The
Mediterranean Garden Society

At a recent Branch meeting it was decided to create a database in order for members to easily contact each other. Please contact the Branch Head for details.

The latest Branch newsletter (reproduced below) was sent out out to all French members to the email addresses supplied. 20 were returned as undeliverable. Please can you notify me of any change of email address, or let me know if you did not get an email from me if you are a French member. And if you know any other members who did not get an email from me, let me know. Nathalie Rigg.

Newsletter

Spring is now well under way and here in the Var everything is growing well after the very welcome rains of last week, and more forecast!

The timing of the rain was however a little unfortunate as it arrived with force on the first morning of our week long garden tour of Provence last week. It did not dampen spirits for long however as 25 to 30 of us enjoyed a rather hectic round of gardens, visiting about 3 gardens a day. We travelled all over the Alpes-Maritimes and the Var, finishing up at Serignan plant fair where much purchasing and car filling went on!

Our next outing will be rather calmer and with gardens much closer together. We will be visiting a variety of gardens in and around Cotignac in the Var. The visit is planned for Wednesday 14th May and Susie Manby will be leading us round the gardens. We will meet at 10am at the parking outside the Chateau at Entrecasteaux.There will be a rich selection of gardens to visit, some small and private, some big domaines and some that can be found in gardening books such as Louisa Jones's 'New Gardens in Provence'. The precise itinerary is still to be decided but the list will include some if not all of the following: Domaine le Laurons in Entrecasteaux; Le Rocher in Cotignac; Canadel in Vins; Miraval in Le Val. Lunch will be our usual 'bring a dish' buffet in Susie's lovely olive garden in Montfort. There may be others also that we can visit after if we have any energy left!

If you are interested in joining this day then please let me know as soon as possible as we only have spaces for 20 people.

May 3rd is the date for my Charity Garden Open Day and I hope some of you will be able to make it. The garden is looking as good as it will get and we have lots of stalls selling plants, garden sculpture, clothes, food, books and lots more. Entrance is 20€ to include full lunch and drink. Email me if you need directions but there will be signs up on the day from the Casino roundabout just as you come into Salernes. See you then!

The next visit will be on June 4th with a visit to an MGS members garden, Anneke Prat, a tour round a new ‘parfumerie’ garden and then a tour round 'Mandarin's Delight', a bamboo nursery and garden near Grasse.

Barbera Diamantides has asked me to remind you that there are back issues of the MGS Journal available for the cost of the postage. This offer ends at the end of May.

Written a little in haste as I am itching to get out into the garden and do some weeding after the rain! All the best and happy gardening. Nathalie Rigg.

Other relevant events and dates for your diary:

Nathalie Rigg writes

I have lived full-time in Provence for 9 years but first visited the area 35 years ago when my father bought a holiday home in the local village.

My husband and I bought a disused vineyard on a south-facing slope, built a house and then created a garden from scratch. It was a real challenge, a blank canvas of 6,000 m2, which was quite a leap from my modest town garden in London.

While still living in London, I took horticultural courses for two years at the English Garden School in the Chelsea Physic Garden, and I passed the RHS horticultural exam.
Theses studies stood me in good stead when I set about making the garden in Provence. Salernes, my local town, is famous for its carrelages so it was no great surprise to find that my soil was solid clay! I have often thought I should be making pots, not planting plants.
I get high temperatures in the summer and low temperatures in the winter, as low as -12 degrees centigrade for several nights running. The soil is alkaline and rainfall is intermittent and low.

Having said all that, we do have an artesian well, we are relatively sheltered from the Mistral wind and the south-facing slope is kind to the plants and garden.

I have made many mistakes but also have had some successes and I am still learning every year. It is very different from London gardening in so many ways, and much, much more of a challenge but I do love it.