The Ancient Horticulturist: Parlez-vous Français?

from RosemaryThymesSpring2021

by Ballinger Publishing

Rosemary Beach Foundation

The Ancient Horticulturist:

Parlez-vous Français?

by Susan Broussard

We miss traveling. We miss Rosemary Beach. It has always been our favorite laid back, toes-in-the sand, face-to-the sun place to be. However, two summers ago, we headed in a different direction and took a trip to France.

There were multiple reasons for the visit, but who would really NEED a reason? For my husband, it was the 75th anniversary of D-Day; the storming of the Normandy beaches by Allied forces during WWII. As a big WWII couch historian, he has seen, from that comfy spot, every movie and documentary made on the subject. Each one viewed many, many, MANY times.

Claude Monet’s water lily pond, the inspiration for many of his paintings.

It was also the 50th anniversary of his summer spent in France during his sixteenth year. He had always promised to take our grandson, Toby, to France for his sixteenth summer. What did my grandson think of having his summer hijacked by his doting grandparents? Let’s just say that he had not yet learned to tell his grandfather “No.” That has since been rectified.

The language could have been a barrier. While my husband had forgotten most of the French he knew, I had never learned. My grandmother tried her hardest to teach me, but I declined in a very American way: “Nope. Not interested.” It is one of my many, many, MANY regrets. At the time, Toby had been enrolled in the French immersion program from kindergarten through his sophomore year. His fluency made him the perfect translator. Consequently, Toby did all of the communicating with hotel staff, waiters, shop keepers, odd people on the street when his odd grandparents asked odd questions. He also interpreted traffic signs and speed limits as we sped past. His grandfather explained since there were no police around, the speed limits were more like suggestions. Besides, we would be home soon enough and how would they catch us then?

As much as I was looking forward to this adventure, I had only one request. I wanted to visit to Giverny. Claude Monet’s garden was my Mecca. It was not the only reason I wanted to visit France, but it was definitely in the top five. The garden did not disappoint. It was an absolutely beautiful display of color and composition.

Sitting in Claude Monet’s Garden, Giverny, France.

After being overwhelmed by the initial impression, I walked the rows and marveled at the drifts of color and the play of light on the selection of flowers and foliage. The serenity of the Water Lily Pond was like walking through nature’s cathedral. My husband dutifully followed along taking photos of every flower at every angle. Photography is his other hobby.

Fast forward to the present time and we are waiting for the goahead to start traveling again. I have spent this time of COVID seclusion at home in my garden trying to replicate what I saw two summers ago. When placing plants in my flowerbeds, I purposely plant them in sweeps of color. Even though I walked out of the gift shop with an armload of books, I have mainly used Derek Fell’s The Magic of Monet’s Garden and Secrets of Monet’s Garden as guides. I am succeeding with the sweep of color through my beds but not the sweep of color with poppies. Those beautiful reminders of the Normandy coast did not have a high germination rate in my garden. It may be the heavy rain in my area of the world. Perhaps the winters are not cold enough but I continue to try to approximate the feeling. If you live in the Rosemary Beach area, your soil is more porous and better drained than mine so may you have more luck.

Gaura lindheimeri, along with Louisiana irises, are easy to grow. However, I have succeeded in incorporating Louisiana irises in drifts throughout my garden. Another native plant that has worked wonderfully is Gaura lindheimeri. Gaura adds a delicate sprinkle of white throughout. These have both been discussed in past articles and can be found at rosemarythymes.org. Louisiana irises and Gaura are very easy to grow which is one of my main gardening requirements. To this list, I think sunflowers might be fun to try this summer. Those are pretty easy and should sweep just fine. Our memories of the trip are varied. The gardens are still vivid to me. I also remember the mysterious floral scent that drifted through the June air everywhere we traveled in Paris. I never discovered what it was. My husband often thinks of the solemn solitude surrounding the Normandy American Cemetery on the coast of the English Channel and the fields of poppies blooming outside of Pointe Du Hoc. My grandson remembers seeing his grandfather taking millions of photos of Paris life, sometimes while even standing in the middle of a busy street. We remember the feel underfoot while walking the sands of Mont Saint Michel on a foggy morning as the tide was going out.

One month after our return, two envelopes arrived in the mail. The mysterious letters were written in French but even I could tell they were speeding tickets. We had been caught. C’est la vie.