A virtual tour of the garden

The Jardin des Merlettes is open for visit from March to November, on appointment (00 33 6 69 31 11 15), and usually on Thursdays and Fridays, 9-12 and 2 to 5:30. The visit is free for members of the Royal Horticultural Society from June 1st to September 30th.

The various spaces of the garden, created as a support for the gardening workshops that are organized from March to December, sprawl over ten acres. The garden is dedicated to the teaching of horticultural practices that respect the ecology and the local landscape. It carries, therefore, a very natural look. British gardeners will recognize  the gardening principles described by Christopher Lloyd in ‘The adventurous gardener’ (First Vintage Books, 1983) nearly three decades ago. Because the general situation of the environment has deteriorated since this book was written, a lot of emphasis is given to the protection (or restoration) of biodiversity while the gardening philosophy remains the same. The main features of the garden are the rose garden, the shrubbery (fruticetum) and the two orchards, one of which exclusively planted with espaliered trees. The mixed borders of perennials are still in an experimental phase.

The Jardin des Merlettes recommended ‘principles of gardening’

We try to keep gardening chores as light as possible. For this purpose, we have rigorously selected all shrubs and perennials for their relative adaptability to the local edaphic conditions. The ecological value of native plants is also emphasized and some wilderness is allowed in most parts of the garden. Water is used very sparingly, whereas mulching and composting are the rule.

We favour three simple principles:

• Adopt ‘good practices’ of gardening: the right chores at the right moment, with the right tools… and little stress. So many things can wait until… next year !
• Forget the plants for a moment and pay more attention to the surrounding landscape: space and the environment are very important for the beauty of a garden
• Remember native plants: they enjoy a prima donna situation in our garden and are allowed to wander at their leisure. Insects and birds approve and biodiversity is surging.

With this in mind, the rigorous climate of long and cold winters, strong winds blowing from the west, becomes less of a nuisance, as is also the case of the somewhat damaged and leached out soil, its ploughing sole and the frequent water logging.

Environment friendly gardening practices

Le Jardin des Merlettes is cultivated organically. It is managed extensively with simplified cultural practices (no tilling, for example). The ability of some plants to contain the invasion of others, including weeds, is observed to examine how the gardener’s chores can be relieved without downgrading the overall aesthetic result.

We also pay a lot of attention to mowing practices to preserve as much native biodiversity as possible. For example, the frequency and timing of mowing is scrutinized. Mowing in the open spaces is restricted to a minimum, to keep a few natural refuges, or ecological corridors, for the insects’ fauna. And a rotation of these spaces is organized over time since it takes three years for many insects to complete the full cycle of their reproduction process.

An important cause of this ‘laissez faire’ attitude is the memory of  an experience conducted at Wye College when the gardener of Jardin des Merlettes was a student there. A place was cleared near the college and a pond was dug. All plants were then inventoried around the pond as they appeared, season after season. No intervention was allowed. Hundreds of plants, of which about a dozen different orchids, were noted about five years after the experience had started. The recollection is probably grossly inexact, but the message is vivid : let Dame Nature show you her treasures, there is more in your garden than meet your eye !

Visiting the garden

• The rose garden includes over 100 various species. It includes all forms of rose trees, small and high, climbing and ramblers, botanical or old varieties as well as modern hybrids. Classes are conducted in March and April, but also in July and August.
• The espaliered orchard is composed of sixteen rows of trees cultivated on rows of white clover. Eleven different forms of fruit training are demonstrated in the garden. A promenade among the fruit trees, espaliered or in free form, shows the visitors the different varieties (over eighty species) and the pruning method adopted for each, along with its strengths and weaknesses.

• The conservatory of fruit trees from Burgundy, mostly apples, pears, plums and nèfles (mespilus germanica), was planted in 2009 and grafted in the spring of 2010. It also houses a small collection of berries, red and black currents, gooseberries, blackberries and raspberries and was landscaped as a sundial. A gnomon, an antic sort of sundial, has been erected at the centre of the conservatory. The pottery bird perched at its top is used as a calendar.
• A labyrinth of trees, east of the garden, allows for a pastoral promenade where one can get lost in the tall grass. It includes some rare species. They have been planted very small and are taking their time to adapt to their new surroundings.
• The mixed borders of perennials are a year-round show. They are used to show possible cohabitation between natural native and horticultural plants, the colonization of some plants by others, as well as the necessary regular reorganization of the beds. Classes are held during the whole season.
• Spaces illustrating differentiated mowing: a series of twenty five feet squares, south of the garden, are used to note which weed grows when and are enhanced by small sculptures laid out by sculptor Claude Pasquer.  Along with the butterfly cafeteria, they are part of a number of selected spots where biodiversity is observed, a ‘biodiversity trail’. A map of this trail is offered to visitors as they enter the garden.

• The fruticetum (shrubbery) grows at its own leisure. Some shrubs have adapted easily to the local conditions, including the cold and long winters and frequent water logging. By observing the variety of growing modes, visitors can decide how to prune the various plants and which will break from old wood. Some shrubs are also allowed to grow freely, to remind visitors how some well known shrubs have lost their aesthetic value because of our cutting back attitude.