This week-end is “Open Gardens Day” throughout France. More about the event here: http://rendezvousauxjardins.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/ A number of carefully selected public and private gardens are open to the public.
On Sunday, June 5th, we went to visit an incredible private garden opened to all for the day. The garden is located a few kilometres from Combourg, the birthplace of Romanticism, in the heart of Brittany, France.
Like all gardens, large or small, this garden needs several visits at different times of the year in order to view the various stages of plants and flowering. Thanks to the rather cold weather we’ve been having for the season, it was still possible to see late-flowering rhododendrons. Of course, the ferns and hostas displayed their varied foliages in the wooded part of the garden. And numerous clematis and roses were in flower or just starting. Most of the roses were quite fragrant. Although the thoroughly sign-posted route through the gardens was kind of labyrinthine, one never felt oppressed during the visit, thanks to the extended dimensions of the site. In the higher part, the visitor walks out of the woodland to access a succession of small gardens laid-out “à l’anglaise”, as we say in France. The passage from one garden to the next often consists of a pergola or arch covered with lovely clematis and roses. The many lawns are impeccable.
Although their cry is horrendous, the coloured and white peacocks that live in the garden are easily forgiven for the sake of their splendid plumage!
As mentioned above, not only the lawns but the underwood and the mixed borders are impeccable. And the visitor is genuinely surprised to learn, at the end of the visit, that all this is the work of one and only one gardener! The owner-gardener is a true lover of plants and gardening, and remains quite modest. A highly recommended visit.