Buying Plants at the World 's End.

It's time to plant for summer's bounty.

GARDENINGFLORA AND FAUNA AND THE FOREST WORLD

Joan

5/4/20233 min read

The most beautiful 'serre' in the World.

This garden centre , or serre, may not look much as you arrive...just a jumble of greenhouses, shaded to keep out the fierce heat of summer. But this is certainly the place to come if you live around here and are looking to buy vegetable plants or flowers for your garden. For you will not only receive the best of advice from its proprietors M. et Mme Gros, but you are sure to buy plants of quality that are well suited to this location. Until recently their colourful plant stall was a regular sight at the local markets, but now that they are concentrating on developing their nursery further, people are flocking here to buy instead. The weather is warming up nicely and it is time to plant out our tomatoes , peppers and aubergines, so we went along to buy some. We had to wait some time to be attended to, for every customer is treated with patience , and copious wise advice is doled out along with the plants. That gave me time to explore , and discover lots of new flower varieties to plant too. Where better to buy , than from our local garden nursery where the proprietors have earth on their hands and copious knowledge to dispense.

The 'bio serre' selling organically grown vegetable plants.

M. Gros watering his seedlings.
M. Gros watering his seedlings.
Mme.. Gros  totting up the cost by hand.
Mme.. Gros  totting up the cost by hand.
A tempting array of flowering plants
A tempting array of flowering plants

But that is not all that makes this place so special.

If you have read my earlier blogs ,you will know that our house looks over towards the precipitous cliffs of the 'cirque du bout du monde,' or 'world's end.' It is here , tucked under these cliffs on the south facing slopes, that the 'bio serre' is to be found. Every time that I come here I look around in awe at its magnificent setting. While working hard to build up the greenhouses, Mme. Gros has also planted up small garden areas to show off her plants, using stone from the locality to protect less hardy species in winter. As B. was discussing which veg. plants to buy, I wandered out back and discovered some 'work in progress' where M. et M. Gros are busy creating a bassin or pond, to be surrounded by different plants and trees and groupingsof local stone. There is a lot of work ,yet to be done, but I know that when it is finished it will be very special. "This place is my lifetime's work," Mme. Gros confided. Just look around with me, and I am sure that you will agree that this is the most beautiful serre in the world.