My first post on the Jardin des Plantes in Nantes was about the hothouses and scientific garden, this one focuses on the art installations and statues.
Art ranges from classic to modern with planted “totems” and an installation by Claude Ponti. Also dotting the park are other features, some quirky, such as a  bird house, wavy benches, or a lookout point with a frame for photo taking.
Not only are the planting stunning, but this garden offers unexpected and delightful surprises at every turn.
If I had visited this garden somewhere in the countryside, I would merely have thought it was a pretty garden like many others. What makes this one truly exceptional is its location on the coast of Roscanvel in Bittany. It is on a narrow stretch of land overlooking the ocean and the edge of the garden plunges straight down below to the water.
Some of the plantings include apple and pear trees, a hedge of fuschias (a variety common to this coastal region which is winter hardy there and will grow over six feet tall), blue agapanthus, and oleander. Box hedges on the ocean side open to narrow stairs leading down to the water. Just imagine puttering around the garden in such a setting!
  
This truly exceptional garden was created in the small village of Roscanvel, in Brittany, overlooking the ocean. It is terraced to accommodate a hilly lot and also affords some protection from the sea spray and wind, and of course winter storms that are commonplace in the region.
A variety of hardy and low maintenance shrubs and evergreens add visual interest with different shapes and foliage colors. A few flowering shrubs and perennials such as pink oleander or lambs ear add touches of color. The grey foliage of the lambs ear by the garden remains when they are finished blooming.
I came across this lovely cottage garden and old stone wash house or “lavoir” in French in Roscanvel, a small village on the coast of Brittany (I will be posting about other gardens in this area of the coast as well).
This is an example of a very simple wash house with a stone fountain going into a wash basin for women to do their laundry. Similar ones can be found all over French villages.
Note the extremely tall viperine, which in Brittany can grow well over 10 ft tall for some species. The valeriane growing on the side of a wall thrives in the poorest conditions and will not live as long in a garden border and richer soil.
Both gardens in Suce sur Erdre, a small town in southern Brittany, France, are designed around a long alley with an arbor, leading from the gate to the house. Wisteria is only starting to cover the first one towards the house, while the second is covered from one end to the other in grapevines. Both arbors are made of metal, treated to withstand the humidity and rain prevalent in  Brittany, particularly over the winter.
Note the crepe myrtles in full bloom framing the arbor towards the front gate, above, and the acanthus growing on the side of the arbor featured below.
This post features more of the lovely cottage gardens dotting the canal at the locks in Brittany near Nantes.
The first garden has a lush display of roses, palms, dahlias and perennials, as a large trumpet vine (Bignonia) covers the pergola (in the last photo)
Next is an old fashioned garden mixing edibles such as the pumpkin patch with a cutting garden, and embellished with some perennials as well. Young apple trees are tutored and espaliered.
 
I came across a lovely medieval style garden in the town of Blain in southern Brittany (France). The beds are bordereded with a traditional edging of woven branches. Some are used to grow vegetables, others have  aromatics or medicinal plants of all kinds, as well as some old fashioned and all but forgotten plants. The garden is still fairly young, but grapevines are growing along the wall,  as well as on the arbor behind.
Woven edging is called “bordure en Plessis” in French, and is most commonly done using willow, because the twigs or branches are both long and very flexible. Wicker is also fairly common especially for tighter and more even weaves. Hazelnut branches may on occasion be used as well for a more rustic look.
While visitors may on occasion complain about the weather, the gardens of Brittany benefit from abundant rainfall and moderately high temperatures in the summer. The Brittany countryside is lush and green year round, and so are the gardens. I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days on a boat navigating the Canal of Nantes in Southern Brittany.
The canal is dotted with locks every couple of kilometers, and each lock has a lockmaster house, many of which display lush front gardens in a casual cottage style.
The next one mixes banana trees (musa basjoo probably) with perennial borders in shades of yellow and orange on one side (black eyed susans, marigolds), pinks and blues on the other.
The green circle on the sign indicates there is someone to assist you through the lock; a blue one would mean you can go through but it is self service, red indicates it is closed.
Another garden contrasts the blue shutters so typical of Brittany with lush mixed perennial borders.
The last one features a quirky bird sculpture in a mixed border next to red nasturtiums for a touch of whimsy.
Globetrotting Gardener 