From time to time I post a French "flower show". I can't resist the way the French plant flowers with abandon, in a mélange of happy colors. Here are some photos I've collected, some bouquets to cheer you and all in settings that can only be French. I hope they lift your spirits.
Flower boxes hang from our friends' balcony in the Alps.
A sort of window box gone wild, in Arnay-le-Duc.
A villa on the Mediterranean coast that lives up to its name.
The French often smother their charming old bridges with flowers. This one is in Alsace.
This is the parterre garden at the Château de Cormatin, near Cluny. 
My friend Ellen is an artist and designer, and the arrangements from her garden are artful as well.
In a park near our house in Beaune.
Hydrangeas do beautifully in our area.
A public planting in Beaune.
And another exuberant public planting, in Alsace.
Provence doesn't have the corner on lavender. It grows well in Burgundy, too. This photo is from our own former garden near Cluny.
I love that the French can make a garden out of the smallest of spaces.
Old wine barrels in Burgundy are often pressed into service as pots.
Forget-me-nots peek from a stone wall with careless gaiety…
… but the French can do formal, as well
A happy blooming summer to all!
In the COMMENTS: Paula has cooking tips about garlic for us, and so does Jane but she uses a different technique. Jane, I wonder if the salt might take the “sting” out of the garlic for those who can’t normally eat it. Page adds sun-dried tomatoes to her spinach or broccoli soufflé, a brilliant idea, for a little tang and another layer of flavor.
36 thoughts on “A Sneak Peek at Peak Season”
Oh I am so excited to continue that tradition at Moulin des Fleurs! It will take years, but I’ve already selected a pallet of cool pastels. I’m adding hydrangeas to my list. Do you have any other recommendations for flowering perennials that grow well in the region? Lavender, roses, hydrangeas, camellias, peonies, bulbs, what others can you recommend? Thank you for posting the glorious photos!
Oh I am so excited to continue that tradition at Moulin des Fleurs! It will take years, but I’ve already selected a pallet of cool pastels. I’m adding hydrangeas to my list. Do you have any other recommendations for flowering perennials that grow well in the region? Lavender, roses, hydrangeas, camellias, peonies, bulbs, what others can you recommend? Thank you for posting the glorious photos!
Oh I am so excited to continue that tradition at Moulin des Fleurs! It will take years, but I’ve already selected a pallet of cool pastels. I’m adding hydrangeas to my list. Do you have any other recommendations for flowering perennials that grow well in the region? Lavender, roses, hydrangeas, camellias, peonies, bulbs, what others can you recommend? Thank you for posting the glorious photos!
Thanks for the floral episode. Our first fourteen trips to France were all in June since we were marshals at the LeMans 24 hour race. French gardens were all in spectacular bloom while ours here in Oregon were not yet at their peak when we left. I was suffused with garden envy during my French travels and did my best to emulate, on my return home, the sorts of things you showed. Now we go to France in the autumn when the spectacle of growing things presents a different face and a different color range and I am able to see my own garden at the peak. I think after all these years I have almost gotten over my garden envy. When I look at the roses climbing up the wires on my house (using tensioners from Gamm Vert) after twenty years of growth I am so grateful for the inspiration of my travels in France. You post awakened those feelings again. An in a few days it will be June. Bring it on! Thanks. Now if the damned virus would go away we could get on with it.
Thanks for the floral episode. Our first fourteen trips to France were all in June since we were marshals at the LeMans 24 hour race. French gardens were all in spectacular bloom while ours here in Oregon were not yet at their peak when we left. I was suffused with garden envy during my French travels and did my best to emulate, on my return home, the sorts of things you showed. Now we go to France in the autumn when the spectacle of growing things presents a different face and a different color range and I am able to see my own garden at the peak. I think after all these years I have almost gotten over my garden envy. When I look at the roses climbing up the wires on my house (using tensioners from Gamm Vert) after twenty years of growth I am so grateful for the inspiration of my travels in France. You post awakened those feelings again. An in a few days it will be June. Bring it on! Thanks. Now if the damned virus would go away we could get on with it.
Thanks for the floral episode. Our first fourteen trips to France were all in June since we were marshals at the LeMans 24 hour race. French gardens were all in spectacular bloom while ours here in Oregon were not yet at their peak when we left. I was suffused with garden envy during my French travels and did my best to emulate, on my return home, the sorts of things you showed. Now we go to France in the autumn when the spectacle of growing things presents a different face and a different color range and I am able to see my own garden at the peak. I think after all these years I have almost gotten over my garden envy. When I look at the roses climbing up the wires on my house (using tensioners from Gamm Vert) after twenty years of growth I am so grateful for the inspiration of my travels in France. You post awakened those feelings again. An in a few days it will be June. Bring it on! Thanks. Now if the damned virus would go away we could get on with it.
Hi Lynn
These are beautiful!
You should check Annecy flowers along the canals and the flowers on the chalets of La Clusaz. A delight for the eyes!
Hi Lynn
These are beautiful!
You should check Annecy flowers along the canals and the flowers on the chalets of La Clusaz. A delight for the eyes!
Hi Lynn
These are beautiful!
You should check Annecy flowers along the canals and the flowers on the chalets of La Clusaz. A delight for the eyes!
So typically French–along with the roundabouts in your post of a while ago. It’s part of what makes France so pleasurable. I long to plan a trip. My French-speaking friend and I re-read Le Petit Prince months ago. Each read gives me a new appreciation for the book. Thanks for the lift, Lynn.
