Garden of Returns

In the 80s, the city of Rochefort renovated the Royal Rope-Making Factory. Indeed, Bernard Lassus, architect and lanscape gardener, fitted the surrounding areas out and built the Garden of Returns which hinges on 3 themes :
- The Garden of the Americas
- The Garden of La Galissonière
- The Navy Garden

A “thousand-leaf” landscapes unfold from the Charente towards the city: This vegetal stratification reminds the glorious martime past of Rochefort.
Firstly, the banks of the river retain the natural appearance of the local flora ; phragmites, reeds and other river plants. Then, the garden opens up loopholes, in the continuous vegetation curtain along the river.
In this linear garden, unique places punctuate the Garden of the Americas. The labyrinth of naval battles made up of yews carved in the shape of a wave, transforms the sea into a “vegetable wave.” In the rigging area, the one-half-scale masts can be read as effigies.

Bernard Lassus designed a new landscape in the background of the Royal Rope-Making Factory : This is the Garden of la Galissonnière, a garden composed of exotic plants which includes tulip trees from Virginia, chamaerops humilis, magnolias (the first seeds of magnolias were imported by Jean de la Galissonnière from his journey in the United States in 1711)

And beyond, the Navy Garden, the closest one to the city which opens onto the Charente above the Rope-Making Factory, was designed at the end of the 17th century and is outlined by geometrical lines and symetrical flowerbed.
However, the Garden of Returns is a contemporary and modern creation which revives the European tradition of themed gardens. The Site is one the "Great Cultural Projects in France".

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