statues, sculptures,
sundials, columns, birdbaths and more garden ornaments.
Traditionally, a terrace overlooking the garden or small gazebo
made of cobblestones with wrought iron chairs painted white along with
matching tables, where guests could enjoy a glass of French wine viewing
the beauty of the garden, were also incorporated in the garden's
architecture. To enjoy the garden during the harsh winters, an orangerie (a
large glass-enclosed room full of blooming lemon, lime and orange trees)
was also a part of the French gardens.
French garden designs were strongly influenced by their creators
and their owners' way of life and thought. The designs were characterized
by their control and manipulation of nature, by instilling strong geometrical

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elements in them. The French garden designs have undergone changes

over the years, but what still remains unchanged is the beauty they fill in
the beholder's soul.
Andre Le Ntre died in 1700, but his pupils and his ideas continued
to dominate the design of gardens in France through the reign of Louis XV.
Nonetheless, a few variations in the strict geometry of the garden
la franaise began to appear. Elaborate parterres of broderies, with their
curves and counter-curves, were replaced by parterres of grass bordered
with flowerbeds, which were easier to maintain. Circles became ovals,
called rotules, with alleys radiating outward in the shape of an 'x', and
irregular octagon shapes appeared. Gardens began to follow the natural
landscape, rather than moving earth to shape the ground into artificial
terraces.
In the middle of the 18th century, the influence of the new English
garden created by British aristocrats and landowners, and the popularity of
the Chinese style, brought to France by Jesuit priests from the Court of the
Emperor of China, a style which rejected symmetry in favor of nature and
rustic scenes, brought an end to the reign of the symmetrical garden la
franaise. In many French parks and estates, the garden closest to the
house was kept in the traditional la franaise style, but the rest of the park
was transformed into the new style, called variously jardin a l'anglaise (the
English garden), "anglo-chinois", exotiques, or "pittoresques". This marked
the end of the age of the garden la franaise and the arrival in France of
the Jardin Paysager, or landscape garden, which was inspired not by
architecture but by painting, literature and philosophy
The Glossary of the French Garden
Parterre. A planting bed, usually square or rectangular, containing
an ornamental design made with low closely-clipped hedges,
colored gravel, and sometimes flowers. Parterres were usually laid
out in geometric patterns, divided by gravel paths. They were
intended seen from above from a house or terrace. A parterre de
gazon was made of turf with a pattern cut out and filled with grave.

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Gardens

Broderie (eng: Embroidery) A very curling decorative pattern within

a parterre, created with trimmed yew or box or made by cutting the
pattern out of a lawn and filling it with colored gravel.
Bosquet. A small group of trees, usually some distance from the
house, designed as an ornamental backdrop.
Alle. A straight path, often lined with trees.
Topiary. Trees or bushes trimmed into ornamental shapes. In French
gardens, they were usually trimmed into geometric shapes.
Patte de Oie. (Eng: Goose foot). Three or five paths or alles which
spread outward from a single point.

1. Vocabulary
aviary = cresctorie de psri
lavish = generos, risipitor; to lavish money = a risipi bani fr socoteal
gazebo = chioc, pavilion n grdin
cobblestones = pietre de pavaj
wrought iron = fier forjat
Expressions and proverbs
hedge
hedge your bets = a paria asigurdu-te n caz de pierdere
hedge someone or something in = a restric iona pe cineva sau ceva
A hedge between keeps friendship green. = Un secret nespus ine o
prietenie.
over hedge and ditch = de-a dreptul
to sit on the hedge = a nu fi de partea nimnui
cool
a cool customer = a nu-i arta emoiile n situaii limit
a cool head = o minte limpede
be as cool as a cucumber = calm, stpnit, cu snge rece
cool your heels = a fi lsat s atepte
keep your cool = a-i ine firea, a nu se pierde
lose your cool = a-i iei din fire/pepeni

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Gardens

2. Comprehension
2.1. Mark with true (T) or false (F) the next statements:
1. After Le Notre died, several variations in the strict geometry of the
garden la franaise began to appear.
2. An important feature of the French garden is that besides the hedges,
all flowers, vegetables or herbs are grown periodically in the same place.
3. In many French parks and estates, the garden furthest to the house
was kept in the traditional la franaise style, but the rest of the park was
transformed into the new style, called variously jardin a l'anglaise.
4. The parterre is a very curling decorative pattern created with trimmed
yew or box or made by cutting the pattern out of a lawn and filling it with
colored gravel.
5. The flow of water creates a cooling effect within the gardens and
provides it with a fluid flow in its designs.
6. The French formal garden is a style of garden based on symmetry and
the principle of imposing order over nature was widely copied from other
courts of Europe.
7. To enjoy the garden during the harsh winters, an orangerie was also
obligatory in the French gardens.
8. Traditional French garden style was developed between the 17th and
18th centuries.
2.2. Ask at least 10 questions related to the text.