Chris
So typically French–along with the roundabouts in your post of a while ago. It’s part of what makes France so pleasurable. I long to plan a trip. My French-speaking friend and I re-read Le Petit Prince months ago. Each read gives me a new appreciation for the book. Thanks for the lift, Lynn.
Chris
So typically French–along with the roundabouts in your post of a while ago. It’s part of what makes France so pleasurable. I long to plan a trip. My French-speaking friend and I re-read Le Petit Prince months ago. Each read gives me a new appreciation for the book. Thanks for the lift, Lynn.
Chris
I wish you would do a photo tour of some of the (former) charming southern (US) gardens you created long ago! Those small courtyard designs would rival any in your (lovely) recent tour. You have inspired me to try my hand at gardening (although you definitely have the green thumb). Mine is a bit more “go native in the woods” style but I do often ask myself WWLD?
Your sister, Peggy
I wish you would do a photo tour of some of the (former) charming southern (US) gardens you created long ago! Those small courtyard designs would rival any in your (lovely) recent tour. You have inspired me to try my hand at gardening (although you definitely have the green thumb). Mine is a bit more “go native in the woods” style but I do often ask myself WWLD?
Your sister, Peggy
I wish you would do a photo tour of some of the (former) charming southern (US) gardens you created long ago! Those small courtyard designs would rival any in your (lovely) recent tour. You have inspired me to try my hand at gardening (although you definitely have the green thumb). Mine is a bit more “go native in the woods” style but I do often ask myself WWLD?
Your sister, Peggy
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Just what I needed. Why do the flowers grow so much more lush in France, compared to my garden world in Alabama? I will be thankful for what I have and that I have experienced basically all that is shown in your photos. With each photo I thought, I know just where that is! I admired the same spot and have photos as well. Enjoy your weekend and thanks again!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Just what I needed. Why do the flowers grow so much more lush in France, compared to my garden world in Alabama? I will be thankful for what I have and that I have experienced basically all that is shown in your photos. With each photo I thought, I know just where that is! I admired the same spot and have photos as well. Enjoy your weekend and thanks again!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Just what I needed. Why do the flowers grow so much more lush in France, compared to my garden world in Alabama? I will be thankful for what I have and that I have experienced basically all that is shown in your photos. With each photo I thought, I know just where that is! I admired the same spot and have photos as well. Enjoy your weekend and thanks again!
Hello Lynn, I get so wistful for France when your posts arrive. I too have marveled at the beauty of French flowers and gardens and must have thousands of photos of them . We will happily return to Vaison la Romaine in July this year. Perhaps we can share some rosé in a garden somewhere. Hi to Ron.
Xoxox
Virginia
Hello Lynn, I get so wistful for France when your posts arrive. I too have marveled at the beauty of French flowers and gardens and must have thousands of photos of them . We will happily return to Vaison la Romaine in July this year. Perhaps we can share some rosé in a garden somewhere. Hi to Ron.
Xoxox
Virginia
Hello Lynn, I get so wistful for France when your posts arrive. I too have marveled at the beauty of French flowers and gardens and must have thousands of photos of them . We will happily return to Vaison la Romaine in July this year. Perhaps we can share some rosé in a garden somewhere. Hi to Ron.
Xoxox
Virginia
Lynn, these pictures are nothing short of magic–and!just have totally captured my imagination and carried me away.
You are a terrific photographer!
What a treat!!THANK YOU!!
We also studied Le Petit Prince(which was and remains a favorite).Another one (from childhood),Babar; my parents used this as a bedtime story (and as it turned out, a teaching tool as well.)
One last book to suggest(and then am taking a break!!!) The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen.This is wonderful!!
Lynn, these pictures are nothing short of magic–and!just have totally captured my imagination and carried me away.
You are a terrific photographer!
What a treat!!THANK YOU!!
We also studied Le Petit Prince(which was and remains a favorite).Another one (from childhood),Babar; my parents used this as a bedtime story (and as it turned out, a teaching tool as well.)
One last book to suggest(and then am taking a break!!!) The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen.This is wonderful!!
Lynn, these pictures are nothing short of magic–and!just have totally captured my imagination and carried me away.
You are a terrific photographer!
What a treat!!THANK YOU!!
We also studied Le Petit Prince(which was and remains a favorite).Another one (from childhood),Babar; my parents used this as a bedtime story (and as it turned out, a teaching tool as well.)
One last book to suggest(and then am taking a break!!!) The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen.This is wonderful!!
My wife says one word, STYLE. The flowers is one of the many things we miss from France.
My wife says one word, STYLE. The flowers is one of the many things we miss from France.
My wife says one word, STYLE. The flowers is one of the many things we miss from France.
Ready or not here it comes – flowers flowers flowers! Hope you are surrounded by all the beauty fo France in these spring months. Enjoy a bit of freedom!
Ready or not here it comes – flowers flowers flowers! Hope you are surrounded by all the beauty fo France in these spring months. Enjoy a bit of freedom!
Ready or not here it comes – flowers flowers flowers! Hope you are surrounded by all the beauty fo France in these spring months. Enjoy a bit of freedom!
What a breath of fresh air & flowers Lynn! My geraniums are now beginning to struggle with the heat of our summer being here now. Thank you for the happy colors!
What a breath of fresh air & flowers Lynn! My geraniums are now beginning to struggle with the heat of our summer being here now. Thank you for the happy colors!
What a breath of fresh air & flowers Lynn! My geraniums are now beginning to struggle with the heat of our summer being here now. Thank you for the happy colors!
Thank you for the lovely compliment, Lynn. This was a beautiful post!
Thank you for the lovely compliment, Lynn. This was a beautiful post!
Thank you for the lovely compliment, Lynn. This was a beautiful post!