Jardin d’Agapanthe

This is a garden that has been on my list of places to visit for a while now.  About half an hour north of Rouen, it is an extraordinarily sophisticated and beautiful garden tucked away on two sides of a road  in a tiny village.

Alliums amongst box and hydrangea paniculata

Alexandre Thomas is the presiding genius and he was yet another example of how contemporary French gardeners can beat us at our own game when they put their minds to it.   Alexandre is also a very successful interior designer and he does treat the garden rather like a set, bringing in mature plants and moving things around to create effects and the result is quite breathtaking.  The trick of top dressing the soil with a deep layer of sand had the effect of bringing light to even the shadiest areas – very clever. www.jardins-agapanthe.fr

The house is unrestored inside, just decorated externally as the ultimate architectural feature in the garden

White wisteria overhanging the gate between the two gardens at Jardin d’Agapanthe

The entire garden has been given a top dressing of deep sand – it lights the plants from below

Magnolia wilsonii

The dell garden with towering eremurus