Parterre

February 17, 2024

Parterre

A parterre is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or colored gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically, it was the part of the garden nearest the house, perhaps after a terrace. The view of a parterre from inside the house, especially from the upper floors, was a major consideration in its design. The word "parterre" was and is used both for the whole part of the garden containing parterres and for each individual section between the "alleys".

The pattern or the borders of the beds may be marked by low, tightly pruned, evergreen hedges, and their interiors may be planted with flowers or other plants or filled with mulch or gravel. Parterres need not have any flowers at all, and the originals from the 17th and 18th centuries had far fewer than modern survivals or reconstructions. Statues or small evergreen trees, clipped as pyramids or other shapes, often marked points in the pattern, and an allée of medium-sized trees often ran along the side. Otherwise, the parterre was normally an area of openness, with the various elements very low, contrasting with the height of the house, and with the taller areas of the garden beyond. This made the parterre both a place to be seen - typically everyone walking in the parterre, and observers from around it, could see everyone else - but also a place for the most private conversations, as no one else could approach without being seen. The paths are made up of gravel or (much less often in historical examples) with turf grass.

Claude Mollet, (ca. 1564 – shortly before 1649), premier jardinier du Roy — first gardener to three French kings, Henri IV, Louis XIII and the young Louis XIV developed the parterre in France. Around 1595, Mollet introduced compartment-patterned parterres to the royal gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Parterres are the low embellishments of gardens, which have great grace, especially when seen from an elevated position: they are made of borders of several shrubs and sub-shrubs of various colors.

Photo credit: Teresa Watkins

Source: “Parterre.” Wikipedia, 25 July 2023, bit.ly/3SKRl4Q. Accessed 01 Feb. 2024.