Outside the official grounds of the Palace of Versailles in France lies a gated vegetable garden that dates back to the 17th century. Le Potager du Roi, which means The King’s Kitchen Garden, was commissioned by King Louis XIV, and designed to feed those at court and his servants. This is a veggie gardener’s dream. Gardens teem with vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Additionally, hundreds of fruit trees are planted around the perimeter, pruned using various techniques. What’s amazing is that the garden still exists pretty much as it did during the Sun King’s reign.

Having already visited the château on another trip, this time (I was in France covering the Paris Olympics) I wanted to explore the city of Versailles. That included a stroll through Le Potager du Roi, a garden that overlooks the grounds of Versailles that I didn’t know existed until a friend explained where to find it. The latter carries a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation and the former is included as part of the historic landmark.

The day was overcast when I headed to the Baroque garden, so my photos all have a moody backdrop. However, overcast weather can be a photographer’s dream. Colors pop and everything stands out without the glare of the sun or worrying about shadows.

A brief history of Le Potager du Roi

Louis XIV, named Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie as director of the royal fruit and vegetable gardens in 1670. He designed and built Le Potager du Roi from 1678 to 1683 on land that was originally rather swamp-like. The marsh—or stinking pond, as it was called—was drained to enable the construction of the gardens.

The stables provided lots of manure to amend the soil, which at the time was poor quality. Garden “rooms” provided protection, trapping warmth from the sun. Underground heating kept roots warm in the greenhouses in the winter.

Having abandoned his first career as a lawyer after visiting gardens in Italy, de La Quintinie worked on gardening techniques that would force or extend harvests outside of their traditional growing season, as well as methods to improve growing and cultivating fruit trees.

He also pushed the limits on growing fruits and vegetables outside of their season. De La Quintinie was harvesting asparagus in January and strawberries in March!

His goals with the garden were “to nourish and innovate.” De La Quintinie experimented a lot with fruit tree pruning, and you can see the continuation of the interesting techniques and aesthetics being carried on today. The day of my visit, I spotted a pair working on a couple of espaliered trees against one of the stone walls that surrounds the garden.

The design of Le Potager du Roi

At a glance, looking down into the nine hectares of potager, it looks like a giant, symmetrical garden. But walk between the plots and little points of interest reveal themselves, one at a time. It may be a crop of Swiss chard hidden from potential pests by floating row cover or espaliered trees in interesting shapes. At one point we came across a flock of chickens. In another area I encountered an insect hotel, nestled among the plants.

The kitchen garden in modern times

The garden has persisted throughout the centuries, though it has gone through its ups and downs. Apparently the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy and American horticulturist and philanthropist Bunny Mellon raised funds for restoration projects in the 1990s. This included the giant gilded iron gate that separates the garden from the grounds of Versailles.

In 1873, Le Potager du Roi became the headquarters of the National Horticultural college. Since 1995 it is the home of The National Landscape Architecture School, which is called l’École Nationale Supérieure de Paysage (ENSP). The school looks after the management of the garden.

Furthermore, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced in 2024 various projects that would receive money for projects that support climate heritage solutions. In the garden’s case, they will be creating a global hub to research and share best practices for how historic gardens can adapt to modern climate challenges.

The art of espalier

The goals of the original kitchen garden were to feed the inhabitants of Versailles, experiment with new techniques, and share knowledge. Consequently, various espalier techniques have been used to train the 4,000 or so fruit trees in the King’s Kitchen Garden.

Espalier is a pruning technique where a tree or shrub is trained to be two-dimensional. This helps to maximize space and optimize fruit production. The trees throughout the King’s Kitchen Garden are either pruned to grow flat against a wall, or pruned and trained using stakes or lattice.

Little discoveries throughout the royal vegetable garden

Strolling among the rows, with the city’s buildings and apartments in the background, you can almost picture being back in the 17th century with a basket, ready to harvest fresh fruit and vegetables. Venture outside of the garden design to where the fruit trees are, you will find the odd seating nook or the gate to the actual palace grounds—or chickens! There is lots to discover at this magical garden in the heart of a city.

The gift shop, which you have to enter to get into the gardens, has a variety of books and souvenirs, as well as seasonal preserves that come straight from the garden’s bounty.

Visit more international gardens

• A stroll through Hunte’s Gardens in Barbados
• Inspiration from the Keukenhof in the Netherlands
• Ideas from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in England