France’s Palace of Versailles was designed to make jaws drop. It wasn’t just its colossal size, tons of marble, and painted frescoes that stunned 17th-century visitors (and continue to impress eight million annual visitors today). The gardens were also a symbol of Louis XIV’s power, showing off the ordered wizardry and wonder that made designer André Le Nôtre’s jardin à la française, or French formal garden, widely copied in Europe. But fewer than 700 feet from the palace, the discreet Queen’s Grove stood in complete contrast with Le Nôtre’s geometric precision. Here, Marie-Antoinette enlisted the finest botanists, architects, and horticulturists to create a secret refuge from the prying eyes and rigid rules…