Pierre Joyaux has designed hundreds of gardens—
and expects them all to be thriving a hundred years from now.

Much like the château gardens he designs, Pierre Joyaux is larger than life. A tall man of considerable presence, his eyes blaze with energy as he recounts yet another anecdote, his broad yet elegant frame in almost constant motion as he punctuates his stories with lively gestures and eruptions of laughter. It’s easier to imagine him on stage at the Paris Opera than quietly contemplating the best placement for a boxwood hedge or adding the final delicate touches of watercolor to plans for a client’s garden.
    What’s immediately obvious to anyone who meets Joyaux is that he is passionate about what he does. Specializing in 17th- and 18th-century gardens, he has designed, restored or re-created hundreds of landscapes gracing châteaux and country manors in France and abroad. His years of experience have given him the boldness needed to successfully pull off the transformation of frighteningly large spaces, expertly bringing order, elegance and drama to even the most daunting terrain.
    And yet he doesn’t take himself too seriously. His business card reads simply Jardinier—perhaps because Joyaux didn’t intentionally set out to become a garden designer at all.
    “Like most men, I got to where I am now because of the women in my life,” he admits. A horticulturalist by training, he and his late wife, Marie-France, originally ran a nursery in the Berry region (south of the Loire Valley). When it came time to plant their own gardens at La Lande Chevrier, their country manor next door, Joyaux found himself in the position of designer by default. “My wife had a huge collection of plants but was afraid of placing them in the gardens, so it was up to me to decide where to put them,” says Joyaux. “I learned a lot from that experience.”
    In the early 1980s, he received his first real commission from Princess Marie Sol de la Tour d’Auvergne, proprietor of the historic Château d’Ainay-le-Vieil and president of the New York-based French Heritage Society (frenchheritagesociety.org). “I have a private cottage on the grounds and was looking for someone to help redesign its garden,” relates Tour d’Auvergne. Specifically, she wanted someone who knew palissage, the French art of training trees into desired shapes by pruning and attaching branches to a supporting framework.
    But in those days, there were few gardeners in France who knew how to do this. “Then I heard about Pierre Joyaux,” continues Tour d’Auvergne. “So I stopped by to talk with him and visit his garden.” Convinced he could carry out her vision, she eventually hired him not only to design the cottage garden but also to completely restore the vast grounds of her medieval fortress château.
    “She kept insisting that I do the job, but I had never designed a landscape before!” recalls Joyaux. He eventually gave in, and the two worked closely together, starting in 1985 with the design of the rose garden. Together they tracked down some 180 varieties, creating the first private roseraie of its size in France. “We searched all over for heirloom varieties,” says Tour d’Auvergne. “I even went to England and found some there.” Her confidence in Joyaux certainly paid off: She unveiled his handiwork during her husband’s birthday party, a huge event with many illustrious guests. “It was perfect,” recalls Joyaux. “Everything was in bloom...talk about luck!”
    After the success of the roseraie, word of Joyaux’s talent soon spread, and he began working on some of the most prestigious properties in and around the Loire Valley—Château La Buissière, Prieuré Notre Dame d’Orsan, Château de Bellechasse, Château de Gien, the Jardin du Centre de la France, the Jardins de La Commanderie.... He would later be asked to work on castles in Normandy, bastides in Provence, manors in Dordogne and Cognac, and several estates north of Paris near Chantilly. Joyaux has also received commissions from outside France, designing the botanical gardens for the University of Lomé in Togo and kitchen gardens in Lebanon.
    Given that he has no formal training in landscape architecture, some would say that his is a natural talent, but Joyaux dismisses the idea. “It’s taken me 21 years of experience, passion and hard work to get to this stage in my career,” he says firmly. “Of course, it may look effortless now, but believe me, I wasn’t always so sure of myself.”
    In fact, it was another woman, the Marquise de Brantes, who helped Joyaux develop his new vocation. This American-born chatelaine, who has lived for 40 years at the Château Le Fresne (near Vendôme) with her French husband and children, met Joyaux at one of his gardening workshops. “We became good friends and ended up working together on her potager at Le Fresne,” he says. “She taught me to have more confidence in my abilities.”

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