In Fine Form — and Function
(Via washingtonpost.com - A Cook's Garden by Barbara Damrosch)
Any healthy, well-tended vegetable garden is beautiful, but some are works of art, and the one at the Chateau de Villandry in France's Loire Valley is considered the Mona Lisa of potagers. It forms only one part of the formal grounds that grace this Renaissance castle, but, on its own, it is a pilgrimage site for kitchen gardeners. More than 40 kinds of vegetables, from peppers to pumpkins, are set out in tidy square plots edged with boxwood, each a flawless composition of complementary textures, forms and colors that change with the seasons. Inspired by gardens of the 15th century, it is like a 100,000-square-foot bejeweled altar cloth, spread over the land in homage to the fruits of the earth.
Any healthy, well-tended vegetable garden is beautiful, but some are works of art, and the one at the Chateau de Villandry in France's Loire Valley is considered the Mona Lisa of potagers. It forms only one part of the formal grounds that grace this Renaissance castle, but, on its own, it is a pilgrimage site for kitchen gardeners. More than 40 kinds of vegetables, from peppers to pumpkins, are set out in tidy square plots edged with boxwood, each a flawless composition of complementary textures, forms and colors that change with the seasons. Inspired by gardens of the 15th century, it is like a 100,000-square-foot bejeweled altar cloth, spread over the land in homage to the fruits of the earth.
