Haut Chitelet Alpine Garden (France)

[Maggi Young]

Oh Tim, you  are lucky!

[Tim Ingram]

Lucky and very grateful to David Sayers and Sylvie Buat-Ménard who organised the trip and to our marvellous driver, Derek, who managed to turn a large coach around on a sixpence along some of the narrow lanes! Philippe was a kind host and we are especially grateful to the SRGC Forum and his blog here which inspired us to go in the first place

[astragalus]

Lucky, lucky you, Tim.  Hope to see many pictures posted of Philippe's garden soon.

[Tim Ingram]

Here is a taster Anne! A little stand of Lilium pyrenaicum . We visited a number of other gardens, including Le Jardin de Berchigranges made by Monique and Thierry Dronet, which is comparable with Beth Chatto's garden in the UK for its skilled and artistic association of plants and great imagination. One of the most stimulating gardens that I've ever seen, making full use of its location in an old quarry high on the flanks of the Alsacian hills.

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 1

First of all, thank you Tim for your visit lastly with the group. It's always a pleasure to think people are making the trip  to take a look .  Hopefully the group enjoyed the walk in the garden and the small detour on the propagation area.
I'll be pleased also to see your pics. Seeing the garden through different eyes is interesting.

Meanwhile, here's the update of the last 2 weeks.

This will surely be the longest of the season, with the flowering peak going on the last 2 weeks.

I'm thinking about the rest of the season now, the best part is already soon behind us. It's just a curious feeling. There are so many wonderful flowers and plants to look at and to care for, one wishes it should last much longer, if simply never end, but it always stays elusive in the end, having the weird impression of some unexplainable lack when it's over. Yet there's nothing more that can be done than simply appreciating the sight of all these flowers. They're here, and then they simply go.

Otherwise, apologizes for the shameful previous non-update in the middle of the high season, this one's going to be more interesting I hope!

Even if that's probably my favourite, don't be surprised to see more things from the asian rockeries, these are the parts of the garden which have welcome the most numerous new species these last seasons.



Dryas octopetala, bis repetita of last update, under a new sight here. This small part of the Alps bed has come to a kind of natural balance. It's now at least 7 bis 8 years old, and most of the species implanted then are still here and live together peacefully now, without almost any kind of gardener intervention. Dryas octopetala once tended to overwhelm the place at the beginning, but it now has retreated on the rocks, its favourite place, after having disappeared from the soil surface where it simply died ( for any reason). Gentiana acaulis in the middle flowers each year, more or less, Linaria alpina seeds itself from time to time, together with Draba aizoides, Linnaea borealis is hiding under the shady and cooler north face of a rock, and flowers there regularly now, in the vicinity of Carlina acaulis in the background. I wish all the garden could live so freely and in harmony.




Aquilegia caerulea

Amongst the species I wanted to see flowering in the garden, Aquilegia caerulea. Finaly done. For me personaly, this is one of the most refined species of all tall Aquilegias. I'm just a bit deceived that this plant seems to be a very pale flowering form, as the blue in the back of the flower almost looks white. The point now is to propagate the plant, but that won't be for this year unfortunately, as it wasn't isolated from other species in the garden, so seeds may give again all sorts of hybrids and different form/colours.




Meconopsis quintuplinervia

A young plant, flowering for the first time too. A chance it can be divided, as a good perennial growing species, then it doesn't seem to form seed, and even if some pods are forming, they mostly disappear after a few day. I suspect rodents are to blame here again, as it isn't otherwise a really eye-catching plant that would attract people's hands ( as does M.betonicifolia for example )




Meconopsis punicea

This typically is the kind of plant I am standing in front of, admiring the flowers, and feeling the "lack" when it fades later One wonders why...Generously hand pollination on this particular species, seeds from the exchanges are more than tricky to germinate ( this one plant is the only one that succed in almost 5 years of several tries). And it rather tends to behave mostly as a monocarpic species, a shame. So wish me luck with the forming seeds, if there are indeed some inthere!




Primula pulverulenta

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 2



Silene davidii

From China, reminiscent of some small Saponaria pumilio




Primula reidii




Primula muscarioides

This species simply has to find a nice flowering groundcover to enhance the beauty of the deep violet flowers. Trollius pumilus would have done perfectly, but is flowering somewhat later...Will have to think about some association for the seasons to come.




Lewisia tweedyi

One of the various colour forms of this superb Lewisia. They generaly have done remarkably well this year, with generous blossom. However ,what a pity the fragile flowers and stems were damaged by the hail thunderstorm around mid June.

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 3



Lewisia cotyledon

Didn't look good at all after the hail. But was so nice just before.




Lewisia leana

Well,  the "weedy" species of the genera in my opinion. Flowers are too small and arranged quite in a messy way to make it look as beautiful and substantial as both precedents.




Cytisus pygmaeus from south-eastern Europe mountains and Turkey

Just covered with very long lasting flowers this year. A gem!




Dianthus myrtinervius

If the Cytisus above was a gem, what is then this Dianthus after? It flowered for the first time, and only on the southern half of the cushion. Needs for sun, hot place, rocks, and well drained and not too rich soil. I couldn't resist and tried many cuttings last fall, when I saw the slowly perfect developing cushion. Good idea, this plant has to be scattered everywhere in the Balkans rockbed, and will be, as most of the cuttings have rooted meanwhile. Oh I can't wait to see the lovely round bowls covering themselves with masses of tiny pink flowers among the rocks !