3. Practice
3.1. Give the synonyms of the words below:
apogee
design
fountain
recall
chateaux

wealth
lavish
cascade
gazebo
nonetheless

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3.2. Give the antonyms of the words below:

apogee
order
wealth
lavish
recall
3.3. Match the words with their definitions:
1. orangery
a) a form of iron, almost entirely free of
2. menagerie
carbon and having a fibrous structure
3. aviary
including a uniformly distributed slag
4. gazebo
content,that is readily forged
5. embroidery
b) a group of wild animals kept privately or
6. cobblestone
for the public to see
7. wrought iron
c) a large cage where birds are kept
8. hedge
d) a naturally rounded stone, larger than a
9. sundial
pebble and smaller than a boulder, formerly
used in paving.
e) a place, usually next to a large
expensive house, where orange trees are
grown
f) a row of bushes or small trees planted
close together, esp. when forming a fence or
boundary
g) a small building with open sides in a
garden, where you can sit and look at the
view
h) an instrument that indicates the time of
day by means of the position, on a
graduated plate or surface, of the shadow of
thegnomon as it is cast by the sun.
i) the art of working raised and ornamental
designs in different materials

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3.4. Use the expressions and proverbs containing the words

hedge and cool. Some are used more than once:
I. hedge
1. Forecasters were ........................ about the storm, saying that it could
bring lots of snow, or it could head away from us.
2. He didnt want to walk 2 miles around his neighbours garden so he
went .............................................
3. He felt that he was speaking too boldly and began
to ........................... before they could contradict him.
4. He ........................... his program against attack and then presented it
to the board.
5. Lynne and I are the best of friends, but we often like to spend time
apart. A hedge between keeps friendship green.
6. Our decision .......................... the children so they could not have any
flexibility.
7. This case is really intricate, with a lot of problems, but the judge is
trying to ............................................
8. She ....................herself ............ by her own behaviour.
II. cool
1. Fans of the band were forced to ....................... heels outside the
theatre for 90 minutes.
2. I can imagine Pete being good at negotiating. He's a
pretty ..........................................
3. I expected him to be all nervous before his interview but he
was .........................................
4. I must ..........................., she thought; losing my temper isn't going to
help.
5. I spent an hour ......................... in the waiting room while the doctor
saw other patients.
6. I try to be patient with her but she made so many irritating comments, I
absolutely .............................

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7. All right, if you can't behave properly, just sit down here
and ................................ until I call you.
8. If you see a difficult question in the exam, don't panic.
Just .......................................
9. Joan felt nervous, but she acted ..........................
10. Kenneth finally ........................... with a photographer, and threatened
to hit him.
11. She looks efficient and .............................
12. Somehow I .................................. even though Seldon's remarks were
unfair and made me angry.
13. The politician kept ............................... throughout the interview with
the aggressive journalist.
14. The youths were left to .......................... overnight in a police cell.
15. These are high pressure situations and you have to
keep ..................................
16. When everything seems to be going wrong, she
stays ...........................................
17. Wow, he really ............................! What a tantrum!
3.5. Identify the mistakes in the text and write them on the right.
They might be some wrongly used or misspelled words :
Folowing his campaign in Italy in 1495, where he
sow the gardens and castles of Naples, King Charles
VIII brought Italian craftsmans and garden designers,
such as Pacello da Mercogliano, from Naples and
ordered the construction of Italian-style gardens at her
residence at the Chateau d'Amboise. His successor
Henry II, who had also traveled to Italy and had met
Leonardo DaVinci, created an Italian nearby at the
Chateau de Blois. Begining in 1528, King Francis I of
France created new gardens at the Chateau de
Fontainebleau, which featured fountaines, parterres, a
forest of pine trees brought from Provence and the

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first artificial grotto in France. The Chateau de

Chenonceau, has two gardens in the new style, one
created for Diane de Poitiers in 1551, and a second
for Catherine de Medici in 1560.
In 1536 the architect Philibert de l'Orme, of his
return from Rome,created the gardens of the Chteau
d'Anet following the Italian rules of proportion. The
carefully-prepared harmony of Anet, with its parterres
and surfaces of water integrated with sections of
greenery, became one of the earliest and most
influential examples of the classic French garden.
White the gardens of the French Renaissance were
much different in their spirits and appearance than
those of the Middle Ages, they were still not integrated
with the architecture of the chateaux, and were
usually closed by walls. the different parts of the
gardens were not harmonious joined together, and
they were often placed on difficult sites chosen for
terrain easily to defence, rather then for beauty. All
this was to change in the middle of the 17th century
with the develompent of the first real Garden la
franaise.

