The Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire has been listed as a "Jardin remarquable" (Outstanding Garden) since 2009 and has seen new variations and metamorphoses emerge over the years: whether one thinks of the pale, fragrant rose gardens arranged on arches near the restaurants, the pastel tulips and narcissi planted in their thousands, the interstitial gardens of the Festival or the blue and violet monochrome gardens, particular attention is paid to overall effects, to blocks of colour and to the pictorial dimension of the plantings.
But the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is not only the stage for aesthetic or ephemeral gardens; it is bound up with all the timescales of the garden: the short time of the Festival gardens, but also the long time of the great parks and the evocation of the history of the site. Indeed, through the letters they exchanged with the Estate’s steward, the Prince and Princess de Broglie, the last private owners of the Château, reveal themselves to have been great plant lovers. At the end of the 19th century, they asked the famous landscape architect Henri Duchêne to create greenhouses, an orangery and a large winter garden in which they kept plant collections that would win prizes at the most prestigious horticultural competitions of the day.
As the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire is a place steeped in history and dedicated to nature and creation, we felt it important to enrich the Prés du Goualoup and certain areas of the International Garden Festival with plant collections, true living libraries of botanical species and horticultural varieties, which should allow visitors to discover and grow new or surprising plants.