Conservatoire de la Pivoine (Château de Sourches)

In the moat of the Château de Sourches, in Saint-Symphorien, Bénédicte de Foucaud takes care of some 1500 peonies from all over the world, carefully listed. It is a visit between history and passion, a journey between stone and flower. The peony conservatory, which opened in 2015, gathers 1500 peonies including more than 1400 listed varieties. A conservatory, unique in the world. This is a little marvel, the fruit of Bénédicte de Foucaud's passion for this flower, originally from China. The initiator of this conservatory is swarming with projects and wants to go even further. "It would seem that around 5,000 cultivars of herbaceous peonies and around 600 varieties of shrubs have been registered worldwide. This is our goal. The aim of the Peony Conservatory is the conservation and research of ancient and modern species and varieties.