France's national collection of hellebores and meconopsis thrive and grow under the caring hands of the Lemonnier family in Upper Normandy.
12/18/2001
Les Jardins de Bellevue
The Lemonnier property was already called "Bellevue" when they bought it in 1980. With characteristic wry irony, Martine Lemonnier (photo above) explains that it was well-named, since from the barren, wind-buffeted plateau as it was then afforded a clear view of trucks roaring by on the interstate about a mile away.
Martine's first step was to plant trees, both to block the "view" and the wind. With the dedication and patience so typical of her, Martine set about this project a bit differently than most of us would have: she planted all her trees from seed. "It's my preferred method," she explains, "to obtain plants perfectly suited and acclimated to our terrain."
Visitors to the
Jardins de Bellevue of today can reap the rewards of her patient and purist approach.
Some of the most beautiful specimens I've ever seen of
Acer griseum, Prunus serrula, and Betula costata 'Ermanii' (see photo at left) grace the gardens with their spectacular bark of exfoliating cinnamon brown, burnished copper, and smooth, pure, creamy white, respectively.
It's no accident that the Lemonniers chose to plant many trees with spectacular bark which is most admirable in winter. Martine's overriding passion is the collection and breeding of the genus
Helleborus, the hellebores whose various members are known by the common names of Christmas rose (
H. niger), Lenten rose (
H. x orientalis), bearsfoot hellebore (
H. foetidus), among others. All of these begin flowering anywhere from December to February, and continue through May. The handsome bark on these trees complements the tender colors of these extraordinary winter blossoms.
I also suffer from a passion for these unique plants, which have bold, leathery, mostly evergreen foliage and large waxy blossoms in colors ranging from purest white (See Photo 1 below of
Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose) through every shade of pink, rose, plum, almost iridescent black, as well as peachy and chartreuse shades (see the photo of
Helleborus lividus at right below and the one of my favorite cultivar,
H. x orientalis 'Peche' (see photo 2 below).
The range of colors exhibited by the blossoms of the oriental hybrids is especially amazing. Not only do the hues vary dramatically from cultivar to cultivar, but any individual flower changes color slowly and subtly as the blossom ages over a period of months. That's right--much like hydrangea blossoms, those of hellebores slowly age, becoming thicker and changing colors, before finally turning brown and dropping their seeds sometime in late June. During this period, the flower is ripening the seeds in its nectaries, the 5 slightly swollen structures at the center of each flower. These nectaries become more and more swollen as the months pass toward summer.
Some cultivars are so dark maroon as to appear almost black, and indeed, one of them is a deep plum verging on violet, with a blackish green iridescence. For a sampling of some of the darker hues, see Photo 3 below. These are dark-colored blossoms floating in a bowl. Many cultivars are freckled or spotted with a darker color, usually a deep dark red or purple, almost like a fine spray of inkspots across the petals.
The Lemonniers have built what Martine calls her hellebore's
château, a start-of-the-art glass greenhouse facility where large mother plant of each of the cultivars Martine is tracking in her breeding program sits atop a column, apart from all the others, aloof as a queen. There's a reason for this. The plants are kept widely separated to prevent accidental cross pollination, for all the plants in the chateau are queen bees who will be carefully hand-pollinated in Martine's ongoing hybridization program.
But while it's easy to become distracted by the fascinating world of hellebores at the Belleview gardens, it's just as important to appreciate the gardens as a whole. In late spring, visiting Americans would feel right at home, for then the Lemonnier's garden is abloom with a wealth of North American native wildflowers. In early summer, a period I've unfortunately missed until now, the collection of spectacular and rare Himalayan blue poppies
Meconopsis spp. as well as the fantastic, spike-flowering Nepalese poppies, comes into bloom. The Lemonniers also have planted a wide range of hydrangeas, including many interesting species. Then in late summer, whole trees seem to be ablaze with the climbing nasturtiums native to the Cordillera.
While there is always something wonderful to see at Bellevue, I admit to being partial to February and March, when the sophisticated yet subdued hues of the hellebores are set off by the mosaic of soft brown leaves beneath them, accompanied only by a few very early bulbs (see Photo3 below) and perhaps a winterhazel in bloom, dangling its miniscule, sweetly perfumed blossoms of delicate acid yellow in the chilly air. To help take the chill out of viewing their hellebores, the Lemonniers host a special openhouse (usually the second weekend in February), when they serve hot mulled wine to reinforce you for stroll in the chilly garden. At this time, the greenhouse is also open for viewing. Since each cultivar is cameoed and labelled, this makes for a wonderful opportunity for noting your favorites for inclusion in your own garden.
Just as their ethereal beauty seems to last impossibly long in the garden, hellebores last in indoor arrangements for weeks, as long as you take care to recut their stems under water. Visitors to the February openhouse at the Lemonniers' are treated to the site of bowlfuls of the blossoms floating amid artfully scattered moss and leaves (see Photo 4 below).
Whatever time of year you find yourself in France, be sure to discover the magic of the
Jardins de Bellevue. They are so artfully designed that you'd never know you're in the gardens of plant collectors. The gardens are open every day from 10 am to 6 in the evening, at a cost of 30 FF per person (approximately $5). They are located at 76850 Beaumont-le-Hareng. Telephone: 011.33.2.35.33.31.37; fax: 011.33.2.35.33.29.44. After your visit, you can pop over to the lovely nearby village of Sait-Saens, home to--you guessed it--Camille Saint-Saens.
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Click below for more pictures from this garden:
picture 1 |
picture 2 |
picture 3 |
picture 4 |
Tuscan tegame
Pumpkin 'Galeuse d.Eysines'
Bachelor's buttons enamel coffeepot