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Arboretums en région Centre-Val de Loire : entre expérimentation et paysage by Michèle QUENTIN – Château de Bénouville
Arboretums in the Centre-Val de Loire region: from experimentation to landscape
We can talk of arboretums from a number of different viewpoints: the botanist’s, the biologist’s, the ecologist’s… the historian’s, the painter’s, the philosopher’s or the dreamer’s. From the etymology of the word itself to the diversity of its contemporary concepts, the Centre-Val de Loire region aims, via several examples, at offering an overview of these ‘nurseries’, specially devoted to experimental tree and shrub growing for a range of different species.
Garden history evolves with time… In the present-day context, what issues do arboretums currently face?
Michèle Quentin
Michèle Quentin has acted as a delegate for the Association des Parcs et Jardins (Park and Garden Association) in the Centre-Val de Loire region. The association’s vocation is to defend, protect, improve, valorise and bring cultural animation to historic, botanical and landscaped parks and gardens in the Centre-Val de Loire region. Within this context, and in constant collaboration with public and private park and garden owners or managers, it also provides training by expert teams.
As a garden historian, and an ENSP (National School of Landscape Architecture, Versailles) graduate (Master’s degree in ‘Historic gardens, heritage and landscape’), she coordinates missions to increase awareness and knowledge, and to improve heritage management among the APJRC’s members and among horticulture students.
Administrator of the APBF (Association of French Botanical Parks), she also contributes towards enhancing France’s plant heritage in parks and arboretums.