Stéphane Marie: “I like reading landscapes”

You publish My Paris of the most beautiful gardens. How did this book come about?

It was born from a desire: to bring up to date the garden guides that were once popular. It is much more pleasant to leaf through a beautiful illustrated guide than to surf the Web to find a park to visit.

Why did you focus on Parisian spaces?

Buttes-Chaumont, Montsouris, Les Tuileries… the density of parks is phenomenal in the capital, but ultimately little is known about these very popular places. My book invites us to become aware of it in order to take a walk there with a different perspective.

Other news: 25 years of Silence it grows ! What does this show reveal about you?

My consistency! To obtain the expected result, a good gardener works over time, otherwise the plants do not have time to grow… Like a beautiful plant, the show developed little by little, capturing the spirit of the times . She has thus attracted aficionado spectators, whom I have the pleasure of meeting during my travels.

Which tree would you like to reincarnate into?

A beech, because it needs a humid climate to flourish, like the Norman that I am! With global warming, it would perhaps be best to plant myself further north… towards Norway?

The Proust madeleine from your childhood?

At Christmas, I loved decorating the galantines that my father, a butcher and charcutier, prepared with a brush.

A gene you’re happy to have inherited?

My mother’s ability to read a landscape, very valuable in my profession. In the car, she could describe the panorama passing before her eyes in the smallest details: the vegetation, the crops in the fields, the reliefs…

A solidarity initiative that touched you?

The Necker-Enfants Malades hospital invited me to come and tell the young patients about my journey. A great opportunity to tell them that nothing is written in advance in life.

Pope Francis grants you an audience. What question is burning on your lips?

How do you manage to embody so much gentleness, while carrying so much pressure on your shoulders? And I will also take the opportunity to apply as a gardener in his residence in Castel Gandolfo (laughs) !