Garden Visits

Recently I have paid two garden visits, both in fact to gardens already mentioned, but both deserving fuller treatment.  It was my first visit to La Roseraie du Désert (www.frenchtearose.com), though I had already met John and Betty Hook at Gaujacq, where I purchased amongst other things one of my now favourite roses, the 'found Bermuda', Emmie Grey. Stupidly I left it too late for the tea roses, one of their specialities, but there was still plenty to admire. It is probably best to go to their site to understand better what they are about, but essentially their aim is to grow roses that can take the heat, thus the name of their rose nursery. These include certainly the tea, but also the China roses; not very well known perhaps because they  dislike a cold winter. They are often single and semi-double, often also an apricoty, pinky colour, which may not be everybody's favourite. On the other hand single they are usually very floriferous, and often with good perfume.  Whether they are ideal for the Gers is perhaps not certain. Certainly we can be hot and dry, which is the conditions they like. But we can also be wet, particularly in May, which is on average our wettest month. Moreover the owners admitted that many of their sales were too Italy and the South of France. But they are certainly worth a try here. I fell for Vicomtesse Pierrre de Fou, perhaps largely because of the name, though it was also strongly recommended; also Rosa moschata, one of its great features being its very green and healthy foilage. I have also got my eye on Darlow's Enigma and Sinowilsonii. Incidently a tea rose, which has been a favourite of mine for a long time, and which I grow here, is Lady Hillingdon (clg.), a marvellous yolk of egg colour, almost continuously in flower, and with smell.. I take my hat off to John and Betty Hook, especially now that I know that John has a day job. And what I find most exciting about their project is that I who consider myself a bit of an expert on Old Roses have never come across at least half of the roses to be found in their catalogue, nor are they to be found in the RHS rose encyclopedia (eds: Charles and Bridget Quest-Ritson).

Also strongly recommended is a visit to La Coursiana, where roses are also a great feature, though in this case one of many. The choice of roses is I suppose in one sense more ordinary including many recent hybrids from French rose breeders, but also a good many from David Austin. But what is exceptional about the roses is their placing whether in the borders, or on the many pergolas; not many, now I come to think of it, climbing up trees, but is that a particularly English habit? The more likely explanation is that a good many of the trees are rare, and a climbing rose up them could only be a distraction. For any gardener a visit here is a must, and that at different times of the year, as there is so much to enjoy and learn. The Tea room is excellent and offers amongst other things marvellous sorbets, and the accueil

is très chaleureuse.

Meanwhile with the help of better weather and some hard work things are looking a little better chez moi.  To continue the rose theme, I have been reminded, since I have one in full bloom, how beautiful R. Queen of Denmark (Königin von Dänemark) is. Its great feature is the suffused pin at the centre of the flower as the bud opens. It is magical and I do not think that even David Austin has been able to reproduce the effect. Its Alba origins means that it does not repeat, but also that it is an attractive enough bush when not in flower, and I forgot to mention; it does have smell!

My other excitement has been the flowering of Romneya coulteri, and not only is it flowering, but it is looking happy, and thus spreading. It is a first for me in France. Good drainage is the key, but as I have often remarked in our neck of the woods that is not always easy to provide.