Jardin de la Graviere, Pierrefeu-du-Var, 25th September

Driftwood Horse

Text by Sue Spence
Photographs by Gilly Phillips

Our visit to Jardin de la Graviere, Pierrefeu-du-Var on 25th September on a glorious sunny afternoon was the last for 2018 and turned out not to be a gravel garden (Graviere was the name of the area, not the type of garden!).   Quite the opposite, it was a haven of green spread over 13,000 sq.m. in what had been a corn field when the owners (Alain L’Honoré, professor of Physics, and his wife Francoise, hospital theatre sister, both now retired) bought the house in 2000.

 Initially they kept horses there and as the number of horses reduced, the garden grew larger (or was it the other way round?) and now it is all garden and no horses.   The boundary of the plot was planted up first and the large pond dug out.  They received the status 'Jardin Remarkable' 18 months ago.

Victoria amazonica, a water lily that can be 3m in width on a stalk of 8m long.  Native to tropical South America.The genus name 'Victoria' was given in honour of Queen Victoria. 

Nymphaea 'Blue Beauty'

Metal Heron Sculpture

An enviable difference between gardening on the flat and in the hillier areas of the Var is the absence of hidden rocks.   In Jardin de la Graviere they were able to simply dig the hole and plant, whereas elsewhere in the higher areas of the Var it is all about compromise.

Dasylirion acrotrichum, native to Mexico

Corymbia ficifolia, Eucalyptus family

Corymbia ficifolia, Eucalyptus family

Where you wanted to spend max 30 minutes planting your latest purchase turns out to be an all afternoon exercise wielding a pickaxe to remove what now transpires to be a metre square rock!   At which point you give up and plant it one metre to the right or left;  a couple of years later you wonder why the plant is mis-placed by one metre, start moving it and re-discover the rock!

Cycas revoluta, originally from Japan/South-East Asia

Hedychium coronarium

Add to that the natural water lurking beneath 2.5m of fine earth and then a layer of shale with the result that huge mature trees turn out only to have been planted some 15-18 years previously.
One member remarked “there are no weeds!”   No, because where there is planting there is  professional pepiniere-strength weed suppressant membrane pegged to the ground with crosses cut through which to insert plants which is then covered by mulch, gravel or stones to retain moisture (the L’Honorés have a mulcher and, of course, they have several stands of bamboos whose leaves make a great mulch).

String of dried flower pods

Alyogine (Hibiscus) huegelii (Mavaceae family), I think. The leaves that are visible are deeply lobed like they are for the Alyogine.  The summer heat must have caused the leaves to drop.  A plant will always try to flower as a last resort to form seeds for the next generation.

The visit ended up by the entrance gates in the totally shady fernery with a great collection of New Zealand tree ferns amongst the ferns.   It was a strange sight to see such a wide verdant selection of healthy plants in deep shade, a tribute to the green fingers of Professor and Mme. L’Honoré.
The garden is described as a “botanical garden” but also has intriguing objets and sculptures from the Far East and Africa together with wonderful driftwood sculptures scattered throughout the garden which include a wooden Catherine wheel which turned out to be a cut-off tree stump positioned vertically so I will let the photos do the talking.