Some saw it as a rebellion against tradition
A gardener's call to "neglect" gardens raises controversy in France
The architect Andre Lenotte designed the famous gardens in the Palace of Versailles.
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Controversial gardener Eric Lenoir says well-kept gardens are unnecessarily time-consuming, harmful to biodiversity, and ultimately an "attack on the planet".
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A heated debate has erupted in France about the rising star of a gardener who calls for "laziness" and letting plants grow in a haphazard fashion.
And Eric Lenoir is the creator of a concept that goes against centuries of French tradition: a wild garden where grass, thistles and insects thrive, in the name of the environment.
In the country of André Lenoir, the 17th-century landscape architect who designed the famous gardens at Versailles for King Louis XIV, Lenoir's method was denounced as a rebellion.
Yet even Le Figaro, the conservative daily that promotes a contemporary lifestyle, has had to admit that Lenoir is gaining a growing following.
The newspaper published an article on "Active Landscapes" this weekend to coincide with Lenoir's publication of his latest book, "The Great Consensus of the Wild Garden", which garnered widespread media attention.
Having grown up in a poor area of the Paris region, Lenoir, 47, graduated from the Faculty of Horticulture and Landscaping, in the city, before buying 14,000 square meters of land next to a forest in Burgundy, in 2011, to create the first wild landscape garden.
"As a true rebel, the first thing I did was do nothing," he said.
"I've spent a year observing the cycle of nature, what grows there, what lives there, how and why?"
In addition, this observation enabled the horticulturalist to develop the principles that underpinned his rise to fame.
Lawn mowers should be left in the garage, except perhaps to be used to create driveways through tall grass, he says.
Weeds must be allowed to grow, and existing plants and trees should not be replaced on a "whim".
Lenoir claims that there are many advantages to the rebellious gardener. “The rebel saves his energy," he continues. "He doesn't have a lot of resources. It's tiring from the start. And he has other battles to wage.” For example, he says, his private garden, Le Floreal, requires only three to five days of work a year. "Don't rush, start watching," he said. Gardens can offer surprises in all seasons. And the low-lying grass that looks so pathetic in March, will be very different in August.”
The controversial gardener says the carefully maintained gardens, which have been at the heart of the French landscape since Lenotre, are unnecessarily time-consuming, harmful to biodiversity and ultimately an "attack on the planet".
“I don't want to cause genocide by mowing the lawn,” Lenoir said in a recent video online. In the interest of the environment, you can have a beautifully landscaped garden.”
"Very quickly, you'll see wildflowers growing, chrysanthemums and hyacinths, and you'll also see common birds like European snouts and goldfinch," he added.
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Not everyone agrees with Lenoir.
The owner of a popular French website, The Promise of Roses, boasts that he doesn't have a random garden and that a huge job has to be done in striving for beautiful flower beds.
Le Figaro said even some of the gardens being updated were skeptical of Lenoir's advocacy of laziness, letting plants grow randomly.
In a commentary, one reader said that for the gardens Lenoir was what contemporary artists do with sculpture and painting, producing "dreadful and uninteresting works".
• “Gardens can offer surprises in all seasons. And the pathetic low grass in March will be very different in August.”
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