One of the raves these days in the context of must see gardens is a place called Le Jardin Plume ,a garden in Normandy and winner of 'The Garden of the Year 2008' awarded by the Garden Museum and Gardens Illustrated. It has a plethora of distinguished revues so was a destination I had to visit.
Through a small gate in a country hedge in the middle of a vast flat plain you make your way to some lovely barns beside a small 'pepiniere' full of perennials grown by the owners. Beyond that unfolds the garden ,the preface a strikingly profiled hedge . It almost acts as a precursor to a study in different forms of low hedging with a nod of styling to Sissinghurst. Moving to the front of the 'maison' a lovely tranquil view of the flat fields of Normandy is the focus of where to walk next. But not so hastily..the fiery coloured beds awash with yellows reds and oranges compels one to linger. Here are hedges that remind me of the white garden at Sissinghurst.
Moving from the hot coloured beds to a field of square ..spaces, a grid of squares with wide mown paths leading to the far end of the garden is quite a change of styles. From now the planting is more a study in the use of blocks of grasses decorated with the mute toned perennials so popular in these oh so trendy 'Prairie' gardens.
Prior to searching out the depths of this grided layout and the distant landscape the frontispiece is a square pond, flush with the ground level and grass to the water's edge. Two easy chairs are placed nearby, an integral part of the peace the water reflects.
As the title to this blog now refers, why the Puzzle ? My problem is that I dont 'get' the big deal of huge splodges of grass. Blocks of grass akin to a designer wheat field has as much appeal as magnolia paint. It is, for my money, uncommmonly dull and only has an appeal if one is utterly sick and tired of clipped evergreen hedges or shrubs. The Praire look is...not for me.
As I and my tour guest departed we asked each other what were the best bits..for me it was the tranquility of the piece of water, which could almost have been longer and more dominant in the overall space, running the whole length of the garden. For her I think it was the mixed flowers, impressionistic like in one of the side gardens,and yes, in its own quite ramshackle styling it was charming. The last pic gives an indication.
It is definitely worth visiting ,the owners are very friendly, many people really respond to the style and it has some intriuging plant combinations. I am more than happy to take you there and other lovely gardens nearby as part of a private garden tour.
2 comments:
The huge splodges are a contrast to the ornamental and the clipped forms. To me they are well proportioned - but it's all subjective!!
Thank you Anonymous ! Your comment does help a bit. I have often wondered if the likes of Piet Oudolf were reacting to the plethora of clipped or shaped evergreens that seems to be the dna of Dutch gardens. His natural look or as I understand it to be called 'The Praire' look isn't dissimilar to Mr Lancelot Brown and his naturalistic style of landscaping compared to the formality that preceded him.
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