Slope, view and neighbours
On the hills of Cannes, a garden is drawn in section before it is drawn in plan. Each terrace has its wall height, its access, its outlet for storm water, which arrives within hours after an almost rainless summer.
The view of the sea and the Lérins islands is why you bought. We frame it rather than clear everything: a pine kept, a low hedge, an opening placed where you sit.
The neighbours, though, are often above. In Le Cannet, overlooking apartment blocks, a street and rooftops in line with the pool: we dealt with each one tree by tree, from the real viewpoints of the house, rather than with a continuous hedge that would have closed the garden.
The view of the sea and the Lérins islands is why you bought. We frame it rather than clear everything: a pine kept, a low hedge, an opening placed where you sit.
The neighbours, though, are often above. In Le Cannet, overlooking apartment blocks, a street and rooftops in line with the pool: we dealt with each one tree by tree, from the real viewpoints of the house, rather than with a continuous hedge that would have closed the garden.
What we do in Cannes
Visit before purchase, site survey, design, contractor tendering and site supervision through to the gardeners' first seasons. We work with the Riviera contractors our projects have taught us to trust, including Les Bâtisseurs du Paysage, in Antibes, who built both our Cannes gardens. The full process is on our Design page (in French).
Many villas on the hills are lived in only a few months a year, by families based in London, Geneva or further afield. The works are then planned around your stays; your caretaker or estate manager becomes our relay on site, and after each visit you receive an illustrated report, in French or in English. Nothing of your garden is photographed or published without your written consent.
Many villas on the hills are lived in only a few months a year, by families based in London, Geneva or further afield. The works are then planned around your stays; your caretaker or estate manager becomes our relay on site, and after each visit you receive an illustrated report, in French or in English. Nothing of your garden is photographed or published without your written consent.
Our projects in Cannes and Le Cannet
(articles in French)
Exotic garden in the hills of Cannes: about 800 m² reworked as an oasis, hardy palms and a Corten steel rill between two troughs, completed in 2023.
Pool garden in Le Cannet: 550 m², overlooking screened one view at a time with Ficus, Eugenia and a camphor tree, completed in 2023.
Technical notes for the Riviera
Terraced garden above Nice: a sloping plot with no lawn.
Calade and flat stone: the stone floors of Riviera gardens.
Concrete pool and fountain work: water in the garden, in a closed circuit.
Piante Faro, Sicily: rare palms and subtropical plants for an oasis like the one in the hills of Cannes.
We also work at Cap d'Antibes, at Cap Ferrat and in Mougins.
Exotic garden in the hills of Cannes: about 800 m² reworked as an oasis, hardy palms and a Corten steel rill between two troughs, completed in 2023.
Pool garden in Le Cannet: 550 m², overlooking screened one view at a time with Ficus, Eugenia and a camphor tree, completed in 2023.
Technical notes for the Riviera
Terraced garden above Nice: a sloping plot with no lawn.
Calade and flat stone: the stone floors of Riviera gardens.
Concrete pool and fountain work: water in the garden, in a closed circuit.
Piante Faro, Sicily: rare palms and subtropical plants for an oasis like the one in the hills of Cannes.
We also work at Cap d'Antibes, at Cap Ferrat and in Mougins.
Hills built for winter. Cannes owes its villas to the winter season: Lord Brougham settled here in 1834, and English, then Russian, families built on the heights. Many gardens in La Californie and La Croix-des-Gardes keep from that time their palms, pines, retaining walls and stairways. Before drawing, we record what deserves to stay.
Two hills, two soils. The BRGM lithological map places the hill of La Croix-des-Gardes on sands, and La Californie and Super-Cannes on limestone and marl. Mimosa and acid-soil plants thrive to the west and struggle to the east. A map at one to a million is not enough for a single plot: we have the soil analysed before setting the palette.
A mild winter, but not frost-free. The nearest Open-Meteo grid cell, on the heights, records about 5 to 7 frost days a year (1991-2020). That is little, but enough for a tender palm planted in a north-facing hollow to lose its fronds. An exotic garden is built first with hardy species.
Fire and slope. Géorisques lists forest fire, landslide and run-off risk in Cannes, and records rockfalls in the commune. On a wooded hill, the palette is also a firebreak: legal brush-clearance obligations, low-flammability species near the house, no dead wood under the pines. Terrace walls are checked before a large tree goes in.
Two hills, two soils. The BRGM lithological map places the hill of La Croix-des-Gardes on sands, and La Californie and Super-Cannes on limestone and marl. Mimosa and acid-soil plants thrive to the west and struggle to the east. A map at one to a million is not enough for a single plot: we have the soil analysed before setting the palette.
A mild winter, but not frost-free. The nearest Open-Meteo grid cell, on the heights, records about 5 to 7 frost days a year (1991-2020). That is little, but enough for a tender palm planted in a north-facing hollow to lose its fronds. An exotic garden is built first with hardy species.
