From Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie to MyUM at the Palace of Versailles.

🌿 400 Years of Heritage at the King's Kitchen Garden

This March 2026, a special anniversary invites us to look at the gardens of Versailles in a new light. Four hundred years ago, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, the founding figure of the famous King's Kitchen Garden, was born. A lawyer by training, he discovered an unexpected passion for gardens during a trip to Italy, a passion that would never leave him.

This turning point marked a life dedicated to observing living things, to experimentation, and to sharing knowledge. For the garden, far from being a mere backdrop, became under his gaze a place of rigor, patience, and expertise.

🍐 A Shared Passion for Living Things

At MyUM, this passion for fruits and vegetables resonates naturally. Behind each creation lies meticulous work, made of repeated gestures, learning, and attention to detail. As in a garden, nothing is left to chance: it takes time, experience, and a constant desire to improve what already exists.

Creating an object inspired by plants means extending this story. It means transforming a natural form into an everyday companion, while preserving its poetry and simplicity.

🌳 The King's Kitchen Garden, a Visionary Work

At the heart of the King's Kitchen Garden, La Quintinie's statue still watches over his work. Appointed in 1670 by Louis XIV as director of fruit and vegetable gardens for all royal estates, he took on an immense challenge: transforming a marshy plot into a productive and harmonious space.

He then conceived a unique organization, composed of some thirty distinct gardens where fruit and vegetable crops coexisted with elegance. In the center, a basin structured the space, bringing balance and perspective to this living ensemble.

But beyond the layout, it is a true philosophy of the garden that is expressed. In his writings, notably his Instructions pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers (Instructions for Fruit and Vegetable Gardens), La Quintinie reminds us how much gardening is both a source of pleasure and a demanding activity. He writes:

"Gardening […] certainly brings much pleasure […] but […] if it is in the hands of an unskillful or lazy gardener, [it] risks great inconveniences."

A thought that is still relevant today, highlighting the importance of the right gesture and commitment.

🌱 A Living Garden, Focused on the Future

Even today, the King's Kitchen Garden continues this quest for excellence. Faced with climate challenges, adaptation work is being carried out to preserve and develop the fruit collections in keeping with La Quintinie's legacy.

The garden now houses over 450 fruit varieties and 400 vegetable varieties, both ancient and contemporary. An exceptional richness that testifies to the vitality of this place, both historical and resolutely focused on the future.

🧶 From Garden to Object, a Natural Continuity

In this dialogue between tradition and creation, objects naturally find their place. For a year now, the Château de Versailles shop has been welcoming MyUM toys and plushies, as a sensitive extension of this plant universe.

Among them, the pear crochet music box, made from 100% organic cotton, embodies this encounter between nature and craftsmanship. It gently translates what the garden expresses with force: the link between time, material, and attention to every detail.

This presence is also a mark of trust, a bridge between heritage and contemporary creation, between the gardener's gesture and that of the artisan.