After an excellent weekend of visiting gardens in June 2006 I was struck by the legacy you leave behind when you plant trees. Most of what we’ve planted so far here has been fruit trees around the orchard, in the potager and in the paddock garden but we’ve also done a bit of planting with some local indigenous things from Poitou-Charente and a handful of specimen/ornamental trees.
So here, with varying degrees of accuracy and information is what we’ve planted so far. I’ll update this page when we put something new in the garden and keep it in date order, most recent first.
u n d e r – c o n s t r u c t i o n – p h o t o s – t o – f o l l o w !
November 2006, Cerisier – Coeur du Pigeon (x2)
Although we do quite-alright-thankyou-very-much for cherries we bought a couple of mature/large trees in the summer and left them in pots for 5 months before deciding to plant them out. Small heart shaped yellow/red fruits should come on at a different time than our other cherry trees so it should help stretch out the season a little.
August 2006, Tulip tree
With my permaculture head on I’ve bought a deciduous hardwood for planting in the vast savannah of our back lawn. I’m hoping to gain some passive cooling for the rear of the house and a little shade over what will be our terraces. Of interest is the fact that this ornamental tree should (in time) give us some pretty little flowers in springtime and vivid autumn colours. It also has spectacular shaped leaves.
August 2006, Damson tree (x3)
These were taken from our cottage garden in Cheshire, lovingly looked after by Adrian’s parents and then brought over to France. They are now down at the bottom of the garden in what will be a wildlife and wild fruit garden.
June 2006, Parasol pine (x2)
Truth be told we actually bought these a year ago, couldn’t decide quite where we wanted them planting out and basically just left them to it. Well, they were already outgrowing their pots and starting to topple over in the slightest breeze. We picked them up for peanuts and have noticed that in garden centres / nurseries, trees of this size (they’ve grown considerably) were looking expensive. The thought of one blowing down and getting damaged was enough to inspire us to pot them on and they’ll do fine for a year or two until we decide on a permanent location.
May 2006, Ginko Biloba
Delightful little thing and a little reminder of a holiday we took in Japan a few years ago where we saw a stunning autumnal Ginko in a breathtaking garden. A real ‘legacy’ tree as we’ll never get to see it at its most spectacular but right now it’s doing well and will go in a formal lawn in the next few years.
Pineapple Guava, Feijoa sellowiana, (x2)
Now in it’s second year and bearing a second crop of little exotic fruits. We have them in rather smart glazed pots but I suspect they’ll not last a third year in them – rate of growth is too rapid.
Tuscan pine/cyprus (x3)
Hoping for a slight whiff of elegance from these. I’ve planted them bordering the westmost portion of the potager on a small elevated section.. should give us echoes of stealing beauty.
Apple: Gala
Apple: Golden delicious
Apple: Starking red delicious
Apple: Reine de Reinette
Pear: Doyenné du Comice
Pear: William Bon Chrétien
Peaches
Peach: Nectarine “Nectared”
Peach: “Redhaven”
Peach: “Amsden”
Enthusiasm got the better of us and we bought this lot before we quite realised that we had enough peach trees to give us wheelbarrow loads of fruit.
Apricot: “Rouge de Rousillon“
Year one crop. Two fruits one of which fell off from over exuberant examination! Year two crop, 12 fat succulent and unbelievable flavour. This tree which is planted heavily in provence should offer up the very best of the apricots we have for eating.
Apricot” “Peche de Nancy”
Oak: English Wilmslow Peat Bog Rescue Special
A long story comes with this. Our old cottage in Cheshire was sandwiched between a SSSI and.. a peat bog. The peat was harvested for whatever peat gets used for… and the ancient deciduous woodland that was on top of the peat just got ploughed up. In the shade of a once mighty old oak we managed to pluck up a sapling from an oak that had survived the peat harvest so we’d grown it on in a pot for four years before finally planting it in the bottom of the garden here.
Oak: Red Oak, ‘Quercus Rubra’
Oak: French Oak. x2
Olive: Nicoise type, short round leaves
Olive: Italianate, elongated leaves.
Lime: Tilia sp. x5
Prunus: Bullace (wild plum), ‘Prunus insititia’
Prunus Caucasica
Elm: Local saplings x12
Mimosa: Acacia Floribunda Quatre Saisons (unfortunately not hardy enough – mort!)
Mimosa: Acacia Floribunda ‘Mimosa d’hiver’ (unfortunately not hardy enough – mort!)
Magnolia: Stellata
Tamarix :
Willow: