Serres du Luxembourg

 

Back again to the Journees du Patrimoine (my third post on our activities that weekend), and this time I'll focus on our tour of the greenhouses at the Luxembourg Gardens, or the Serres du Luxembourg.  There is a very extensive horticulture operation there, and we got an insider's view of everything they do.  As is true with the entire Gardens, it is managed and operated by the French Senate.  But at least the horticulture operation has roots (sorry) that go back to the 13th Century and the reign of King Louis IX.  The pious King Louis gave some land now occupied by the Gardens to Carthusian monks, or Chartreux, and they built famous orchards there.  In the 17th Century, Marie de Medici built her palace in proximity and took over many acres of adjacent land for manicured gardens, but the orchards remained.  Both the royal family and the monks were kicked out during the French Revolution, but the palace, manicured gardens, and orchards stand as reminders of many centuries' past use of this parcel of land.  

The photograph above shows a few of the many varieties of apples, pears, and figs grown in the gardens and on display for the Journees du Patramoine.  Below is the largest pear I have ever seen, with Glenn's hand for scale.

  

They also maintained a beautiful pollinator garden...

... an extensive collection of orchids--13,000 plants, including vanilla plants (which I think are a variety of orchid) and this spectacular vase of orchid cuttings...

  ...and a variety of other odd plants.

The weather was perfect, and we had a wonderful visit there.  Being mostly outside was a nice contrast with the other activities, mostly indoors, we had that weekend. 

Update:  On October 15, Glenn and I stopped in the Louvre for a couple of hours and spent time looking at the French paintings.  There we saw a painting of the plan for the orchards and monastery being handed down from on high to the Chartreux.  Kind of an awesome painting, and nice to know that the cherubim were so involved in planning and management details.