Climate Changed
Climate Change Is Devastating the Lush Gardens of Versailles
Traditional elms, chestnuts and birches are being replaced by trees that can survive climate change.
The Latona fountain at Versailles Palace.
Photographer: Sylvain Sonnet/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images
The manicured estate of the Versailles Palace was designed for an absolute monarch and withstood the French revolution. But now climate change is threatening its survival.
Hornbeam trees overlooking the estate’s Grand Canal died this summer, and in Marie Antoinette’s Trianon gardens, the beeches are withering. The worrying thing is that these weren’t only varieties from the era of Louis the XIV, but also new plantings meant to withstand the effects of global warming.