Jardin Majorelle

The Jardin Majorelle, or Majorelle Garden, is located in Marrakech’s stylish Gueliz neighborhood. It’s as different as can be from the Secret Garden, with so many visitors lined up to buy tickets that we almost decided to turn around and leave. we decided to brave it out.

I’m glad we did. While the inside wasn’t an oasis of peace by any means (thanks to the overwhelming crowds), it offers moments of striking beauty and handles the water question in a whole different way than Le Jardin Secret.

Instead of offering a bounty of green lushness that almost flaunts its own use of water, the Jardin Majorelle features hundreds of species of drought-tolerant plants in a visibly low-water landscaping style. Cacti, succulents, and towering palm trees ensure that you can’t help but notice you’re in a dry garden, not one bursting with unnecessary water use.

Punctuating this near-aridness are several stunning pools of water, full of fish, turtles, and frogs. Instead of blending into the scene, they stand out in a defiant celebration of contrasts that makes them even more inviting while emphasizing the dryness of the surrounding gardens.

The predominant colors of the architecture and decor (such as the pots for the occasional potted plant) are a vibrant blue and an almost painfully bright yellow. It goes back to those contrasts again -- the pure blue we associate with water and the yellow of sunlight, of the desert, of sand, of dryness.

In a way, these contrasts apply to the experience, too; the gardens hint at peace, quiet, and solitude, while being so full of visitors that you can only notice the absence of those coveted things.

Where the Secret Garden allows you to bask in an oasis of peace and the lushness created by an abundance of water, the Jardin Majorelle asks you to take a step back and notice their scarcity.