Beautiful Garden on French Soil

Starting a garden on French soil may mean turning over a new leaf in more ways than one, explains landscape gardener Lynda Harris. Beautiful Garden on French Soil

Homeowners restricted to a small garden in Britain can often afford a house with a big garden in France, maybe even one running to several acres. The relative affordability of land gives people the chance to stretch out, with plenty of space for flowers, an orchard, a potager garden, perhaps even a swimming pool with beautiful views over the surrounding countryside. Gardening in France, however, can be very different to gardening in the UK. The mild British climate has allowed us to impress the world with our abundant mixed borders packed with shrubs, roses and perennials. Our mild wet winters and cool damp summers allow us to grow a wide variety of plants, collected throughout the world. Many people buy property in France to escape those very cool wet conditions so we shouldn’t be surprised if gardening in France throws up new challenges. The trick is to turn those challenges into opportunities and to match the style and layout of your garden to the local climate and landscape to maximise the chances of it thriving and having a sense of place. Be realistic too, about how much time you have to spend gardening, especially if you are not a year-round resident.

Perfect plants

If possible buy your plants at local nurseries that grow their own plants. Plants bought locally are likely to be good varieties for your soil and climate. In our globalised world, so many plants are imported from Holland or Italy and beautiful plants bought from a garden centre can sulk or even die when transplanted. If you do buy plants from a reseller or bring them over from the UK (this is still legal... until Brexit) cherish them at first to allow them time to acclimatise and make sure they are sheltered from strong sun and wind and regularly watered for the first year. For inspiration look at the plants that grow well in nearby gardens and the local landscape. Looking to the local area can also reduce your maintenance as wild plants and their near relations survive with no mollycoddling from automatic watering, weeding or fertilising. Other local gardeners will be a great source of information on climate, soil and plants; plus they usually love to talk about gardening. Associations such as Open Gardens or Jardins Ouverts (opengardens.eu) may have gardens in your area that you can visit for inspiration and information.

Craft and character

Some of the most charming houses in France are those built in local materials and in traditional architectural styles, such as the stone mas farmhouse in Provence and the half-timbered Normandy longère. Stone in particular can define a region: granite and slate in Brittany, limestone in the Loire Valley, basalt in the Massif Central. The local materials seen in old buildings and in your local landscape can also be used in your garden for walls, steps, and paving and will tie the look of the house to the environment. Some areas of France are known for their ceramic pots, previously used for storing oil or wine and now ideal for creating a beautiful focal point in the garden with a nod to local agriculture. Antique pots from Anduze and oil jars from the Mediterranean are famous, and reproductions are easy to find. Many traditional crafts such as dry stone walling and the making of pots, tiles and bricks are struggling in rural France and your support may help stop these skills dying out. Local suppliers are easy to find on the internet and often will deliver. If you have an extensive old property and garden to restore, you might be interested in the Salon de Patrimoine at the Louvre in Paris which showcases the work of artisans in traditional materials.

Fauna friends and foe

Gardening in France is a wonderful opportunity to see fauna that are rare or non-existent in the UK. Everyone loves to spot a hoopoe or a red squirrel in their garden or see migrating storks flying overhead. Other animals that you might be more nervous to see in your garden include wild boar, ragondin (coypu) and snakes. In problem areas, if ragondin, boar, badgers or rabbits eat your plants or burrow, you might want to put up a protective fence and screen it with a hedge. Insect pests, less well-known to British gardeners in France, can be dangerous not only for plants but also for humans. Processionary caterpillars, with their irritating hairs, can be dangerous for children and dogs; ticks, spiders and hornets can all be a problem for gardeners. Be especially careful when clearing scrubby areas or long grass. Box caterpillars (la pyrale du buis) are decimating topiary throughout France and I personally no longer use box in the gardens I design. Two kinds of moth caterpillar are killing the iconic palm trees along the Mediterranean coast.

Jungle taming

A big consideration for gardeners in France is the time available for maintaining your garden. Whether you are living in France permanently, are a summer visitor or are limited to several weekends every year, your garden design needs to reflect the time you can dedicate to gardening and maintenance. It is usually easy to find a local gardener for basic tasks such as mowing lawns, clipping hedges, chopping wood and raking up leaves. However, it is very difficult to find a gardener who can weed without pulling up precious plants or who can properly prune a rose. Plan your garden around the number of gardening sessions you can realistically do. Four sessions a year would probably be the minimum if you delegate the boring stuff to a gardener. Count on a session in late winter for pruning roses and vines, cutting back perennial plants and grasses. In spring after the last frost, do a thorough weed, prune evergreens and divide and plant perennials. In May, a Chelsea-chop (cutting back of perennials) followed by general dead-heading will prolong flowering for the summer. Plan a final session in autumn to cut down rotting stems of perennial plants, though leave those with dry or architectural stems to provide winter interest and protection from frost. Autumn is also the time to plant spring bulbs. It would be best to forget about annual vegetables if you are not there all year round, though fruit trees, soft-fruits, vines and perennials such as rhubarb and artichokes may survive a bit of neglect. Plants that need to be staked are best avoided if you are not there in spring as are self-sowing plants, unless you are cultivating a wild look. If you have an automatic watering system for the garden or for pots, check the batteries if you are away over summer. Overall, be realistic about how much you can do. If the gardening becomes a chore like the housework, it will be neglected. Your garden in France is above all to be enjoyed, not only when you are gardening, but when you are enjoying an alfresco lunch or apéritif, surveying the results of your labours from the terrace.

sources: French Porperty News, June 2018