Haut Chitelet Alpine Garden (France)

[Maggi Young]

Watching "Le Tour de France" on TV today - it seems there is some rain and cloud in the Vosges today where Le Tour is passing - hope it does the flowers some good.

[ChrisB]

You have a truly inspirational collection of plants Phillipe, I've enjoyed looking at them!  Thanks for sharing.

[Lori S.]

Ditto!  What a wonderful garden and amazing plants!  Thanks for showing them.

[Philippe]

April 2015, update 1

The alpine garden is slowly coming out of its winterrest now.

The winter has been a bit deceiving this year again, with very late snow during approximatively 3/4 days in late December and a lot of rainy days before. Thanks to a quite cold weather, the fallen snow could hold during almost all January, but with no significant snowfall meanwhile. It only fell again in quantity during the first 2 weeks of February, and that was almost all for the whole winter. Thank God, March has been very dry and sunny, with repeated cold nights, so that the snow could settle down and become compact. April is pretty dry again, sunny most of the time, and becoming abnormally warm lately, as almost every year. The snow is now melting rapidly, which is a good thing at this time of the year.

A quick drive upthere for a few days, to bring things and turn on the water supply for the season, which for us will begin next week then. Depending on the weather, there's one month to get the garden as completely tidy as possible, make most of the sowings, and if possible begin the pricking out from 2014 sown species and first plantations of new species from the previous years. The garden will be ready to welcome visitors after that, from June 1st on.



The entrance of the garden, with some large snow banket in the middle of the way, which means one will probably have to shovel a bit to get the car near the accomodation chalet in the lower part of the garden.




Snow has already been shoveled here, in order to get to the water supply location, which is often more or less burried at this time of the year.





A view to the propagation area where the beds are about to be totally freed of snow, exposing the plants to the welcome warmth of the April sun.

Rapidly through the garden now. Nothing special for the moment, except beds that need to be cleaned after the winter. Some first flowers here and there, mainly along the stream which was snowless much sooner than the rest of the garden, where the plants are rather awaking from the wintersleep. Pulsatilla vernalis greeted me in the Alpes-bed with a beautiful bouquet though, but the pic won't give anything. I'll surely have the occasion to do better next week, once upthere.

[Tim Ingram]

Philippe - wonderful to see the garden awakening to spring, so very different to our climate in Kent with little snow and snowdrops flowering since before Christmas! It will be exciting for us to visit in late June - looking forward to seeing the garden very much and your entries here. Good wishes.

[Maggi Young]

Oh Tim - you are visiting? Lucky you!

[ranunculus]

Excellent report once again, Philippe … we anticipate your updates with great enthusiasm.

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 2, part 1

It's now a bit more than 1 week that we are upthere. What a good surprise when arriving for the summer! I expected snow would still lay in the ways, and that it would be a sportive moment bringing the whole car content from the side of the roads down to the accomodation chalet, struggling through wet and slippy fields of old snow. But no! Only a few days after the first trip, all the snow was disappeared, and the pic below shows the last obstacle it could still propose against a quiet removal.

That was just well so, because it was raining that evening.



I might repeat myself every year when beginning the updates again after winter, but the whole garden is a bright mess when we arrive. The sight is often really not encouraging at that time of the season: few green in the beds, and instead, many things dry from last fall, fallen masts here and there. We experience since 2 years unusual beech fruiting, for whatever reason, amongst them climatic ones probably. This means lots of husks on the ground. A big part is removed when cleaning the garden from fallen leaves in autumn, but there is still as much left after winterstorms and snow. The ways and  beds are insanely dirty, and if the weather's dull and moist the day I take this pic, then it's over: where to begin without being discouraged?





Why keeping trees such as beeches in an alpine garden if they cause so much problems and work ? Well, the ones that were obviously damaging beds in their vicinity have been cut down. The others have been kept, and are now preserved: gathering the dry leaves in the ways ( which represents quite a quantity),  the husks ( and adding other chosen vegetal material from the general garden maintenance), is producing after a few years a first class growing mix, which will be used for planting particular plants in the beds.