A general view above the Alps bed, with Crepis aurea in orange. I have to be careful with that species, it seeds itself all around, but I can't weed the seedlings easily, as I always have in mind this splendid and easy bright orange to come...It has already found its way in the Carpathians bed just nearby, and it's a chance it obviously grows there in the wild, to really justify its presence in this bed now. But from there on, it should absolutely not make the jump across the way into North America or the near New-Zealand, of course

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 4



Another view of the same bed, this time with Anemone narcissiflora, sadly a disappearing species in the Vosges, whereas it is still abundant in the Alps and other mountains of Europe. From a distance, it really diserves its latine name. One would almost see Narcissus poeticus in some flowering stems, which grows here to, but is already going dormant at this time of the year. Note the flowering spikes of Paradisia liliastrum, add some Lathyrus laevigatus, Lilium bulbiferum, the Crepis aurea, and you have a lovely combination of pure whites and oranges. Problem is that all these species are not flowering together...




Meconopsis betonicifolia and a part of the chinses bed in the background.




Primula watsonii

There will be 3 almost black flowers in this update. This one is the first, and I am already cracking when I stand in front of it.





Anemone trullifolia var linearis




Tephroseris capitata

Interesting association of both silvery hairy foliage and deep orange flowers. Yet another plant that must absolutely be propagated by all means in the seasons to come!

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 5



Meconopsis delavayi

One of the more humble species of the genera, no extravagance in foliage, size, or flower colour, nonetheless a very desirable plant for a smaller place in the rockbed.




Lilium lophophorum

If there should be just one lily left in the world, it would surely be this one for me ( untill I really discover the other tremendous dwarf species of SW China)




Phyteuma vagneri

Endemic from the Carpathian mountains it seems. And typical with its very dark purple black colour. There must be masses of that plant in this bed too. Propagation, propagation...




Lilium oxypetalum var insigne.

Well, what did I just say about Lilium lophophorum?...




Potentilla microphylla

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 6



Leucogenes leontopodium.

The european Alps have the well-known Edelweiss. New Zealand has even better things, as usual And it seems this one is absolutely not known amongst the "normal" visitors who come to the garden. However it is much more superior in every sense to Leontopodium alpinum, which would look almost weedy in comparison...




The unwrittable and unpronouncable Zaluzianskya oreophila from Drakensberg.

All this complicated nomination for such a marvelous little plant. Belonging to the Scrophulariaceae family (?), although the flowers would at first look remind of Silene or Lychnis. Useless trying to find it by day, one will only see the red reverse of the bowl shaped closed petals, and the flower will only open in the evening and through the night.




Iris chrysographes, black flowered form.

Ideas about creating a bed with black and white flowers?




Leontopodium alpinum




Leptinella atrata

Another of this often intrigating and exciting NewZealand plants!

[Philippe]

June 2015, update 6, part 7



Moraea alticola

The southern Africa bed is currently dominated by the presence of this superb Iris-like plant




Centaurea cheiranthifolia

A dream comes true ( see last year's updates), Centaurea cheiranthifolia from the Caucasus, associated with the caucasian Papaver lateritium for a delicious mix. Other big caucasian perennials should complete the scene during the next seasons, in order to get hopefully a very colourful bed in the end.




Meconopsis horridula




And a last one, Dianthus alpinus, with huge huge huge flashy pink flowers.



I am so disappointing, when seeing all these flowers, that the garden is going to have to face another climatic extreme in the days to come.
A heatwave should hit France this week, heading toward north later. Historic highs are very likely to occur a bit everywhere ( 40°c and more in the lowlands, even over restricted parts of North France), and we are expecting several days of very fierce sunshine here, with night temperatures not going well below 20°C and daily highs around 30°C at least. This could last one week or more, hopefully not much more, because last rain is already 8 days backwards now, and no other will fall the next 7 to come. Many of the flowering beauties of this late June will simply burn in the sun within 3 or 4 days, but most important, I fear for the plants themselves, as they will have a very very tough time.
Really worried about genera such as Primula or Cremanthodium in first line, as soon as the heat will come. And for the rest of the garden if rain and fresh moist air really doesn't come after that.

Therefore we began mulching plants in the rockbeds. No more simple grit which is still the best solution for smaller plants of course, but a mix of composted leaves first with a layer of brocken dried ferns above for the taller plants, in order to bring some organic material first, and  keep the soil more fresh and not loose too much moisture with  a weather such as the one which is coming.

It's not necessarly the heatwave to come which encouraged that decision, but simply the anormal multiplication of repeated dry or too warm events through the seasons, and then the sudden downpours that take away so much precious nutrients by progressively washing out the soil itself.  More than ever, this is the signature of the ongoing climatic change trend here.

Mulching the beds would probably have been regarded as totally useless and even grotesque only 30 years ago, but there's been such a huge change in the weatherpattern in the last 10 to 15 years, it becomes today just irresponsible to go on the way it used to work before.
Meanwhile, mulching and running up and down throughout the garden to hold water will probably be the main occupation these next days.

[Hoy]

You certainly have many, many gems there, Philippe! Hope you manage to save them through the heat (I hope a little bit of that heat reaches us, we have waited for warmer weather for 2 months now!).

[Yann]

thanks Philippe for sharing these fantastic sets.
I hope you can manage the heat.i've lost 40% of my Primula and Androsace in 10 days. 35°c today, 39°c on wednesday, i didn't see the forecast for the vosges. Next year i'll begin to plant cactus and Acantholimon in the whole garden 

[Chris Johnson]

Philippe

A wonderful display, thanks for sharing.

Like Trond, we have been under cloud for most of the spring and summer with temperatures rarely exceeding 12c.

[astragalus]

Philippe, thank you for the update of the garden.  So many wonderful plants shown and all so well grown and healthy looking.  Dryas octopetala was truly amazing - I'd love to be able to grow it like that.  Did you grow the Cytisus pygmaeus from seed?