Tag Archives: orchard

An Old Fashioned Flower and Vegetable Country Garden

January 13, 2015 Globetrotting Gardener 3 Comments

This garden is very reminiscent of what the French used to call a “jardin ouvrier”. Literally meaning “workingman’s or bluecollar garden”, it refers to gardens that while having very much the look of cottage gardens served the very functional purpose of having to feed a family. Typically there will be a kitchen garden in the back or side of the house, with a flowered area in the front. I have featured other such gardens in my posts as they are often found in Brittany villages and around France.

The side of the house is dedicated to a vegetable patch towards the back with rows of tomatos, salads, cabbage, pumpkins, squashes, gourds and potatoes. Flowers are mixed in to help pollination. Towards the front are fruit trees and small vegetables.

The front of the house is planted with a riot of color from assorted annuals, perennials and dahlias, while potted floweres and container arrangements surround the front door and line the path.

Extra gourds and pumpkins go into a wheelbarrow by the gate.

Cottage gardens

Landscaped French Country Garden by the Sea

November 12, 2014 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

A charming couple owns this house on the northern coast of France, and both are avid gardeners, changing and adding every year new plants, annuals from seed, and cuttings collected from fellow gardeners or just found during walks around the peninsula. They are in the process of redoing the vegetable garden in the back, but part of the front garden is dedicated to a home orchard of fruit trees, apples in several varieties, pears, and plums. Specimen shrubs and palms are underplanted with perennials, and roses are mixed into borders at every turn, or found climbing the walls.

Fruit trees mix with specimen shrubs and palms

New shoots of viperine will grow tall blooming stalks come next spring

Cottage gardens, Kitchen gardens

Landscaped Orchard Garden and arbor near the sea

October 21, 2014 Globetrotting Gardener Leave a comment

Much like the Normandy region, Brittany, France is known for its apples. Countless varieties are grown in every garden of Brittany. This garden divided a small orchard from a vegetable garden area with a rustic wood arbor covered in vines. There is also a row of espaliered fruit trees hedging the side of the property.