Climate Change Is Devastating the Lush Gardens of Versailles

The manicured estate of the Versailles Palace was designed for an absolute monarch and withstood the French revolution. But now climate change is threatening its survival.

Hornbeam trees overlooking the estate’s Grand Canal died this summer, and in Marie Antoinette’s Trianon gardens, the beeches are withering. The worrying thing is that these weren’t only varieties from the era of Louis the XIV, but also new plantings meant to withstand the effects of global warming.

“It’s heart breaking,” said Alain Baraton, Versailles’s chief gardener, pointing to shriveled hornbeams and the parched leaves of once-luscious chestnut trees. “I’m forced to dump history and ...