Meetings & visits usually take place on the last Tuesday of the month
2019 Meetings & Visits
29 January – Meeting at Marie France’s house, Lorgues – subject of talk : Tips on how to successfully grow plant from seed by Saskia & Planting in drainpipes by Sue
to be updated below :
25 February – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : History of Lavender by Saskia & Cistus by Mavis
31 March – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : The history of gardens in Scotland by Françoise
29 April – Morning : Villa Val Rahmeh, Menton
Afternooon : Clos du Peyronnet, Menton (William Waterfield’s garden)
26 May – Morning : Villa Fort France, Grasse (created by Lady Fortescue & currently owned by painter Valerie de Courcel)
Afternooon : La Mouissone, Grasse (owned by Lady Lockett)
3 June – Morning : Domaine d’Orvès, La Valette (a Jardin Remarquable)
Afternooon : Domaine de Beaudouvin, La Valette
July & August – no meeting scheduled
September – Pot luck lunch at Rini’s house in Cotignac
October – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues
November – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues
December – no meeting scheduled
Winter house meetings and Summer garden visits – please confirm your attendance to Sue S – Gardening Group Co-ordinator to ensure parking, chair, bun & a cup of tea !
Below were visits in 2015 …
27 January – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : How I ended up owning the smallest English-run wine domaine in the Var by Lindsay Phillips
25 February – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : History of Lavender by Saskia & Cistus by Mavis
31 March – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : The history of gardens in Scotland by Françoise
29 April – Morning : Villa Val Rahmeh, Menton
Afternooon : Clos du Peyronnet, Menton (William Waterfield’s garden)
26 May – Morning : Villa Fort France, Grasse (created by Lady Fortescue & currently owned by painter Valerie de Courcel)
Afternooon : La Mouissone, Grasse (owned by Lady Lockett)
3 June – Morning : Domaine d’Orvès, La Valette (a Jardin Remarquable)
Afternooon : Domaine de Beaudouvin, La Valette
July & August – no meeting scheduled
September – Pot luck lunch at Rini’s house in Cotignac
October – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues
November – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues
December – no meeting scheduled
Winter house meetings and Summer garden visits – please confirm your attendance to Sue S – Gardening Group Co-ordinator to ensure parking, chair, bun & a cup of tea !
Below were visits in 2014 …
28 January – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : Plants that are Irritants, given by Mavis & Poisonous Plants by Saskia
25 February – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : The Naming of Plants by Saskia
25 March – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : Natural Remedies by Gabrielle
2 May – (April meeting) Morning : Le Jardin de l’Alchimiste, Éygalières
Afternooon : Mas des Confines, Saint Rémy de Provence (Dominique Lafourcade garden)
3 June – (May meeting) Morning : Les Arcades – Private garden in Cotignac that was featured in House & Garden, October 2013
Lunch at Rosaline’s house in Cotignac followed by guided tour of the village, organised through the Office de Tourisme
1 July – (June meeting) Morning : Château Val Joanis, Pertuis (return visit, last seen 2011)
Lunch in Lourmarin (market day)
Afternoon : Château Lourmarin, Lourmarin
30 September – Jardin la Pomme d’Ambre, Fréjus with owner Nicole Arboireau allowing us to have a picnic lunch
30 October – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues – subject of talk : Hemp & the disastrous Olive Harvest of 2014 by Gabrielle. A special presentation by Christiane of two sets of Provençal costume, the tradition and design.
25 November – Meeting at Maison du Midi, Lorgues
December – no meeting scheduled
Winter house meetings and Summer garden visits – please confirm your attendance to Sue S – Gardening Group Co-ordinator to ensure parking, chair, bun & a cup of tea !
Below were visits in 2013 …
29 January – Meeting at Gerda’s – Winter foraging by Saskia & Mavis with a potage & Greek omelette made with collected greens (Seasonal Foraging blog)
26 February – Meeting at Gerda’s
26 March – Visit to Pépinière Les Bancaous, Cabasse followed by lunch at Le Cabassois
30 April – Visit & meeting at Diana E-B’s house in Les Nouradons to see her irises
2–5 May – Visit to Amsterdam & the Keukenhof Gardens & tulip fields
21 May – Visit Joanna Millar’s garden at Domaine du Prieuré, Tourettes sur Loup followed by lunch
Afternoon : visit the Jardin des Fleurs de Poterie, Gattières
June – Visit in the morning to Musée & Jardins de Salagon, 04300 Mane (Haute Provence)
Lunch in Forcalquier
Afternoon : visit of Abbaye Notre Dame de Ganagobie – a working monastery with Benedictine monks. Very good shop with honey, soaps, balms etc produced by the monks. They have an online shop
July – no meeting scheduled
August – no meeting scheduled
September –
22 October – Afternoon visit of the jardin des sauges in Les Arcs, owned by Monsieur & Madame Patry, conducted by their son Guillaume, who is an élagueur / arboriste.
