Forthcoming Events

Tuesday, April 8th. 2.30 pm. Montferrier
Photo presentation of the Endangered Endemics of Languedoc, by John Thompson, CEFE, CNRS Montpellier, author of "Plant Evolution in the Mediterranean", published by Oxford U.P. 2005.

Wednesday, May 14th. 10.00 am. St Christol.
Visit to Mme MP’s park and garden, picnic lunch at her place, and afternoon visit to her son’s garden and wine-cellar. Followed by a visit to the L 'Arc-en-Fleurs nursery.

End of May. Day, time and place to be decided.
Annual garden party and meeting of the MGS Languedoc members with our new President, Caroline Harbouri. 

Thursday, June 26th. 10.00 am. Les Ecuries Seminar Centre of Liz and Jacques Thompson, Cesseras. 
Day seminar on the dry garden by Gill Pound, MGS member and proprietor of La Petite Pépinière in Caunes Minervois. A presentation in the morning with a group discussion will be followed by a picnic lunch, then a visit to Gill's nursery to see some of the plants which have been mentioned and an opportunity for more discussion.

Past Events

Languedoc Branch excursion in the Garrigue

On Thursday 20th March 2008, two dozen members of the Languedoc Branch met at an ancient, abandoned chapel in the countryside close to Uzès for a guided walk in the garrigue. We started with a picnic in the shelter of the chapel (the lovely blue sky and sunshine belying a rather chilly wind), a nice touch as it gave everyone a chance to renew acquaintance after the winter break, and new members to make themselves known. Next to where we sitting, we noticed the white flowers of Diplotaxis erucoides, a pungent salad rocket, and the pinkish flowers of a mallow, Malva sylvestris.

Our guide was David Bracey, who had already been out scouting the route and was thus able to lead us to some fascinating specimens. We saw a wide variety of garrigue plants, many already in bloom. These ranged from the lowly Muscari neglectum, the common Vinca major, the fragrant Thymus vulgaris, the rare Aphyllanthes monspeliensis and the magnificent yellow and deep blue dwarf Iris lutescens to the shrubby Ruta chalepensis, the giant Euphorbia characias, and the red-berried Ruscus aculeatus. We also came across the tree-like Rhamnus alaternus, Juniperus oxycedrus and Phillyrea species. Particularly endearing was the tiny Narcissus dubius.

New to many of us was the thorny wild pear, Pyrus amygdaliformis, with its white flowers resembling almond blossom. Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to see the Cistus in flower, although we did notice one pink bud just emerging. Also spotted were the yellow, sweet-smelling Coronilla glauca, Genista scorpius, the giant orchid Barlia robertiana, (previously known as Himantoglossum robertianum), Ophrys scolopax, and an ophrys later identified as Ophrys fusca by Jocelyn van Riemsdijk. On the culinary side, in addition to thyme, wild asparagus, leek and rocket were widely apparent.

As an interesting addition to our walk, David also led us to the excavation site of a Roman farm dwelling, as well as taking us along the course of a Roman road, reminding us of the enormous changes the countryside has undergone since Roman times.

Iris lutescens

Aphyllanthes monspeliensis

Narcissus dubius

Juniperus oxycedrus

Euphorbia characias

Branch visit to the garden of Pierre Bergé in St.Rémy de Provence.

On 21st September 2007 the branch repeated a visit made at last year’s AGM to the garden of Pierre Bergé in St.Rémy de Provence. As most members of the branch were unable to take part last year, Louisa Jones agreed to arrange a visit for us this autumn. The garden, designed by one of Provence’s best known garden designers, Michel Semini, was much enjoyed by us all. Louisa Jones has recently written a book on the designer, published by Kubik and available in both French and English (the latter only on internet).

On the morning of 4th October we held our annual branch meeting at the home of Chantal and André Guiraud, in the centre of Montpellier. In the afternoon we visited Chantal’s new garden – the previous time we visited it was not much more than a building site - and exchanged plants and seeds.

Branch Report
From The Mediterranean Garden No. 42, October 2005

Roses for the Midi
This spring saw an exuberant display of roses in southern France, after an indifferent performance by many varieties in 2004 - a result of the extremely hot, dry summer of 2003. Banksian roses (Rosa banksiae) everywhere started the display in April; my white Banksian rose, in a deep sulk for some years, flowered as never before. The display here continued with Hybrid Musks - R. 'Cornelia' and R. 'Felicia' flowered exceptionally well - and was followed by Hybrid Chinas such as R. 'Perle d'Or', R. 'Little White Pet' and R. 'The Fairy'. An unknown white rambler by our river, which has survived flood, tempest, drought and over-enthusiastic pruning, flung its arms over a rather battered pyrancantha hedge to transform it, for a brief fortnight, into a superb spectacle. How our roses will survive an exceptionally dry and windy summer after a winter of rainfall often 75% lower than average, with water restrictions amounting to a complete ban in many areas, remains to be seen. Their toughness and resilience will surprise us, no doubt.

