rose | keirybeesparis

When we visited La Roserie du Val-de-Marne and strolled along the gravel pathways amongst masses of roses the words of Pierre de Ronsard’s romantic poem “Ode to Cassandra” were running through my head……

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose
Qui ce matin avait déclose
Sa robe de pourpre au soleil,
A point perdu cette vesprée
Les plis de sa robe pourprée,
Et son teint au vôtre pareil.

Las ! voyez comme en peu d’espace,
Mignonne, elle a dessus la place,
Las, las ses beautés laissé choir !
Ô vraiment marâtre Nature,
Puisqu’une telle fleur ne dure
Que du matin jusques au soir !

Donc, si vous me croyez, mignonne,
Tandis que votre âge fleuronne
En sa plus verte nouveauté,
Cueillez, cueillez votre jeunesse :
Comme à cette fleur, la vieillesse
Fera ternir votre beauté.

He is telling his sweetheart (Cassandra) to look at the rose which has just unfurled all its beauty in the sunshine, and unfairly, like the rose whose beauty lasts only a short time, her beauty will fade. So he implores her that if she believes him to make the most of her youth and potential while she is young. Interpret that how you will; nevertheless it’s a classic of the French Renaissance period and the words are as velvety as roses.

Under the warm sun with the heady scent of rose perfume wafting up from exquisite blooms all about the sense of romance is clear. It’s no wonder Monsieur Ronsard chose the rose to symbolise the beauty and promise of his sweetheart.

Coming back to reality now, this garden is about 8km south of Paris in the town of L’Hay les Roses. It was established as a rose garden from 1894 onwards by an interesting chap, Jules Gravereaux, and is now superbly maintained by the Val-de-Marne Council. There are more than 3,300 rose varieties on show including rustic antique roses, Far Eastern roses, Gallicas, modern French roses, tea roses, a garden planted with the roses Josephine Bonaparte grew at Malmaison and more.

The Malmaison rose alley

June is the best time to see them and it is magnificent. I found many of the roses I had grown previously in my gardens – Alberic Barbier, Albertine and Madame Alfred Carriere – and easily remembered why I had loved them so much.

At strategic points along the pathways there are sign-posts with QR codes (those things that look like a square of chopped up bar code) at which you can point your smartphone to download spoken commentary (in English or French) for interesting background information about particular sections of the garden. In the photo below you can see me showing how technologically savvy I am scanning the QR code. You can find all this information on the Roserie website as well – click on the tiny flag (Union Jack) button for translation.

The Roserie garden is next to a large green-lawned park with views back to Paris; eating our picnic lunch there in the sunshine we could see the Eiffel Tower peeping up above the highest buildings on the skyline.

The practical details: getting there on public transport was easy; with a Mobilis Zone 3 ticket we Metro’d to Gare du Nord, took the RER Line B train to Bourg-la Reine, then from right outside the train station took the number 172 bus toward Creteil-L’Echat-Parking and got off at Sous-Prefecture Eglise de l’Hay-les-Roses.

Roses, roses, roses

Park surrounding the rose garden “Roserie de l’Hay”…there’s a peep of the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Scanning the QR code

Souvenir de la Malmaison in the garden at Chateau de Malmaison

Souvenir de la Malmaison – it’s actually the name of a beautiful rose. I had one of these rose bushes in my garden in Auckland, and I had bought it because I loved the story behind the name. Malmaison is the name of the Chateau where Josephine and Napoleon Bonaparte lived in Paris. Josephine was a beauty and Napoleon adored her – although he did divorce her because she couldn’t give him an heir and he married another. Josephine was given the Chateau as part of the divorce settlement and she stayed on living there until her death in 1814. She loved plants; she had botanists acquire exotic plants for her garden at Malmaison from far flung parts of the world. In particular she was interested in roses and imported varieties to grow in her garden. The rose Souvenir de la Malmaison is named after the place where Jospehine grew her precious roses.

With warmer days creeping into Paris the roses are beginning to bloom and they are so lovely. There is nothing that gladdens the heart more than strolling through a beautiful rose garden, feeling the warm sun and smelling drifts of perfume from the scented beauties. I discovered a beautiful rose garden in the heart of Paris at Le Jardin des Plants and found Souvenir de la Malmaison and other gorgeous varieties unfurling their pretty summer robes. Le Jardin des Plantes is a perfect place to soak up the essence of Paris in spring.

Enthused by the roses we visited Chateau de Malmaison to see the very place behind the name. A metro trip to La Defense then a number 258 bus to “Le Chateau” plants you 300m from the front gate. As chateaux go, it’s a relatively small residence but very tastefully decorated as it was during the time Napoleon and his sweetheart lived there. Josephine, much to the ire of her husband, did spend rather a lot on buying and redecorating the place apparently. I like her taste! She also commissioned beautiful Sevres porcelain plates and dishes that reflect her love of things botanical. There is a whole room full of beautiful decorative porcelain on display.

The gardens are not as extensive as in Josephine’s time; a new rose garden is still being established, but there is a lovely walk through the woods that contains trees planted in Josephine’s time. I found Souvenir de la Malmaison in the garden, climbing vigorously over a frame – she is a beauty. Like the place and the person who inspired the name.