Fleurs (flowers, she said)
by Heather 20 Oct 2011
Rond-point (traffic circle) in Moret-sur-Loing
The French adore flowers. From the tiny boxes perched below windows spilling blossoms down stone walls to the enormous colorful gardens in the center of traffic circles, flowers abound in France. Curious about the amazing displays, I did some research on the topic. It turns out that France’s villages and cities compete in jurried competitions to earn a special designation as “Villes et Villages Fleuris” (Cities and Villages in Bloom). Over 12,000 such villages (nearly 1/3 of all the municipalities in France) have been awarded at least 1 blossom or as many as 4 blossoms. The tradition of putting flowers in public spaces dates back about 100 years, coinciding with the debut our rail tourism to France. Train station managers, hoteliers and local clubs encouraged these lovely displays to beautify public spaces. The official organization overseeing the designation celebrated 50 years in 2009!
The flowers aboard Après Ski
Naturally, Après Ski displays her own flowers. Our spring collection featured edible herbs on the foredeck (thyme, basil and rosemary) and an assortment of geraniums and an unknown, yellow flower on the upper deck. This fall, the foredeck displays heather (I couldn’t resist purchasing my namesake) and lavender while the upper deck hosts a collection of mums. French people, particularly little old ladies, often stop and compliment us on our flowers.
I wish we had the gardening skills of Kent’s cousin, Jody. She has one of the most constantly colorful gardens I’ve seen (we track it through her blog), in addition to authoring the definitive Atlantic coast gardening book, Plants for Atlantic Gardens. I bet she could make some really amazing suggestions for Après Ski after studying the local varietals.
We are very pleased the French take their flowers so seriously; it’s so nice to always see a little splash of color just about everywhere we look!
On the canal above Montargis
Villiers-sur-Yonne
Spring flowers on Après Ski, at the entrance to the Canal du Midi
Bridge flowers in Nemours
Flowers in Nargis
Château de Faulin
Maybe you could get Americans to do the same. Lady Bird Johnson did her bit. Flowers are truly a feast for the eyes.
The perfect cheery post for a monsoon-y day here in Nova Scotia (sort of like the day we last saw you)! Thanks for the kind comments–and you can have the gardening skills, you just need time and to be in one spot for more than a few days. The fleurs on Apres-Ski prove that, because they look wonderful, and it’s intriguing to see what the French are growing along your vista-ways. I don’t recognize some of them, which makes me even more intrigued. The commenter above me is right about Lady Bird Johnson, who is a hero to many of us, including me. Lots of smaller-scale people carrying on her legacy. We can all do our bit, can’t we?
I’ve been following your posts avidly because I am an American who lives in France. We know the area you are barging in quite well, and envy you the time to do it. Yes, the flowers are truly wonderful! Our little town, Rueil Malmaison, has a rating of 4 on the “ville fleurie” standard and the flowers are well tended by the city, who sends around little water pumper trucks to keep them well watered. Right now they’ve just changed all the flower beds to fall flowers. And I too buy flowers in the market every week. Lately I’ve been buying roses – 7 euros for 10 roses and they last a full week.
Thanks, Barbara! I looked up a few photos of your town, and “wow” is all I can say! A four-star village is something else!! We just got back to the States, and while Virginia is absolutely lovely right now, I really really miss seeing blooms everywhere.
Ah- it brings back memories of Bretagne canal trip where all the bridges, locks and virtually entire villages were adorned with flowers. I do wish that we in the US did a better job at beautifying our cities & towns. Miss you & hope to see you sometime soon! Barbie
Yeah, I love the way that the French make huge baskets of flowers to overhang on the bridges. You could show folks a thing or two with your garden!