Gardens

The ecological garden at
Château de La Borie, an enchanting stroll

The gardens consist of several areas: the pond and the grass maze, the ecological garden known as “in motion,” the rose garden, and the château terrace.

The Garden “in motion”

The garden of the Château de La Borie enjoys remarkable botanical diversity in Limousin. Since 2016, it has been inspired by the concept of a “garden in motion” by gardener-botanist Gilles Clément. It is a space where “doing as much as possible with, as little as possible against,” according to Gilles Clément. The landscaper explains: “In this dynamic, the gardener is led to observe more and garden less. To better understand the species and their behaviors in order to better exploit their natural capacities without excessive expenditure of energy and time. In this management dynamic, one of the most remarkable manifestations of the “garden in motion” comes from the physical movement of species across the land.”

From one season to the next, everything can change: the colors, the scents, and even the paths created for walking can change their routes. The garden management is environmentally friendly: herbicides and pesticides have been eliminated.

The Garden

In 2012–2013, emblematic tree species from the region were planted in a hilly meadow adjoining the château, including the chestnut tree and others from around the world—some rare in France or Europe—such as the bamboo oak (Quercus myrginifolia) from China.

The aim of the landscapers at the time was to create a plant palette: from the lightest and most airy plants to dark, dense, and tough species. This landscape design plays with light, allowing certain plants to express their transparency (a “diaphanous” effect) at a specific time of day or season.

In the Borie garden, grasses and miscanthus (Chinese reeds) dance in the wind, coexisting with a wide range of plants: willow groves, flower meadows, grasses, and bamboo groves. And this in harmony with native plants such as ferns, heather, wild carrots and nettles. The garden brings together more than seventy species of trees and shrubs for a population of more than four hundred and sixty subjects.

The castle terrace

The castle terrace was laid out according to a symmetrical plan typical of the “French Garden” (four squares of vegetation and four intersecting paths with a water feature in the middle, typical of the Renaissance period). “Corten steel tables” are spread over four squares where the different varieties of the vegetable garden-orchard grow “to recall the food-producing vocation of the estate in the 17th century”. In the middle of the squares of green lawn, beds of oregano and borage grow freely.

“Those who tend a garden live in surprise. A surprise that is almost always a happy one, one that wards off nostalgia or negative feelings. […] We enter a realm that I call the mental territory of hope.” — Gilles Clément, Des Jardins et Des Hommes, 2016