Tag Archives: mixed borders

Wondrous Landevennec Garden Part 1: Plantings and Borders

March 4, 2020 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

This lovely garden just outside the small coastal town of Landevennec in northern Brittany is absolutely full of surprises at every turn. I will show more of the garden structures in my next post, such as the bridge, gazebo, arbor, etc. In this post I will focus on the fantastic borders and plantings all throughout this garden.

The hedges all around mix a variety of shrubs for texture, foliage and blooms, together with perennials for touches of colors. The fall blooms of the dahlia borders add magical color to the fall garden. Hostas and other shade loving plants fill shadier corners.

Mixed hedge shrubs with accent of black eyed susans

Mixed shrubs ad texture, color and interest

Other gardens

Quimper Park: A Public Garden by the Riverfront

March 25, 2016 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

In the heart of old Quimper, near the cathedral and along other historic buildings on the waterfront, this lovely park provides a pleasant promenade by the river. It is lined with a colorful mix of banana trees, grasses, perennials and shrubs, as well as very old wisteria growing over arbors.

The lushness of the perennial borders and the choice of foliage give it an almost tropical feel, while the upcycled barrels used as planters give it a more modern edge.

Cottage gardens, Other gardens

Unusual Post Office Perennial Borders in France

June 23, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

Not only is the architecture of this post office building in France a bit unusual and somewhat reminiscent of a ship with the round windows, but it has some stunning mixed borders in its front “garden”.

Cottage gardens, Other gardens

Ploher’s Old Gothic Church Garden

June 16, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

In this small Brittany village, the gothic era church with its lacy steeple typical of this region of Brittany is decorated with colorful mixed borders, decorative grasses, hydrangea hedges, and seasonal containers boxes.

Cottage gardens, Rose gardens

A Small Rose Garden in Brittany Adds Curb Appeal

May 26, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

This house in a small coastal town in Brittany, France would be just one of many like it if it weren’t for the lush display of blooms from the small rose garden in the front yard. Shrub roses, climbing roses, old fashioned roses, bloom from spring to fall. Geraniums, cannas, dahlias and hydrangeas are mixed in for foliage and texture as well as extra blooms.

Cottage gardens, Other gardens

Flowered Garden at the Old Stone Church in Crozon, France

April 17, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

This church is at the center of the village square in Crozon, Brittany. It has a small front garden planted with a lush mix of annuals and perennials, including banana trees, brugmansias, lion’s ear, papyrus, erigeron for ground cover, and black eyed susans.

The back of the church is flowered with hydrangeas and mixed arrangements of blooming plants.

Formal gardens, Other gardens, Theme gardens

A formal French Garden on a Locronan Roundabout

April 7, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener 1 Comment

Next in my series of posts on French landscaped roundabouts, is this very elegantly landscaped one in Locronan, Brittany. Round shaped boxwoods, bonsai shaped trees, topiaries and assorted evergreens give it year round beauty, while hydrangeas which have a long blooming season in Brittany) add some color.

Other gardens, Theme gardens

An Unusual French Roundabout with a Pacific Island Theme

March 24, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener 1 Comment

Next in my series of posts on French landscaped roundabouts, is this very unusual island themed roundabout in Brittany. I never cease to be impressed not only by the amount of work involved, but the sheer ingenuity that goes into the design and landscaping of roundabouts in France.

Each section of this roundabout garden makes an individual vignette to be seen depending on the road entering the intersection: underwater scene with fish and coral, beach loungers, tikki roofs and hammock, or boats. And all of it lushly landscaped in a wide array of mixed perennials that thrive in the climate of the region.

City Parks and Gardens, Formal gardens

A Formal French Garden in Historic Quimper

March 17, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener 1 Comment

Along the old wall, next to the Quimper cathedral on one side and the Odet river on the other with its flowered bridges, is this small park. It is landscaped in the style typical of the formal French gardens, with the low growing edges of boxwood around the symmetrical curved borders, and with topiaries at the corners.

The less traditional border at one end is filled with elephant ears.

Botanical gardens, Kitchen gardens, Monastery and other religious gardens, Theme gardens

Quimper Old Priory Medieval Gardens Part I: Medicinal & Aromatic Plants

March 6, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener 2 Comments

Work on this garden was started in 1997 to create a medieval garden in the style of a convent garden in the days of Anne of Brittany (1477-1514). The population at the time resorted to plants for most of their needs: food, medicine and clothing.

The garden has three essential components. The medicinal and herb garden, used by monks to make their own remedies from plants not readily available in the surrounding areas and therefore grown in the garden.

The edible garden: nutritious roots, fruit, fresh or dried, beans, barley, and other garden crops made up the menu of the time.

The tinctorial garden grew plants used for clothing such as hemp, linen or catharmus which was used for red coloring.

Note also that the medival garden is a representation of Paradise, with the fountain in the center representing the pure source from which the four rivers of Eden originate. Plants such as white lilies and other white flowers represent the virgin.

In this first post, I am featuring the front portion of the garden, with the medicinal and herb section.

This is one of the loveliest gardens in this style I have had the chance to visit and it was also awarded “Jardin Remarquable” (remarkable garden”. It was designed not only for function but also form, with a pavilion, arbors, pergolas, benches in cozy nooks, decorative borders for raised beds, woven Plessis, and a fountain, making it a feast for the eyes as well as the palate. It also overlooks the river Odet, making it a truly enchanting setting.