“Life begins the day you start a garden”
so says a Chinese proverb - we couldn’t agree more
We are so overjoyed to have so many distinctly different corners of paradise here at Hotel de l’Orange. There are three, or perhaps four, extreme gardening styles at work in our gardens which are putting our fledgling horticultural skills to the test all year long. Two of the gardens are enclosed, one is protected from the wild winds and two are fully exposed to the battering sun. What works in one, doesn’t stand a chance in the others!
The formal French garden of the Chateau fort entrance, also called the jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. We’re not sure we’ve quite mastered it yet, our succession planting needs more work, and our idea of imposing order is a little casual but the displays of tulip, muscari & allium in the spring are breathtaking and well worth a visit.
We always dreamt of having a banana tree and the beautiful specimen overhanging the breakfast courtyard brings us pleasure all summer long. It’s form is so evocative and alongside the palms transports me to a tropical paradise every morning. We are fighting the good fight with the red palm beetle and the box hedge caterpillars, all the tragic signs of changing habitats.
The pool terrace garden is a dry Mediterranean garden, semi wild and care-free but with structure of box, grasses and key garrigue plants and salvias. With long hot summers, a super exposed position and the occasional storm, followed by damp mild winters, the choice of plants is crucial up here. Inspired by Olivier Filippi’s wonderful Planting Design for Dry Gardens and supplied locally by the Terre qui Chant in Aujargues & the brilliant Pépinières Quissac in Souvignargues.
Finally there is our kitchen garden; 8 varieties of tomato, all the ingredients for gazpacho, peppers, chillis, garlics, chard, all the berries – strawberry, raspberry, blackberry – peaches, oranges, beetroot, radishes, herbs… joyful
