Jean-Paul Pigeat, director of the International Conservatory of Parks and Gardens in Chaumont-sur-Loire, France, notes in the preface to The French Country Garden that in provincial France the traditional, sedate country-style gardens have given way to more modern conceptions and technical innovation; that there has been a return to gardening that is ?EUR??,,????'?????<

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Author Louisa Jones, who has lived in France for three decades describes gardening as a national passion. The home gardens tucked away in remote provinces are the subject of this book. The gardens reflect the diversity that is France. Jean Cabanel, director of the Mission du Paysage for 10 years, estimates that France has some 600 distinct physical and cultural landscapes.

Louisa Jones is also the author of Gardens of Provence and Kitchen Gardens of France. Photographers Joelle Caroline Mayer and Gilles Le Scanff are internationally respected garden photographers.