June in Paris: Literary Garden Walks with Floral Charm

June is a month that resides on its own planet : not Spring anymore, but not quite Summer yet, announcing the prospect of holidays without any immediate respite from the busy days at work. You can tell I’m not convinced by the concept, nevertheless it is the beginning of June, and I am determined to find pleasure and comfort, so my Inspiration Newsletter for this month has been the perfect brain-stormer. 

You may already know that I send out two letters each month—actual letters, written to the friends of The Ritual of Reading—where I share bookish thoughts and lifestyle snippets from my life. These newsletters, one at the beginning of the month with inspiration for what’s ahead, and one at the end with gratitude for what has passed, are my personal rituals for clarity. Setting out your intentions, be they for your life, your current decade, your New Year’s resolutions or simply for the day ahead as you open your eyes in the morning, is one of the surest ways to invite our dreams into reality.

So as I sat thinking about what inspires me at the beginning of June, I put aside all the mixed-feelings I might have had, and the answer came easily: the flowers.

As you may know, I’m a repented horticulturist, and I devote nearly every inch of my fourth-floor balcony to growing cut flowers for floral arrangements. But for all the blooms I can’t grow in my little suspended garden, this is the perfect season to wander Paris’s parks and gardens—for inspiration, or simply as a kind of walking meditation through colour and scent. 

Here are five of my favourite green spaces in and around Paris—places I love to visit in any season, but that are particularly magical in June. Each is paired with a novel that echoes the spirit of the garden itself.

Haÿ-les-Roses rosarium – a walk with the Romantics

We begin on the outskirts of Paris, in the town of Haÿ-les-Roses, whose name gained its floral extension thanks to the historic rose garden—or rosarium—established here in 1892. The garden was the fruit of a collaboration between Jules Gravereaux, a wealthy executive of the Bon Marché department store, and landscape architect Edouard André, united by their shared love of the rose. One of the very first rosariums in the world, it is a garden devoted solely to the queen of flowers.
Its thirteen sections take you through the history of the rose, from the deliciously fragrant old garden varieties to hedgerow roses, modern cultivars, and elegant tea roses. This is a place suspended in time. With over 3,000 varieties blooming along arched walkways, beneath pergolas, and in quiet alcoves, every frame feels lifted from a dream.

Book Companion

Parc Floral de Paris – Botanical Daydreams and Travel Journals

Nestled within the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern edge of Paris, the Parc Floral feels like a hidden botanical treasure waiting to be discovered. Created in 1969 for an international flower show, this vast park is a celebration of plant life in all its structured beauty and wild eccentricity. There are themed gardens for irises, dahlias, bonsais, and peonies; wide open lawns for lounging in the dappled shade; and shaded pathways that feel like secret corridors between worlds. You can even cross paths with a peacock, there are a few that roam freely in the gardens.

In June, the park hums with a quiet vibrancy—azaleas and rhododendrons visited by bees, dragonflies tracing circles over shallow water, and children darting between flower beds as if in a fairy-tale maze. It’s a place to wander without agenda, a living encyclopaedia of the world’s flora and a gentle reminder of how global and local nature can be, all at once.

Book Companion

Jardin des Plantes – A Dose of Wit in the Medicinal Garden

In the heart of the Left Bank, the Jardin des Plantes unfolds like a cabinet of curiosities under the open sky. Originally created in 1626 as a royal medicinal garden for Louis XIII, it later blossomed into France’s leading botanical garden. Today, it retains both its scientific purpose and its poetic charm—an unlikely but delightful alliance between the rational and the romantic.

Strolling through its symmetrical beds, shady alleys, and glasshouses of tropical wonders, one feels the pulse of the Enlightenment and of the great expeditions around the globe. There’s something deliciously theatrical about it all, as if the statues might break into monologue and the plants themselves could recite Latin. The medicinal plant section still whispers of its 17th-century origins, when botany was both a science and a form of alchemy. And behind the elegant facades of knowledge, you can almost hear the rustle of courtly drama and powdered wigs. You may remember my visit a few years back to the annual orchid exhibition held in the great glasshouse, it is a yearly meeting not to be missed.

Book Companion

Parc des Buttes-Chaumont – A Whimsical Pause with an English Lady

The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is Paris at its most theatrical. Built atop a former quarry in the 19th century, this wildly romantic park rises and dips with surprising drama—cliffs, grottoes, waterfalls, and a temple perched on a rocky island, accessible by a suspension bridge that still sways slightly underfoot. Designed during the Second Empire, it was meant to impress, to amuse, and above all, to transport.

Unlike the more manicured Parisian gardens, Buttes-Chaumont revels in its artificial wildness. It’s the kind of place where you might overhear three languages in five minutes, where a picnic might turn into a philosophy debate or a theatre rehearsal, and where pigeons appear to have particularly strong opinions. It has the air of a garden that doesn’t take itself too seriously—and that is precisely what makes it a perfect match for a dry English wit.

Book Companion

Albert Kahn Garden – Where Time Slows and Borders Blur

Tucked away in the western edge of Paris, the Albert Kahn gardens feel like a whispered secret. This extraordinary site, once the private estate of philanthropist and banker Albert Kahn, is home to a remarkable collection of landscaped gardens from around the world—an English rose garden, a French formal parterre, and most memorably, a Japanese garden complete with carp ponds, stone lanterns, and a teahouse. Each section flows seamlessly into the next, creating a quiet dialogue between cultures, seasons, and sensibilities.

There’s a gentle hush here, as if time itself moves more slowly among the maples and stepping stones. It’s a space designed for contemplation—a place where the beauty of the world’s gardens comes together not in competition, but in harmony. In June, when the greenery is rich and layered, and the light filters gently through bamboo leaves, the garden becomes a meditation on connection. My fondness for this garden makes me mention it again after my Japanese series of 2022, so I invite you to discover or rediscover the YouTube video I made there.

Book Companion

Petals, Pages, and the Pulse of a City

Wandering through these gardens in June is more than a seasonal pleasure—it’s a form of meditation. Among blooming rose arches, trickling fountains, and shaded benches, time softens, thoughts settle, and the mind opens like a flower to colour, scent, and story. Paris, with all its elegance and poise, offers countless such sanctuaries where nature and literature meet in quiet conversation.

But beyond the poetry of petals and prose, what strikes me most on these garden walks is the city’s heartbeat—a rhythm shaped by centuries of cultural exchange. From the romantic nostalgia of George Sand to the thoughtful minimalism of contemporary Japanese fiction, from English irony to French satire, each book companion reflects a thread in the vibrant tapestry of Parisian life. These gardens, too, are echoes of the world: shaped by foreign seeds, distant philosophies, and shared beauty.

So this June, let us walk slowly. Let us read generously. Let us honour the gardens of Paris not just as beautiful spaces, but as living testaments to what the city has always been at heart—a place where the world gathers, blossoms, and grows.

Until next time, enjoy your reading and your rituals !

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