To celebrate this festival of roses, in early June our branch visited one of the most celebrated rose gardens in southern France. The Roseraie de Berty, no ordinary French rose garden, with highly pruned specimens in serried ranks, is hidden in a deep Cévenol valley in the Ardèche department. At the end of a long, rough, winding and rather intimidating mountain lane, the road unexpectedly drops down into a paradise of roses - climbing trees, draping the walls of the old farmhouse, the Mas de Berty, forming huge bushes of arching stems covered with glorious blooms. Eléonore Cruse arrived at Berty in the early 1970s, one of the generation of soixante-huitards who sought the 'good life' in the remoter parts of southern France after the turmoil of Parisian student life in the late sixties. At first she raised sheep and goats, weaving their wool in peasant style, then she grew buckwheat and vegetables. The world of roses was revealed to her, so she told us, when she read a seminal book published in the 1980s, Les Roses Anciennes by Charlotte Testut. Her collection of old roses (and some modern ones) has grown until there are several hundred varieties. They grow naturally, pruned only to keep a good shape and to control the more exuberant performers. The soil is acid, unlike most soils in our region, but her roses adapt well. They only receive fertilizer when planted but companion plants, like the aromatic sages, thymes and rosemaries from the garrigue, keep the roses pest-free. Bordeaux mixture and sulphur are used for fungal diseases. The sulphur she spreads by hand in spring and recommends a little rubbed in the hair for a glossy effect! We were impressed to see how many roses grew well in shade - I particularly remember the R. multiflora hybrid 'Violette', radiant on its pergola, its deep violet petals enhanced by golden stamens. Another great beauty, R. brunonii 'La Mortola', too delicate for most of our gardens, flowered to perfection on a sheltered terrace. There is a nursery which sells many of the garden's roses and a well-illustrated catalogue, as well as Eléonore Cruse's own books.

By serendipity, this year our branch chose as the subject for its annual survey 'Roses for the Midi'. Members were asked to make a list of the roses in their gardens which performed most satisfactorily, taking into account various factors such as length of flowering, freedom from disease, watering requirements and hardiness. Eleven members replied and the list of recommended roses, painstakingly compiled by David Bracey, appears on page 45 of The Mediterranean Garden No. 42. Many thanks to all members who contributed, especially to David for all his hard work. We hope you will find the list a useful guide to roses in mediterranean regions.
Jocelyn van Riemsdijk

Jocelyn van Riemsdijk
Branch Head, Languedoc Branch, France

Jocelyn escaped from South Wales at the age of 18 to study History at London University. After some years teaching, she returned to university to study Chinese language, literature and art, and spent some years researching into the history of plant-collecting in East Asia. She and her husband John, a retired museum curator, made several trips to China and East Tibet in the late 1970s and 1980s, visiting many gardens and wild flower sites. She has been gardening since her middle twenties - for many years in East Hertfordshire, with a dry continental climate and ungrateful soil. Moving to Southern France in 1989, she exchanged one set of problems for quite another! She has been a member of the RHS for more years than she cares to remember and is also a former member of the Herb Society and the Alpine Garden Society. She has had to abandon her beloved alpines, but still grows herbs and aromatic plants, with a special affection for scented pelargoniums. The MGS has greatly widened her gardening horizons and she has special pleasure in helping newcomers to the region to find their feet in a new gardening environment.

Jocelyn van Riemsdijk is the Head of this new French branch. She writes:

"We came to France in 1989 after gardening in Hertfordshire, England for more than 30 years. I wanted a new climate to garden in and certainly got it. Here at the Moulin du Gavot we have a typical Languedoc climate with very hot summers, wet springs and autumns and winters in which temperatures sometimes drop to minus 8 degrees Celsius or even lower. Our prevailing wind is the Mistral, a cold, usually dry, northerly, and we often have spring frosts which damage the local cherry and apricot orchards. We are in the outer olive-growing zone of the mediterranean climate, so it is difficult to over-winter citrus trees and other delicate subjects without a favourable microclimate.

"Our valley is rich in trees, some native, some introduced. The upper garden round our house is large and old and planted with often unsuitable trees such as Magnolia grandiflora and Robinia, which do not like getting their roots down into the calcareous rock not far below the surface. The shady conditions make it difficult to grow large numbers of the local garrigue plants, but I experiment by growing them in large containers which can be moved around to follow the sun.

"A life-long passion for China and her plants and gardens results in continual attempts to acclimatize Chinese plants to our harsh conditions, sometimes very successfully. The river, where we have a water garden, was unkind enough to rise at least 10 metres in September 2002, flooding both our house and garden and causing untold damage. The watercourses are still in place plus the ruins of an old oil-press mill and we are hoping to continue its restoration next summer.

"We have a wonderful view over vineyards to the local garrigue - many of our friends have called it paradise. Maybe so, but, like many of the wetland sites in the mediterranean regions, it is a fragile paradise. We hope we can continue to hold on to our garden for a few more years and try to safeguard it against the worst that our changing climate has to offer."