| Summary: | In 2014 the historic and fully independent urban allotment gardens of Petits-Bois in Versailles, in their pure and traditional form, were given a French label for ‘Remarkable Gardens’, awarded by the Ministry of Culture. Unfortunately, this official recognition in itself does not necessarily guarantee their future if the question of the gardens’ management is not properly addressed. This is all too often the case when it comes to dealing with the preservation of an institution of this type. In a first part of this article, we shall give the historian’s point of view, recounting the history of allotment gardens in Versailles and its neighbouring municipalities between 1901 and 2017. We try to evaluate the way in which these gardens functioned from the point of view of those running them, such as philanthropists, elected municipal officials or the gardeners themselves. In a second part of the article, we shall examine the point of view of an administrator today. The ‘Remarkable Garden’ label awarded to the Paul Philippe site in Petits-Bois gave the allotment administrators a whole new set of problems: the problem of opening up the garden to outside visitors, of reviewing longstanding practices and calling them into question, of understanding the differences between urban and rural allotment gardens. For today’s volunteers—the gardeners themselves—it is sometimes difficult to master the complexities of these management problems. The development and survival of allotment gardens is intimately linked with this question of their management, as the history and current situation of the Versailles association shows. Preserving allotment gardens by giving them labels or statutory protection as historic monuments is not adequate. Appropriate ways of helping the garden’s managers, operating under the terms of the French law of 1901 on non-profit associations, will also have to be found.
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