Here under a view to the boxes where the leaves are treated year after year. First year they are just put together in a hollow where they will stay the whole winter, and a part of the following season. Then they'll join the first box, where they stay another year, and then are placed in the middle box the third year, and after that, the mix is almost ready to use and gets to the last box.




Here is some of the final mix in the lower part of the pic. Beautiful and smooth scented dark brown light and spongy soil. So keeping the beeches is worth it!




Of course, all the beds cannot be supplied with that stuff, and only pockets of good soil are created when needed., but it's a pleasure to do that, and the plants are responding very well to that mix when they are given some ( in addition with more or less grit, sand...)

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 2, part 2


They're responding well, and for some of them perhaps will be finally rewarded by being simply eaten by these pests:



Bad year with the rodents, I hope they are getting now toward the maximum pick of their population cycle, or have passed it. Their impact on plants is getting really strong in some places, even around the garden, and I have already seen many new plant-shoots regularly eaten to the ground in the beds, which is very rude at that time of the year.

Fortunately it's not everywhere as worse as seen on the pic above, but no bed is safe currently, and some places suffered a lot again this winter. Rodents seem to love Dianthus, and there were many losses amongst them for example.



That Lewisia didn't have to wait until snowmelt to disappear totaly. This was a well grown plant, which lived since 10 years at least.

A whole Gypsophila aretioides disappeared the same way, living the pot empty, several old Ramonda myconi, and the pests are now trying many Allium relatives in the propagation area, cutting appearing new leaves, and searching the bulb in the soil for some species! And, and, and...

So few can be done. Traps are relatively inefficient, and won't take much of the animals anyway, when there are so much coming from all around.

Let's hope for some natural population regulation then.

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 2, part 3


Onto happier things now, with this small first tour through the garden, which got some extraordinary 170mm of rain in only 3 days last week-end! That was a real monsoon wake-up after the recent snow-melt.

Below, the Himalaya part, with the easy  and  tireless Primula denticulata giving its best for the moment in these older place of the bed, which is loudly calling for a total renewal anytime. Might be this year perhaps.

Rhododendron fargesii in the right background, overhanging the chinese bed where interesting new things are slowly showing again.



A choice of white flowers now, as to remind the snow that went recently:



Callianthemum anemonoides



Caltha leptosepala, which I recently wanted to try to cross with the common Caltha palustris, to see what it could give. Didn"t do so far, and will only do if by chance the work brings me near both plants one of these next days.



Crocus vernus ssp.albiflorus



And the queen of all pasque flowers, Pulsatilla vernalis.

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 2, part 4




A tall pale yellow flowered Lysichiton amongst smaller and bright white Lysichiton camchatcense ( which I never know how to write correctly). Probably a spontaneous hybrid with the butter yellow L.americanum growing a bit further. No more pure seed gathering possibilities in this place, although the occurrence of such hybrids is really scarce in the garden.




Anemone obtusiloba, seeding itself where the soil stays moist all the year.




Erythronium dens-canis, which will already soon disappear for the summer




Primula amoena

[Maggi Young]

An exciting start to the season, Philippe - great to see the flowers so soon after the snow.

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 3, part 1

The third week of season 2015 in the alpine garden is over. If it still takes time for the plants to really green the beds, flowers are slowly showing a bit everywhere. The himalayan stream common early flowerers let place now to what will be the second peak of flowering in this bed from June on untill later during summer. The vernal flora of the Alps is partly colouring places in the rockeries. If Soldanellas and Pulsatilla vernalis are over, Adonis vernalis is in great form, Pulsatilla alpina too. Ranunculus kuepferi with its white cups enjoys the vincinity of the stream here, or some moist shade at the bottom of a rock there. Some Primulas have already faded, others are coming. Gentiana verna is the glory of the genus for the moment.

The north american bed is also getting more animated, but as greater places of this rockery have been renewed these last years, no masse flowering yet, untill plants hopefully really settle down and expand.