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3.6. Translate into English: Gradinile de la Castelul de

Chenonceau
Castelul de Chenonceau, care pare s fi trecut peste secole fr s
fi suferit prea mult, ramane si astazi unul din cele mai deosebite exemple
de arhitectura renascentista din Franta.
Construit pe raul Cher, in locul unde era o moara de apa, in apropierea
satului Chenonceaux, castelul isi reflecta frumusetea arhitecturala in apele
limpezi, fiind ultimul punct de atractie din renumita vale Loire.
Supranumit si Castelul Doamnelor in cartile de istorie franceze,
Chenonceau datoreaza o mare parte din farmecul sau femeilor: a fost

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construit in 1513 de catre Katherine Briconnet, infrumusetat de Diane de

Pointiers si Catherine de Medicis si salvat de Revolutia Fraceza de
Doamna Dupin.
Imprejurimile incantatoare, gradina formala si parcul care incojoara
castelul imbogatesc impresia de gratie si delicatete care emana din castel.
In afara ce vizita castelului propriu-zis, care va ramane mereu o experienta
memorabila pentru excursionisti, vastul domeniu de la Chenonceau ofera
privirilor cele doua gradini, restaurate acum, care poarta numele Diane de
Pointiers si Catherine de Medicis. In gradini sunt plantate mii de tufe
ornamentale si sute de trandafiri cataratori sau obisnuiti. Pe domeniu sunt
cultivate in jur de 40.000 de flori, plantate de doua ori pe an, primavara si
vara. Mai mult, cele peste 70 de hectare de padure creaza fara dubiu
decorul perfect pentru plimbari relaxante.
De-a lungul tufelor de trandafiri cataratori si a aleii maiestoase
flancata de 16 portocali, vizitatorul descopera bastimentul, turnul care in
vremuri demult trecute adapostea grajdurile regale; tot aici erau crescuti
viermi de matase adusi in Franta de Catherina de Medici. Dupa asta,
vizitatorul intra in curtea unei ferme din secolul al XVI-lea. In cele din urma
pasii il duc in Gradina Florilor, unde sunt produse numeroase flori cu care
se infrumuseteaza glastrele din castel, turn si sera.
Curtea fermei construita in secolul al XVI-lea introduce vizitatorul in
atmosfera filmelor istorice inainte de a patrunde in Gradina Florilor. In ferma
se gaseste Atelierul Florilor, de unde vizitatorii pot cumpara o mare
varietate de flori sau alege dintr-o gama larga de aranjamente florale
realizate de floristii castelului. Magazinul este deschis de pe 1 matrie pana
in prima saptamana a lunii noiembrie.
De curand a fost reconstruit un labirint de gradina, dupa planurile
Ecaterinei de Medici, in care rolul principal il joaca arbustii di taxus
baccatta. Locurile libere din labirint sunt umplute cu vaze decorative de
metal. In centru se afla un chiosc de gradina inaltat, construit de Arnaud de
Saint Jouan, arhitectul sef al cladirilor istorice, care ofera o priveliste
completa asupra intregii zone a labirintului. Labirintul ofera si ocazia de a
descoperi cariatidele adaugate de Ecaterina de Medici pe fatada castelului;

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la 300 de ani dupa ce au fost plasate pe castel, cariatidele au fost date jos
si plasate un gradina, dar acum ele se afla la locul lor initial, gratie
arhitectilor.
Gradinile castelului de Chenonceau sunt o marturie remarcabila al
talentului si rafinamentului celor doua doamne care l-au decorat: Diane de
Pointiers si Ecaterina de Medici. Chiar de la realizarea lor, gradinile au fost
in continuu o parte esentiala a castelului. Cand Diane de Poitiers a primit in
proprietate domeniul Chenonceau, in 1547, in jurul castelului nu exista
decat o simpla gradina de legume. Cum locul nu era deloc potrivit pentru
necesitatile curtii, timp de 5 ani au fost facute multe modificari, rezultatul
fiind gradina care a primit numele creatoarei ei.
Aflata in partea de sus a castelului (din punctul de vedere al curgerii
raului), gradina e propejata de eventualele inundatii pentru ca a fost
construita pe o terasa ridicata. Considerata a fi un autentic "teatru" verde
de peste 12.000 m2, gradina Diane de Pointiers a fost construita conform
unui plan foarte simplu: doua alei diagonale se intalnesc pentru a forma
patru triunghiuri; fiecare triunghi este impartit in doua de alte alei. Farmecul
gradinii vine atat din design-ul sau cat si din plantele alese: pomi fructiferi,
tufe rustice, capsuni, violete si multe altele.

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