French Gardens

Our never-ending desire to master that easy, cool Parisian-girl look, our Pinterest boards loaded with ornate molding and gorgeous gilded interiors, and our love for regal, manicured gardens are all inspired by the French. Anyone who has taken a stroll around Paris or seen photographs of the gardens at Versailles knows that the French take their landscaping very seriously.

Italian formality was taken to the next level by designers in this nation, who planted and pruned it into a tightly regulated yet florid (almost flouncy) appearance. Imagine strolling beneath a coiffed horse-chestnut allée at Paris's Tuileries, ruler-straight rows of fragrant lavender in Provence, or curlicues of emerald green grass at Versailles.

Capture the graphic effect of a parterre on a footpath by laying down paving stones in a symmetrical pattern and planting thyme between them, or edge your driveway with cherry trees for a gracious allée. A simpler (but just as chic) idea: a topiary potted in a traditional square planter. During André Le Nôtre's time, these ultra-durable vessels, known as Versailles boxes, held orange trees. They were constructed out of metal and wood and had doors, so gardeners could easily remove tender trees growing in metal liners and transfer them to greenhouses for the winter.