Ten members of the garden group visited the jardin remarquable of Mme. L’Hardy-Denonain in the tiny village of Gassin behind St. Tropez and Cogolin in the Var, France. The advance guard of three set off at 8.30am for St. Tropez market but their early start received a set-back when it was discovered that the car’s protective undercarriage was held in place by just two bolts and a piece of wire and the front piece was touching the ground (kind husband volunteered to attend during the day with more wire) and we set off in another car.
A word of warning for those who are not familiar with the road from Le Cannet-des-Maure to St. Tropez – it is not for the nervous driver, there are apparently 75 bends (the section from La Garde Freinet to the coast is wider and the bends more stretched out than the first section). But beware the large lorries on their headlong dash to the A8 motorway, we met five in close succession!
The second hiccup was that, surprisingly for mid-May, the port car park was listed as FULL and the reason became clear when we discovered a large fairground had been set up in the Place des Lices and no sign of a market. This prompted an immediate visit to the cake shop for consolation but luckily a call from the car repair husband miraculously prompted a passerby to explain that the market had been set up in the port car park.
Mme. L'Hardy-Denonain's garden received its jardin remarquable status in 2009 (renewed in 2016) because of its collection of botanic collection of plants - of which there will be no mention here because both our plant experts were absent!
The garden is about 2,800 sq.m. was bought by Mme. L’H-D’s mother-in-law in 1973 in an abandoned state and comprises four narrow steep restanques. Unusually, the garden is not attached to a house but is close to the family village house which, if I understood correctly, Mme L’H-D’s mother-in-law renovated (she was anarchitect), removing the internal stairs and building a tower on the side of the building containing the stairs - giving access to each floor to increase the size of the small rooms.
The garden is accessed through the outside terrace of a restaurant and down steps to the cabanon built against the road’s retaining wall. The visit began with Mme. L’H-D sitting in the doorway to the cabanon with her visitors perched on stools to listen to the story of the garden. When the land was bought, the cabanon housed the chickens with the pigs in the side annexe; and the horse stabled under a village house opposite grazed the restanques in between the vegetable plots (allotments?) maintained by the villagers.
On the two lower levels there are small patches of gardens bearing the name of a village child - “Jonathan’s garden”, “Mathilde’s garden” (the latter child is now 16 years old and still visits her garden and took Jonathan to task for the abandoned state of his garden, suggesting that he pass it to another child). “Certainly not” was the reply ! - which illustrates the sentimentality and love of gardening that Mme. L'H-D has created in the generations of Gassin children. I wonder if they will continue to be as passionate about gardening when they too reach the venerable age of 94?
Many plants were more leggy than usual because the whole garden was shaded by mature trees. Mme. L’H-D does not feed any of the plants, watering is limited to new planting (there is a stand-pipe for water on each level) and mulching is done by Mother Nature's annual fall of autumn leaves. Most plants are labelled but you will not find modern, type-written or bar-coded labels here, everything is handwritten. This is not an immaculate garden but the passion for plants is there and it was good to hear that, although she does not have a gardener, Mme. L’H-D does have volunteers to help her.
The plant I will now buy for my really shady area will be the Raphiolepsis indica (Indian hawthorn) just full of pink flowers and dark green leaves – considerably taller than the plant description, presumably aiming for the light. And perhaps I ought to buy some of the tiny fish that eat mosquitos to put in my rainwater cuves which were the practical Piscean inhabitants of the small basin in company with acquatic plants.
Despite her 94 years, Mme. L’H-D continues her routine of summers spent in Gassin and winters divided between Brittany and Sark, and summers spent walking up and down the restanques with her visitors obviously keeps her fit !
We finally emerged into the sunlight and stopped off at
the tiny ice cream shop for a reviving shot of sugar.
WHERE
TO BUY Raphiolepsis indica delcourii
(different varieties: Springtime, Pink Cloud, Kerdalo, Coates Crimson)
Pot sizes vary, 3-litre up to 8-litre, Jardiland (Frejus and La Garde) will not deliver.
None of these websites have any stock except for Promesse des Fleurs (inspiring small brochure)
(different varieties: Springtime, Pink Cloud, Kerdalo, Coates Crimson)
Pot sizes vary, 3-litre up to 8-litre, Jardiland (Frejus and La Garde) will not deliver.
None of these websites have any stock except for Promesse des Fleurs (inspiring small brochure)
https://www.truffaut.com/produit/raphiolepis-x-delacourii-springtime-conteneur-7-5-litres/178836/25223
https://www.jardiland.com/raphiolepide-de-l-inde-springtime-9004274.html
8 litre pot or €11.43 / 3 litre pot
https://www.jardiland.com/raphiolepide-de-l-inde-pink-cloud-9030379.html
https://www.promessedefleurs.com/arbustes/arbustes-de-a-a-z/rhaphiolepis-spring-time-raphiolepis-delacour.html
3 litre pot IN STOCK
http://www.pepiniere-bretagne.fr/detail-article.php?ID_ARTICLE=9187
R. x delacourii). pot size unknown, no price, out of stock
Good websites for info (and for all plant info
too):
https://jardinage.lemonde.fr/dossier-2022-rhaphiolepide.html
https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/62762/Rhaphiolepis-x-delacourii-Coates-Crimson/Details?returnurl=%2Fplants%2Fsearch-results%3Fcontext%3Db%25253D253460%252526hf%25253D10%252526l%25253Den%252526s%25253Ddesc%25252528plant_merged%25252529%252526sl%25253Dplants%26s%3Ddesc(plant_merged)%26form-mode%3Dtrue%26page%3D25350%26aliaspath%3D%252fplants%252fsearch-results
PHOTOS:
Written by Sue Spence, photos by Francoise Geeraert
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