It might be things are earlier in general in the beds, hoping we won't get too warm weather the next weeks to come, to keep the garden fresh and well flowered untill late June at least.

A good part of the beds has been coarsely cleaned up a first time, still have places where labels have to be lifted again though. Weeding here and there for the moment.

The weather was mainly great since last update, and only a few rain fell on one day, during which a first part of the sowing was made inside.



Sown pots are put in these drilled plastic plaques, and let so in the sowing frame for the whole summer. As there will be much turn over during summer with the pricking actions and throwing away of old species which didn't germinate after at least 2 years, these plaques are an easy way to always have this frame quite orderly. Only when the end of season comes are the not sprouted species taken out of them for the winter, in order to prevent problems with frozen water in the plaques.

Some other cool and moist but not necessarly wet days allowed the plantation of new species in the garden-beds.



Partly potted plants which are otherwise already growing too quick and would root where they should not, and also plants installed in the sandbed. These are plants for which cultivation in sand the first seasons seems more sure untill one knows better their particular requirements under the general climate here. This time a Plantago from south-east Australian mountains, Plantago muelleri, New Zealanders, such as Leucogenes leontopodium which grew very well in pure sand, as does L.grandiceps which should soon follow the same way. Helichrysum coralloides rooted cuttings then, as the mother plant only declined last year in the bed, for some reason, and had to be brought back to the propogation area for multiplication. So time to make new tries in the bed, with a different soil mix now.

Last year POtentilla coriandrifolia was planted in the chinese bed, and also in this sand bed in the propagation area, for security. It seems the plant enjoys fare more the place directly in the chinese bed with an mixture of  leaf mould/granite debris/peat. So every plant will end in the garden bed, on 2 or 3 different places however, if something bad happened on a particular place with that species

Stellera chamaejasme 1 years old seedlings are growing again, and seem happy in the sand. These are plants which may not tolerate too much root disturbing though, especially once established. They cannot grow in the propagation area forever. Some of them should be brought to Himalaya in the next days, whereas new seedlings are sprouting right now in the sowing frame ( the first batch took a huge amount of time for that! Never throw away a pot without life untill you know how the species behaves. I have wait 3 whole years for the first seedlings to appear in that pot, and that was a great surprise when something came finally out of the soil!)

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 3, part 2


Some pictures of some presently flowering species in the garden. More things from the Alps, as this is now the bed were there is most to find.

Excuse my passion for Gentiana verna when it is so beautiful under bright sunshine...





I have long tried to please it with different bizarre soil mixes including sphagnum, and other things , after reading advices on its cultivation, tried many locations, dryer ones, wet ones... I have tried to keep it in pots also. It seems nothing  never  really worked well, and the plants were always at the best only short living and never truly happy. The solution was really simple though: some added leaf mould or some similar water retentive material in the granite debris soil of the beds, some food, and that was it. Have to wait and hope now untill the lovely gentian covers a wider space, going into neighbour low plants, and, finally, seed itself around?



Primula carniolica, from the extreme south-eastern part of the Alps. An amenable species, reaching quickly flowering stage after 2/3 years of cultivation.



Primula hirsuta, living from nothing in this place. If some of the most interesting chinese species could do the same...



Linaria alpina, which would freely colonizing every area where there is only sand or greet on the top of the soil. Here in the sandbed of the propagation area. NOt always at the right place when there are some weaker neighbours around, but who could be down on it, when the plant tries to apologize in such a beautiful way?

[Philippe]

May 2015, update 3, part 3



The stunning Viola calcarata with flowers of almost transparent blue-lilac.

Onto Pulsatillas now. First with Pulsatilla alpina



Then Pulsatilla alpina ssp.styriaca, from the eastern Alps



Living the Alps for the Pyrénées, with the lovely Androsace ciliata, recently in full blossom.



 Let's see in other areas what happens.



 Potentilla microphylla from China, with very nice emerging new foliage