The French Rose Garden A celebration of the Rose from Paris to the Loire
If you love the perfume of roses on an early summer’s day and have always promised yourself time to discover more of this vast and varied genus, then this is the tour for you; an unmissable opportunity to stroll from rose to rose discussing the merits of under-planting, mulching, pruning, budding, training, and even ‘the name of the rose’ in the company of a great rose enthusiast & expert. We will stay two nights in the heart of Paris before travelling down to the Loire to Hôtel Le Choiseul, Amboise. Both hotels offer good food and hospitality: dinners with local wines and bed & breakfast all included.
Your Tour Includes
- Private coach transfers and excursions.
- 2 nights’ bed and breakfast in the 5-star Hotel Sofitel Paris le Faubourg and 4 nights’ bed, breakfast and evening meal in the 4-star Le Choiseul, Amboise.
- 5 dinners and 6 lunches.
- Guided visits to sites listed in the programme
- Services of your Tour Host and Tour Manager.
Paul Zimmerman
Paul Zimmerman is the owner of Paul Zimmerman Roses, a company dedicated to Budding the Rose Grower In All Of Us. He is also an Independent Consultant to Jackson & Perkins as well as their Head of their Landscape & Design Division and exclusive Rose Consultant to Biltmore Estate as well as director of their International Rose Trials,
He has written articles for Fine Gardening, Organic Gardening, American Nurseryman and other gardening magazines. He hosted the blog “Roses Are Plants, Too” on Fine Gardening Magazine’s website for numerous years. He lectures internationally and has also served as an International juror for numerous Rose Trials. He is the author of the book “Everyday Roses’ published by Taunton Press.
While living in Los Angeles, California Paul founded and ran “Hundred Acre Woods Rosescapeing”, a company specializing in the care, design and installation of rose gardens; particularly Antique, Shrub and David Austin Roses.
After moving to South Carolina he started Ashdown Roses Ltd a rose nursery offering A World of Garden Roses, which he closed in 2009 to focus on rose growing education.
Among some of his other accomplishments are founding a You Tube Channel on rose care with to date some 4 million views, creator and host of the Blueprint (formerly Craftsy) class “A Gardener’s Guide to Growing Roses”, was hired by the New York Botanical Garden to review their care protocols and was hired by the Chinese Government to present a two day seminar on the American Rose Industry and American Rose Gardens to a delegation of rose experts from China. He is now also leading garden tours in Europe.
It is this hands on experience with roses in a general garden setting that Paul draws on for his Talks, You Tube Videos, Articles, Tours, and Workshops.
Itinerary
To use our NEW itinerary, simply click a day below and a detailed overview will appear.
Overview
Join the tour in Paris at Hotel Sofitel Le Faubourg where late morning we transfer to restaurant Les Belles Plantes for a lunch together before a special tour of Le Roseraie at the Jardin des Plantes, the Botanical Gardens of Paris. This evening we enjoy our first dinner together.
Includes Lunch
Includes Dinner
Overview
Today we visit two of the most famous rose collections in the world. Parc de Bagatelle where we find two rose gardens, the classic rose garden with over 9,000 plants and 1,200 varieties and the landscape rose garden. Together they display the national collection of modern roses. This is also the site of The International Competition of New Roses that is held every year in June. We then travel to Roseraie Val-de-Marne in L’Haÿ-les-Roses. We start with a delicious light lunch followed by a tour of the roses with the garden’s curator. Initiated in the late nineteenth century by Jules Gravereaux, a private collector and owner of the Parisian department store Le Bon Marché, the garden now has more than 11,000 rosebushes and nearly 2,900 species and varieties of rose, making it one of the largest collections of old roses in the world. Return to your hotel in Paris for a free evening. Please note today is France's national holiday, making Paris busier than usual.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Lunch
Included Highlights
Overview
Though André Eve (1931-2015) is well known in France for his work in hybridising old roses, few people know of his own small garden in the Pithiviers. This garden, full of his favourite roses planted with compatible herbaceous plants - is a joy to see and is maintained to high standards by a group of skilled volunteers. At Le Manoir de la Javeliére Park, we are invited to lunch by the owner, Patrick Masure, who will guide us through his comprehensive collection of species and hybrid roses beautifully integrated into an exceptional four-acre garden. Next, we visit the nursery that was originally set up by André Eve for a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour of Les Roses Anciennes André Eve where work is still underway creating beautiful new French roses. We then journey on to Hôtel Le Choiseul overlooking the River Loire in Amboise with time to settle before dining in the hotel restaurant.
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Overview
The fairy-tale Château Rivau has a remarkable garden with a remarkable owner. Patricia Laigneau has planned her colourful garden to wrap around the château. With a particular passion for roses, she will take us on a special tour to show how roses are interwoven into all corners of the garden before a delicious lunch together. In the afternoon we have a private visit to the Loubert Rose Collection where over 2,500 different species and cultivars of the genus Rosa comprise a French National Collection, its main purpose to preserve and display Rose species as well as old and rare varieties. We then return to Hôtel Le Choiseul for dinner together.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Lunch
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Overview
In the heart of Touraine, we find Chédigny, ‘village des roses’, the only village in France to be ranked as a ‘Jardin Remarquable’ for its extraordinary collection of roses and Rose Festival. We are then invited to lunch and Vouvray wine tasting at Château de Valmer owned by the same family for five generations. Today the Count & Countess de Saint Venant still live in the château, their son, Jean de Saint Venant managing the property and vineyards. We then return to for dinner together.
Includes Breakfast
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Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Overview
A morning visit to the Chateau and gardens of Château de Villandry a unique testament to Renaissance architecture with decorative potager and symbolic ornamental garden. Villandry has long been the epitome of decorative vegetable gardens; the standard of horticulture, attention to detail, and clever design remain a total delight; we meet the head gardener to discuss the standard roses that give the rhythm and the high notes to the potager. We then return to the town of Amboise for free time to shop and explore. Dine together this evening at Hôtel Le Choiseul
Includes Breakfast
Includes Dinner
Included Highlights
Overview
Moving up-river we pass the village of Cormeray to find a small rose garden, product of the full-blown passion of owner, Brigitte Chiron-Charaud. We then find Les Jardins de Roquelin where Stephane Chassine, who previously worked for André Eve, has created a very beautiful cottage garden full of his favourite old roses on the banks of the Loire. Here we will have lunch. The coach will then drive to Paris. Please note there will be no accommodation as this is the end of the tour.
Includes Breakfast
Includes Lunch
Accommodation
You will be staying 2 nights at the 5-star Hotel Sofitel Paris le Faubourg and 4 nights at the charming 4-star Le Choiseul, Amboise Hotel
Travel and Accommodation Options
Our direct contact information is mail@boxwoodtours.co.uk
The tour price does not include travel to and from Paris which is the start and ending point for the tour. Please make your own travel arrangements.
If you are flying into UK there are a few options for transport to the hotel. Please make these yourself via the links below. Among them are;
Taxi - At the airport.
Private Car
Public Transport via train.
Le Choiseul
Located in Amboise on the banks of the river, Hôtel Le Choiseul is composed of 3 18th-century residences. Rooms have a view over the gardens or the Loire River and free Wi-Fi access.
Hotel Facilities
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General
- 4 Star
Room
- Air Conditioning
- Free Wifi
Accessibility
- Ground Floor Rooms on Request
Hotel
- WiFi Available
