You can grow your own food. We can help.

A Conversation with France's Gardening Prince

May 11, 2011

I recently had the honor to appear with Prince Louis Albert de Broglie of France at an event organized by the French Institute Alliance Française of New York City. Known in France as the "Gardener Prince," de Brogle has turned his Chateau de la Bourdaisière in Touraine into an inspiring, world-class destination with its National Conservatory of Tomatoes (650 varieties) and historical vegetable and medicinal gardens. Our hour-long conversation covered a number of topics including edible biodiversity, garden tourism and school gardens to name a few. As I said in my opening remarks that night, gardens have the power to bring diverse people together, Americans and Europeans, urban and rural folks and, yes, a pauper and a prince. I hope you'll tap this power with your own garden this season by using it as a gathering place for friends, neighbors and loved ones. You never know who you might inspire.

Photo © Junenoire Mitchell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Roger Doiron

Father, husband, son, brother and uncle. Garden activist, advocate, writer, speaker and photographer. Founder of KGI and certified garden geek. Growing lots of good stuff on the coast of Maine.

Author's link

Twitter @rogerdoiron

Comments

Jessica Still

Wed, 05/11/2011 - 14:04

You have framed these vital topics as large as they deserve & included all gardeners - those at KGI & those who are still "out in the cold." :-) There is not a single good garden that has not been a gathering place for some & can be more, as you encourage. I look forward to every bit of this post report.

Vegetable Vagabond

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 00:39

I so enjoyed listening to this, Roger. We need to connect together many more influential, like minded people in every region of the world and then we would be a real force for change.

AmyC222

Wed, 08/24/2011 - 11:57

I enjoyed this conversation as well. Thank you for posting it! I have a small garden, but this site has encouraged me to expand it a great deal. My husband and I love fresh food, love cooking, and love being in our kitchen together. I think this will be a great experience for us! I can't wait to see how full our lg refrigerators become this time next year!