In 2025, the École nationale supérieure de paysage (National Higher School of Landscape) of Versailles created the École supérieure de jardin (Higher School of Gardening): a unique school in France, dedicated to professionals in the art of gardening, aiming to collectively pass on and renew this living heritage.
Starting in September 2025, this school will offer a Master Gardener training program, unprecedented in the French educational landscape, of which the Etrillard Foundation is a patron.
ENS Paysage has noted that there is currently a shortage of qualified gardeners to maintain large heritage parks, particularly at an intermediate “Master Gardener” level.
This profession is not prepared for by specific academic training after the BTS (Advanced Technician’s Certificate), forcing professionals to learn on the job.
To address this gap and current ecological challenges, ENS Paysage is creating the École supérieure de jardin dedicated to training these expert profiles, whether they are students in the landscaping field or already active gardeners, through theoretical courses, practical workshops, and internships.
The Etrillard Foundation is associating itself with the revival of a profession, that of the Master Gardener, by funding a component of the educational program of this training supported by the École supérieure de jardin.
The Foundation has thus funded the organization of the inaugural trip of the first cohort of Master Gardeners, following in the footsteps of garden designer, teacher, and writer Gilles Clément, in the Creuse region in September 2025.
This five-day stay for 15 students included a masterclass with Gilles Clément, practical gardening workshops in his garden, meetings with other renowned park owners, and the creation by each student of a “Roadbook” combining drawings and notes. The goal of this trip, like the training as a whole, is to draw inspiration from the intentions and achievements of the ancients and contemporaries, through an approach that is both sensitive and technical.