The Sun King Plants His Flag at Versailles
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
1682 — Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, turning a hunting lodge into the world’s most theatrical garden. The east-west axis tracks the Sun King’s own daily procession; geometry and fountain conspire to flatter the light.
For forty years, Louis worked with the unflappable gardener André Le Nôtre, proof that monarchy and merriment can, on occasion, collaborate. The result? Miles of parterres, a thousand statues, and a stage big enough for Apollo himself.
Further reading for the truly besotted: The Sun King’s Garden by Ian Thompson and Gardener of Versailles by Alain Baraton.
Baraton—gardener-in-chief and resident of the grounds—survived the 1999 tempest that felled ten thousand trees; yet the statues, like seasoned courtiers, emerged unscathed. Versailles endures. It always does.
