Jardins à la française, jardins à l'anglaise: fécondations croisées

Hélène Tronc will explore the exchanges and mutual influences between two major traditions in garden design. From the order, symmetry, and control of nature characteristic of the French formal garden to the more naturalistic, informal approach of the English landscape garden, the conference examines how these two styles encountered, influenced, and transformed one another over time.
Themes : garden, garden design, French formal garden, English landscape garden, cross-cultural influence

Our speaker is  Hélène Tronc. Hélène is the Garden Supervisor at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden, the oldest botanic garden in the UK, founded in 1621 and home to a collection of over 5000 species of plants. Before embracing horticulture professionally, Hélène worked as a translator for many years. She studied French literature and classics at the ENS Ulm and at the Sorbonne in Paris, and holds a Master's in Classics and a Master's in Art History. When she isn't gardening in Oxford, Hélène restores an abandoned olive grove in the garrigue of the Languedoc.