Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

We love autumn here. Despite the attractions of hot, sunny summers, of cold and crisp winters with real snow and of spring bringing back life just when we think winter, for all its charms, is going on a bit too long, autumn is probably our favourite season. Normally the weather is quite soft and, because of the millions of trees around here, most of them in mixed woodland, the autumn colours are stunning.

This year, as elsewhere in Western Europe, autumn is unseasonably warm (although our weather data suggests that last October will have been warmer) and the garden is reflecting that. Roses are still flowering, the fruit bushes are covered in big, fat buds and we’re still getting a very decent daily crop of strawberries and raspberries.

One of our favourite events, a plant sale at a local arboretum, occurs each autumn. The plant sale is particularly attractive as it provides a range of plants difficult to find elsewhere. There is a world of difference between the approaches to gardening in France and Britain. While British gardeners tend towards a wide variety and large number of plants in the garden, the French seem to prefer lawns with carefully placed single trees or shrubs. The variety of flowers in a French garden is very limited. So it is that when we visit the sole local garden centre, there are masses of geraniums, busy lizzies, asters etc. but not much else.

The trip to the plant sale also gives us the opportunity to see the arboretum – a particularly beautiful spot – when the autumn colours are, or should be, at their best. Unfortunately, both this year and last, the unseasonable weather has resulted in the full gamut of colours arriving a little later than normal so we didn’t have high expectations when we set off last Saturday.

We needn’t have worried. There was still sufficient colour around to leave us open-mouthed in admiration and the plant sale was as good as ever. We passed a very enjoyable 3 hours there and left 70 euros poorer but very pleased with our three lovely roses and a wisteria.

Oh yes, that’s another difference between gardening in Britain and France. Plants are very expensive over here.