Fire and slope. Géorisques lists forest fire, landslide and run-off risk in Cannes, and records rockfalls in the commune. On a wooded hill, the palette is also a firebreak: legal brush-clearance obligations, low-flammability species near the house, no dead wood under the pines. Terrace walls are checked before a large tree goes in.
The hills, soils and climate we know
A French state-qualified landscape designer (DPLG), Stanislas Jung designs villa gardens on the hills of Cannes with HORUS Paysages: La Californie and Super-Cannes to the east, La Croix-des-Gardes to the west, and Le Cannet above. These are often sloping plots open to the bay and the Lérins islands, where the garden must both frame a view and erase neighbours who are too close.
Two gardens completed in 2023, an oasis in the hills of Cannes and a pool garden in Le Cannet, taught us this area, its contractors and its nurseries. The studio is based in Feucherolles, west of Paris; Stanislas Jung comes to Cannes for every visit and every site meeting.
In Cannes, you buy a view. The garden decides how much of it you keep.
HORUS Paysages in Cannes and Le Cannet
Frequently asked questions
Which areas of Cannes do you cover?
All the hills of Cannes: mainly La Californie, Super-Cannes and La Croix-des-Gardes, but also the Croisette, Le Cannet, Mougins and Mandelieu. Based in Feucherolles, west of Paris, HORUS Paysages works across France and abroad. On the Riviera, Stanislas Jung travels for every visit, with local contractors proven on our projects.
How do you design a garden on a steep slope in Cannes?
By drawing it in section first: height and condition of walls, machine access, path of storm water. We keep old terraces and walls when they hold, have the others checked by an engineer, then plant species that hold the soil and withstand the dry summer.
Can we keep the sea view and still screen the neighbours?
Yes, provided each overlooking point is treated on its own, from the rooms and terraces where you live. A well-placed tree hides a neighbour's balcony without closing the view of Lérins. That is what we did in Le Cannet, with Ficus, Eugenia and a camphor tree rather than a continuous hedge.
Which plants do well on the hills of Cannes?
Those that take an almost rainless summer and a few frosty nights: hardy palms such as Trachycarpus and Chamaerops, olives, mastic trees, pittosporums, agaves. On the sandy soils of La Croix-des-Gardes, mimosa and acid-soil plants find their place; on the limestone of La Californie, we avoid them.
Can you run the project discreetly while we are away?
Yes, it is the most common case on the hills of Cannes. We plan the works around your stays, work with your caretaker or estate manager on site and send you an illustrated report after each visit, in French or in English. No photo and no name is published without your written consent.
Landscape architect or landscape designer: what is the difference in France?
"Landscape architect" is the usual term in English. In France, the protected title is paysagiste concepteur, reserved since 2016 to graduates recognised by the State, including DPLG landscape designers such as Stanislas Jung, founder of HORUS Paysages.
A villa on the hills of Cannes? Let's talk on site.
+33 6 80 22 48 10
All the hills of Cannes: mainly La Californie, Super-Cannes and La Croix-des-Gardes, but also the Croisette, Le Cannet, Mougins and Mandelieu. Based in Feucherolles, west of Paris, HORUS Paysages works across France and abroad. On the Riviera, Stanislas Jung travels for every visit, with local contractors proven on our projects.
How do you design a garden on a steep slope in Cannes?
By drawing it in section first: height and condition of walls, machine access, path of storm water. We keep old terraces and walls when they hold, have the others checked by an engineer, then plant species that hold the soil and withstand the dry summer.
Can we keep the sea view and still screen the neighbours?
Yes, provided each overlooking point is treated on its own, from the rooms and terraces where you live. A well-placed tree hides a neighbour's balcony without closing the view of Lérins. That is what we did in Le Cannet, with Ficus, Eugenia and a camphor tree rather than a continuous hedge.
Which plants do well on the hills of Cannes?
Those that take an almost rainless summer and a few frosty nights: hardy palms such as Trachycarpus and Chamaerops, olives, mastic trees, pittosporums, agaves. On the sandy soils of La Croix-des-Gardes, mimosa and acid-soil plants find their place; on the limestone of La Californie, we avoid them.
Can you run the project discreetly while we are away?
Yes, it is the most common case on the hills of Cannes. We plan the works around your stays, work with your caretaker or estate manager on site and send you an illustrated report after each visit, in French or in English. No photo and no name is published without your written consent.
Landscape architect or landscape designer: what is the difference in France?
"Landscape architect" is the usual term in English. In France, the protected title is paysagiste concepteur, reserved since 2016 to graduates recognised by the State, including DPLG landscape designers such as Stanislas Jung, founder of HORUS Paysages.
A villa on the hills of Cannes? Let's talk on site.
+33 6 80 22 48 10
