I was supposed to be researching something serious the other day, when, as so often, I saw something much more interesting and decided to follow that lead instead. It was an image of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris that had been painted at the very height of the French Revolution. You might have expected it to be a scene of chaos and destruction but far from it. Instead it was a scene of tranquility and calm, with apparently well cared for gardens and garden buildings.
A bit more investigation revealed that far from damaging the former royal gardens the revolutionaries recognised their importance and made them a key part of their programme for cultural and scientific advance…and there wasn’t just one but a whole series of paintings which show the gardens in great detail. So I decided to investigate the story behind them and the gardens…
So I reread them and saw that I’d mentioned Peter Barr a Victorian nurseryman who I’d said was “the unsung daffodil hero” and “who deserves an article of his own” A bit more research led me to a very lively
If I asked you to think of a pagoda in a European garden I suspect your automatic reaction would be to think of the one at Kew. But there is another, perhaps inspired by it, in an imposing position in the Loire Valley near Amboise.
The Garden History Blog 
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