See the post on Salvias, written by Saskia.
Mushroom picking in the Var, accompanied by a woodsman was cancelled
26 November – Meeting at Brasserie Le Marine, Lorgues by-pass – D562 Boulevard Mistral (1st floor meeting room)
December – no meeting scheduled
Winter house meetings and Summer garden visits – please confirm your attendance to Sue S – Gardening Group Co-ordinator to ensure parking, chair, bun & a cup of tea !
Below were visits in 2012 …
24 January – Meeting at Gerda’s – Winter flowering shrubs by Saskia (see blog post) & Gerda’s new garden plan
28 February – Meeting at Sue’s – Plant Photosynthesis & Pruning tips by Saskia and a brief outline of gardening by the moon by Gabrielle
27 March – Meeting at Marie’s in Lorgues + visit to Sally P’s garden
24 April – Visit to Nicole Rengade’s La Campagne Sainte Marie, Tourrettes (83)
Entrance is €8 and the visit lasts approximately 3 hours with a home-made vin de citron or orange offered at the end. There is a pépininère linked to the garden, that specialises in olive trees but also has others including fruit trees as well as many shrubs & grasses.
Friday 25 May – Visit to the Journées des Plantes at Jardin d’Albertas, Bouc bel Air near Aix en Provence
Car sharing & picnic lunch for those who would like to join in
12 June – Visit to William Waterfield’s garden Clos du Peyronnet – a private garden owned by William Waterfield. The house was built in 1897, William Waterfield's grandparents bought the property in 1912 from a Mrs Troubridge. At that time is was just an olive grove, even now there are 13 olive trees more than 700 years old.
His grandparents died during the 2nd World War, the property went to his father and uncle, Humphrey Waterfield. It was his uncle Humphrey, who renovated the garden between 1950 and 1960. William Waterfield became the resident owner in 1976.
William Waterfield studied Botany at Oxford and at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. His specific interest is in South African bulbs as well as in collecting tropical species. The landscaping of the garden is quite exceptional. It combines colour and movement through a play of water staircases, formed by successive ponds, the last step which is … the Mediterranean.
Entrance to the garden : 10€
(Joanna Millar & William Waterfield – Mediterranean Garden Society trip 24 May 2012)
Lunch at the Restaurant Vesuvio, 19 Place du Cap, has a menu for 12.50€, plat du jour, a glass of wine + coffee. We can park at the Jean Cocteau Museum. It’s about 150 metres from the museum.
Then Serre de La Madone – Jardin Exotique in Menton – our second visit, was made famous by Lawrence Johnston, an American born in Paris. From 1924 he began to create a winter garden in Menton, He wanted to create a garden that would be both stylish and spectacular. There were to be double curving steps, fountains, pools, classical statuary, green garden rooms, a Moorish patio, and orangeries for tender exotic plants.
In 1907 he had started on the well known garden in Gloucestershire Hidcote Manor. His French garden Serre de la Madone, was designed to lay siege to the house, through doors, windows and arcades. The house was orginally a large farmhouse to which Johnston added two large wings.
Johnston travelled the world over a thirty-year period always seeking plant that could acclimatise in Menton. He died in 1958 without having committed to paper his grand design. He left it up to the plants, the springs and time to finish his garden.
In 1999 Serre de la Madone was bought by the Conservatoire du Littoral, with contributions from the town of Menton. (The garden has quite a lot of steps to negotiate.)
Entrance to the garden : Guided tour in English 78€ for 0-20 persons, 104€ for 20-30 persons, shared by all, plus a 3.50€ individual entrance fee.
July – no meeting scheduled
August – no meeting scheduled
25 September – Visit to Domaine de Gavaisson followed by pot luck lunch at Gerda’s in Lorgues
(Meadow below the swimming pool at Domaine de Gavaisson – Mediterranean Garden Society trip 24 May 2012)
Below were visits in 2011 …
14 April – Visit to Bordighera market. Lunch & then visit of the Hanbury Gardens, La Mortola (by coach if enough interest) Organiser : Saskia
May (1st two weeks : date tbc) – Visit to Iris de Provence, Hyères to visit the iris fields in flower
24 May – Visit : Morning to Gattières – Le Jardin des Fleurs de Poterie €6
Afternoon : Tourettes sur Loup – Domaine de Prieuré €tba
9 – 11 June – Visit to Pertuis – Château Val-Joanis €6
Bonnieux – Jardin de la Louve €11
Généragues – La Bambouseraie
Anduze – Poterie Chêne Vert
Uzès – all day market
15 – 20 June (date tbc) – Visit to Iris de Provence, Hyères to see the Hemerocallis (Day Lillies) in flower
28 July – Visit to Lavender oil distillery Saint Antonin. Organiser : Michèle
August – no meeting scheduled
20 September – Meeting at Carolyn’s
25 October – Meeting at Gerda’s
29 November – Meeting at Françoise McC’s
December – no meeting scheduled
