Famous Gardens Around the World

Gardening is one great hobby. Planting trees herbs, trees and flowering plants and watching them grow healthy is very rewarding. Although there are some constraints in getting that beautiful garden such as weather, stray animals and insects, many people still love gardening. Some gardens become a tourists destination. There are many famous gardens around the world. I will list down the top 10 gardens according to National Geographic.

1. Chateau de Versailles

Versailles, France

The famous French landscape designer André Le Nôtre laid out these gardens southwest of Paris in the 17th century at the behest of Louis XIV. The 250 acres (101 hectares) are riddled with paths that lead to flower beds, quiet corners decorated with classical statuary, ornamental lakes, and a canal that King Louis used for gondola rides.

2. Royal Botanic Garden at Kew

Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England

Set amid 132 hectares (326 acres) of landscaped grounds, greenhouses are a popular feature of the gardens. Underneath their domes, botanical science and conservation come together in an elegant setting 16 kilometers (10 miles) from London. The Temperate House is the world’s largest Victorian greenhouse; the Bonsai House has trees more than 150 years old.

3. Powerscourt Garden

Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland

The gardens and grand Palladian villa at Powerscourt, south of Dublin, were designed in the 18th century and punctuate 19 hectares (47 acres) of formal walled gardens and shaded ponds. The grounds, waterfalls, parks, garden pavilions, and fine tree-lined arbors were suggested by the Italian Renaissance and the great estates and gardens of France and Germany. The beautiful garden planters completes the scenic view of the garden.

4. Buchart Gardens

Vancouver Island, British Columbia

The Butchart Gardens are a dazzling example of a successful reclamation project. The land, used for years by Portland Cement, by 1904 had exhausted its value as a quarry. That's when Jennie Butchart, the wife of Portland Cement's owner, filled the space with soil from nearby farms. Her vision expanded into a 55-acre (22-hectare) tract filled with 700 varieties of plants that bloom from March to October. 

5. Villa de'Este

Tivoli, Italy

A Renaissance cardinal decided to make life in Tivoli bearable by turning a dilapidated Benedictine monastery into a lovely villa, the Villa d'Este. This was embellished by one of the most fascinating garden and fountain complexes in the world, recently listed by UNESCO as one of Italy's 31 major historical/artistic sites.

6. Dumbarton Oaks

Washington D.C.

You might feel as though you've stepped into a Merchant-Ivory set in any of the gardens that make up this estate at the north end of Georgetown, one of Washington's poshest neighborhoods. Vines tumble down stone walls enclosing the Fountain Terrace.

7. Gardens of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild

St.-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France

In the early 1900s, Béatrice Éphrussi, a Rothschild baroness, built a pink-confection, Venice-style villa surrounded by breathtaking gardens, with the sparkling sea beyond. Pathways meander through the seven themed gardens, the focal point being the French gardens, with a lily-pad-dotted pool, dancing fountains, and a Temple of Love replicating the Trianon at Versailles. There are also a Provençal garden, filled with olive trees and lavender; a lapidary garden, with sculptures too large to be displayed in the villa; and Spanish, Japanese, Florentine, and exotic gardens.

8. Stourhead

Warminster, England

To the English gentry of the 18th century, the more classical something could be, the better. Stourhead is a grand example of genteel fascination with the past. Henry Hoare II punctuated the gardens of his Wilshire estate with re-created ruins and classical buildings such as the Pantheon and Temple of Apollo.

9. The Master-of-Nets Gardens

Suzhou, China

This residential garden in southeast China, called Wangshiyuan in Chinese, was designed during the Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1270). The arrangement of pavilions, halls, music rooms, winsome bamboo groves, and waterside perches is an exercise in natural harmony.

10. Sans Souci

Potsdam, Germany

Frederick the Great of Prussia built the splendid rococo palace as his summer place, where he could live without a care, sans souci. Busts of Roman emperors, decorative statues, and a Chinese teahouse dot the lavish grounds.