The 13th Floralies Internationales to Take Place in Vendée for the First Time

16.05.2024 - 09:21 / breakingtravelnews.com

Vendée’s majestic Domaine de La Chabotterie will be the setting for the thirteenth Floralies Internationales Festival from 17-26 May 2024, an event held every five years that brings together the very best floral and plant creativity in a series of artistic presentations.

Not far from Nantes, just a few kilometres from La Roche-sur-Yon, the Domaine is a former Vendée War site and its buildings typical of 14th-century Poitevin architecture. Its enchanting grounds, orchards and wooded avenues provide the perfect setting for the 2024 festival’s ‘Jeux de Fleurs’ (‘Game of Flowers’) theme, a nod to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The ‘games’ will feature under five categories: water games, highlighting wetland and aquatic plants; childhood games, a carefree space of nostalgia with strong colours and scents; intellectual games, using puzzles and riddles among unusual species; garden games, playing with contrasts, illusions and perspectives; and physical games, encouraging the spirit of competition and self-transcendence with bold and graphic plants.

Over 200 exhibitors from all over France and the four corners of the world – landscape gardeners, designers, florists and stylists – will be showcasing their creativity and expertise. Companies and individuals engaging in the event project are considered partners. They are offered a free creative space of variable size by the Floralies Committee, in exchange for the realisation of an ornamental display.

The 200,000 expected visitors can look forward to strolling through a theatre of greenery, complete with water features and other surprises. There will be delicate new varieties of roses, landscape gardens from Nepal and elegant Italian craftsmanship. Visitors can also enjoy workshops to learn about flowers and nature, concerts and a wealth of games – all of which will transport them into a world of floral poetry.

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Each evening at 8.30pm and on 26 May at 6.30pm (with additional 4pm performances on 21, 22, 24 and 25 May), the brand new Lyriade Florale show will present musical compositions inspired by the beauty of plants and flowers. The show lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes.

For 2024, the Floralies have been officially approved by the AIPH (International Association for Horticultural Producers), guaranteeing the highest quality level for plant-related world shows. The Association has awarded the Floralies with the C Category Approval, which certifies ornamental events between four and 20 days’ duration, covering at least 6,000 square metres.

A brief history of the Floralies Internationales, first created in 1956
In the fifties and sixties, the first colourful flowerbeds were installed on the Champs de Mars in Nantes, aimed at showcasing the plant industry