Le Potager du Château de Bosmelet

A rainbow of vegetables, fruits and flowers flourish within the garden walls of the Château de Bosmelet.

02/04/2002
Le Potager du Château de Bosmelet
Hidden away in the gently rolling countryside of upper Normandy, the potager at the Château de Bosmelet is so much more than a vegetable garden. Within the ancient rosy brick garden walls which historically enclosed the manor's kitchen garden, flourishes a rainbow of hundreds of vegetable varieties, fruit trees, and annual flowers, framed by rose arbors and mixed borders and anchored by an ancient pool. This unique garden's subtitle is le potager "Arc en Ciel", or the rainbow vegetable garden, since the classically arranged quadrants are arranged by color: sapphire blue, amber (yellows through orange), garnet red, and ivory white (see a corner of the white quadrant below).

The chateau was built at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1715, under the direction of Louis XIV's landscape architect, Le Nôtre, a long allée of European lindens was planted to mark the way to the walled kitchen garden. Today, 171 of these magnificent trees remain, at a majestic height of around 120 feet.

During World War II, Hitler's forces occupied the château, using it to strategize attacks on nearby England. As a result, the Allies bombed the property, damaging the building and destroying several of the huge lindens. When the Mallets bought the property, they faced a huge and expensive task of restoration

Although the original design of this garden restoration was conceived by Louis Benech, one of France's leading landscape architects, it metamorphoses continually under the guiding spirits of its owners, Robert and Laurence Mallet. For instance, Robert used to work in Japan, where he became enamored of Japanese culture and cuisine. So he created another entire garden adjacent to the main one dedicated solely to Japanese vegetables. Here, you find entire beds, each one dedicated to a different Japanese vegetable, such as shungiku, mei qing choi, and tatsoi. Each bed is framed by a brocade of deep purple perilla and yellow-flowering edible chrysanthemum, in a perfect example of how this garden works within a theme to create maximum visual impact.

After having passed through this charming gatehouse, you wander across a meadow, under the towering lindens, and into the main kitchen garden. The garden is enclosed in the classic style by high walls of ancient rosy brick, protecting it from drying winds and providing support and shelter for climbing roses, a spectacular Clematis tangutica (see photo 1 below), and a collection of espaliered pear trees (see photo 2). In September, the warm tones of the brick were perfectly echoed by the rosy hues of the hydrangeas as they deepened their colors in the cooler autumnal days.

As described above, the garden comprises 4 quadrants, each dedicated to plants of a distinct color range. One thing I love about this garden is how absolute fantasy reigns within the strict classical boundaries of the garden, a characteristic that is deeply French. Thus, the garden is a giant walled rectangle, bisected by a large mixed border and the pool. Each half comprises two giant rectangular beds, planted in the classical long-row fashion of the traditional French potager.

But what a riot of color and juxtaposition of floral and vegetable strains against those rigorous constraints! Teepees of fragrant sweetpeas mingle with artichokes and cabbages in the red/purple quadrant, nasturtiums and dahlias with ancient varieties of tomatoes and pumpkins in the hot-hued amber area. Birds and butterflies, however, know no boundaries, and are in evidence everywhere in this garden.

A wealth of flowers mingles with the vegetables in this superb potager. Cornflowers, nicotiana, red orach gone to resplendent fuschia as it turns to seed, cleomes, amaranths, cockscombs, and nasturtiums number among the annuals. Over a hundred perennials and many shrubs of colorful foliage fill the mixed borders. One entire wide row is devoted to a riot of dahlias, each staked and growing lustily to 5 or 6 feet tall.

All these blossoms do not grow in vain. After you tire of viewing the resplendent garden, you can wander into the château. Three big rooms are open on the main floor, and they are always filled with breathtaking arrangements of flowers cut from the gardens.

Le Potager du Château de Bosmelet is open to the public from the 15th of June to the 15th of September, every day except Monday and Tuesday, from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. In the days of the French franc, admission was 30 FF (about 4.57 euros); children under 16 are free. The address, should you like to write for information, is Château de Bosmelet, 76720 Auffay, France. Telephone: (011.33)(0)2 35 32 81 07; fax: (011.33)(0)2 35 32 84 62.

If you go, don't miss the cow peepshow through the wall at the western boundary of the garden.

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picture 1

picture 2

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