This landscaped park, visited by Voltaire, the friend of Lord Bolingbroke, wanted to celebrate the third millenary with planting oaks, hornbeams on 2,5 hectares and 200.000 bulbes in 2000.  Its renovation has been started since 1995, and is overseen by the Loiret departement and the city of Orleans.

While French gardens try to control plants by imposing geometric structures on their layout, the La Source park is more esthetic and ecological, allowing visitors to discover certain aspects of nature to learn to better respect it.

Discover the park's website http://www.parcfloraldelasource.com

The park's 35 hectares can be visited and appreciated on foot or in a little train:

- its large compositions containing a selection of evergreens, the rose garden, the vegetable garden and the dahlia garden,

- the mysterious source of the Loiret river, tributary of the Loire, with its elegant Large Sailboat and innovative architecture.

- the banks of the pool, planted with local grasses, where the water from the source bubbles out.

- the "iris composition" (flowers from mid-May to early June) listed as a "National Collection", where 700 varieties of iris present a many-colored landscape, from light blue to rich purple, from pearly yellow to sunny orange, but just for a few weeks each year.

- the Butterfly House with its transparent roof and opaque walls, where you can see the most spectacular types of butterflies from South America, Asia and the Carribean.

- the Large Sailboat, a simple metallic net, totally transparent, where you can see multi-colored macaws, parrots, Kenyan eagles...

La Source through the year:
April: the reawakening of nature; bulbs, tulips and biennial plants.
May: azaleas and rhododendrons in the underwood, the iris composition starts blooming.
June: the underwood is still bright with azaleas and rhododendrons, roses start blooming.
July: the rose gardens smell lovely, bedding plants brighten up the paths.
August: bedding plants are at their peak and bedding roses flower.
September: the last roses stand side by side with dahlias, the autumn flowers.
October: chrysanthemums give off the final rays of color until November.