Among gardeners, it’s the equivalent of an Oscar, or, this being France, a César, that is, being recognized by the French Ministry of Culture for having grown and nurtured a natural locale sufficiently spectacular to earn the Jardin Remarquable designation. Despite its small size, this 2.5-acre “remarkable garden,” known as Les Jardins de Roquelin, won the hearts—and the noses—of the cultural committee members who determined that the verdant expanse would join the elite of France’s most striking, and often historic, gardens.
As its creator, Stéphane Chassine explains, “It’s not size,
