JANE Gardiner (shown above) recalled one of history's most extraordinary garden stories at this year's annual lecture to the Friends at Cannizaro House on 8 February. The gardens of  Versailles were created for King Louis XIV of France, Europe's longest reigning monarch (1643-1715), who saw himself as Apollo, god of the Sun, and "tyrannised nature with his power and wealth".

Investment of human as well as financial resources may well have exceeded that for any other garden in history. Thousands of labourers were employed to divert water to a largely barren area of land and entire forests of mature trees and plants were transported there - no fewer than 2 million hornbeam plants in a single year. The cost was horrendous with "cartloads of corpses carried away under darkness" as a result of the work.  André le Nôtre, royal gardener, created unbelievable geometric formality with the laying out of terraces and great tree-lined walks as far as the eye could see, on uneven land with a 36 metre drop to a grand canal. Every pond and stream for miles around were diverted to Versailles and 223 pumps were used to supply 1000 tonnes of water every time the huge fountains were turned on for an hour. This happened whenever the King was being carried around the gardens in his specially created bath chair.

Vast monuments graced the land while golden, silver and bronze sculptures of enormous proportions represented the seasons and other symbols, supposedly controlled by the "divine" monarch. A gigantic stretch of water was used to demonstrate the capabilities of warships and gondolas presented to the King by the Doge of Venice carried members of the court on cruises. 

Among the many amazing sights were the Trianon de Porcelain, Louis's private love nest where he would retreat with his mistress of the moment. There they would lie amid the scents of countless roses, hyacinths, narcissi and other flowers, birds in gilded cages, and blue and white silken furnishings together with solid silver furniture in a bedchamber and supper room. Elsewhere were another 96,000 bedded plants, 2 million plants in pots, and an orangery including 2000 orange trees and 1000 pomegranates, oleanders and other varieties. As many as 1000 orange trees were kept in solid silver tubs and carried around the grounds by four men at a time to please the King.

Although much of this astonishing place no longer exists beyond contemporary engravings, a storm in the year 2000 which destroyed many of  Versailles' mature trees also stimulated a major restoration programme by the French Government which continues to this day. Statues are being re-gilded, trees re-planted and fountains revived.

Versailles and Cannizaro mentioned in the same breath? Hardly the same scale or style but it is amazing what can be done when the resources and motivation are both there.

A former research assistant and lecturer in the Victoria & Albert Museum education department, Jane Gardiner later became a senior lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute and a deputy director of Sotheby’s U.K. She specialises in early European ceramics and glass and 17th and 18th century design. Louis XIV is her particular field. She is married to Anthony Gardiner, herb specialist and designer of Cannizaro Park's new herb garden..