The Gardener of Versailles

January 20, 2014
Overseeing a public garden remains a most underappreciated vocation. If the gardener-in-chief is doing his or her job, the space carries the sense that no one has been there and done anything and it is simply sacred space, destined for the magical transport of people who stroll there. Baraton’s fascinating memoir corrects this misreading with an intimate and visceral look into his complicated relationship with one of Europe’s most astonishing public gardens, Versailles, which dates to the 17th century. He writes of a particularly haunting snowy evening when he saw through a window the apparition of a sobbing woman. He left the warmth of his home to go search for her in the gardens. “I thought of all the desperate depressed women who had gotten through the garden gates in the night and whose husbands called rescuers to help find them.” It is a telling glimpse of the challenge, consolation, and occasional horror of overseeing a place of magic.

January 1, 2014
Versailles head gardener and TV host Baraton reflects on his three decades tending some of the most beautiful gardens in the world. Simply but thoroughly, the author narrates the history of Versailles, from the days of Henry IV sneaking off to these woods to hunt to the days of the revolution. The most surprising element is the speed with which an estate of such size was built. The gardens, on the other hand, sprung from the guiding hand of Louis XIV's gardener, Andre Le Notre, but then took their own sweet time to flourish. Baraton importantly points out how people rush about on the Rue de Rivoli and other parts of Paris but then slow to a snail's pace when they walk through gardens at Versailles. Gardens reach into your soul, writes the author, whether you plant them, harvest them or simply enjoy them. The author philosophizes about the ability of gardens to provide space for deep reflection, and he writes poetically about the beautiful power of the grounds he tends. He also provides some practical advice--e.g., the best places for a lovers' tryst. The building and maintenance of the world's grandest garden took the efforts and perspectives of a wide variety of great royal gardeners, including Claude Mollet and Jacques Boyceau, as well as builders like Louis Le Vau and Charles Le Brun. In addition to paying tribute to the work of these innovators, Baraton also looks at the various films that have been filmed on the grounds, storms that have battered them, and the effects of each season on the flora and fauna. The descriptions of the various sites on the grounds could only come from a man fortunate enough to have lived on and loved the site for almost 40 years.

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Starred review from December 1, 2013

Versailles's gardener in chief aims to share an aspect of the grand landmark palace outside of Paris that is seldom experienced--a simple, intimate side not evident in works such as Michel Baridon's A History of the Gardens of Versailles. An exquisite storyteller who works in and lives among the gardens, Baraton (editor, From Marie Antoinette's Garden: An Eighteenth-Century Horticultural Album) immediately engages readers with a vivid account of a severe storm damaging the gardens. It is an extraordinary place to begin, for it enables Baraton to slip comfortably into reminiscing, beckoning readers back to the beginning of his tenure, 1976, when he was only an apprentice gardener's assistant. A keen observer, he learned quickly and developed a curiosity about the place. Thirty years on, Baraton has filled his book not only with interesting historical details and human stories of the royals who walked the grounds but with insightful, contemporary tales of wise coworkers and eccentric visitors. Whether he's discussing romantic tourists or marveling at bygone gardening techniques, Baraton's eloquence and intelligence shine in this English translation by Murray. VERDICT Practically required reading for garden travelers, gardeners, history fans, and even memoir buffs. Readers will wish more of his books were available in translation. Delightful.--Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee

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