In the Loiret, a “path of the rose.”
The department of Loiret has just launched a route to discover its remarkable gardens, but also “better value” its nursery.
As far back as she can remember, Francia Thauvin has always lived among roses. This daughter and granddaughter of nursery workers in Saint-Cyr-en-Val nevertheless began her professional life in the industry. Then, in 1989, she started her own business (1), perpetuating the long tradition of nursery workers in the Orléans region.
For the past three years, her daughter Flora has taken over her nursery where nearly a thousand varieties are cultivated, including all the old varieties (creations) from Orléans. “It’s very hard physically, says the latter. We work in the open field, always folded in two, we have to face the bad weather, the cold, the heat wave, the uncertainty also because the grafts of the rose trees do not always succeed. “It’s difficult also financially,” adds his mother Francia, prompt to regret that “we earn more money by selling than by producing.” “Many outlets, she regrets, prefer to stock up in Belgium, Germany or the Netherlands. “
“Forty years ago, Orleans and its suburbs had dozens of nurserymen. Today, we are the last rose grower, “says Francia Thauvin. What happened? “A nursery is not selling. Either she transmits to a child, or she stops. But children do not always recover, “said Flora, nevertheless very” happy “of his choice.
Engage young people in this profession
A passionate profession, ornamental horticulture attracts less young people. Dominique and Nicole Piermont, who own in their nursery Olivet a reputed collection of 150 viburnums (shrubs with a fragrant bloom), have long sought, in vain, a buyer. “I sell my stocks, then I stop this year,” confides Dominique, 72 years. In Orleans, Françoise Girault, specializing in perennials, will cease, her, activity in 2020. “I do not want any buyer! In this business, do not count your hours, and at the end, you do not even win the mix! Exclaims this girl, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of a nurseryman.
Statistics confirm this: between 2000 and 2010, the Center-Val de Loire region saw the disappearance of companies producing flowers and ornamental plants at a faster pace than the rest of France: there were 623. Only some remain 377, a decrease of almost 40%, especially among small structures.
If the department of Loiret has just launched a “path of the rose” (2), it is not only to attract more tourists. It is also to raise awareness of its nursery, said Aude de Quatrebarbes, Deputy Mayor of Orleans, who hopes to arouse the interest of young people for this profession. “There may be hope,” she says. I observe, at home, a renewed interest in nature and the earth. “
To create this path of the rose, all the local actors got involved: tourism officials, the elected officials of the department, Orléans, Gâtinais and Pithiviers, those of the city of Bellegarde. They are, it is true, custodians of a long tradition. From the Middle Ages, the sandy soils bathed by the river and the mild climate favored the horticultural vocation of the Loire Valley. Very alive in the sixteenth century, it was strengthened in the eighteenth when the plants and seeds of America and Asia landed in Nantes were transported on the Loire to Orleans before joining Paris.
Each will select their itinerary on the circuit of 15 gardens
Became the cradle of renowned nurseries, the Loiret arrive famous botanists like physicist and agronomist Duhamel du Monceau. In the 19th century, famous breeders (creators) of roses developed: Barbier, Corbœuf, Turbat, Vigneron, Hemera-Aubert, followed, in the twentieth century, by Marcel Robichon and André Ève.
The flowers became inseparable from the destiny of Loiret, the first festivals of the Saint-Fiacre – patron of horticulturists and gardeners – were born in Orleans in 1806, then the first International Floralies in 1967. In the 1950s, this city and its agglomeration provided more than a quarter of the French production of roses.
Visitors who embark on the brand new “Chemin de la rose” will find that, despite the current difficulties of the profession, this passion still shapes the landscape. Each will select their itinerary on the circuit of 15 gardens, producers, arboretums, castles, parks, rose gardens, etc. offers. The opportunity to see beautiful roses in spring or September, get professional advice and buy roses – containers in spring, bare-rooted in autumn – stopping at Francia Thauvin Saint -Cyr-en-Val, at André Eve at Chilleurs-aux-Bois or France Pilté, at Quiers-sure-Bézonde.
Orleans remains a must.
And then, there will be the pleasure of discovery. Those of the Roquelin Gardens, in the former cattle farm, in Meung-Sur-Loire, for example. Since 1998, Stéphane Chassine has staged more than 450 varieties of old roses, mixed with perennials, medicinal plants, ornamental shrubs along sodded winding paths. This very romantic place has a crazy charm! Remarkable also, in Montbarrois, the park of the manor of Javelière. Since he took a passion for plants, the owner, Patrick Masure, has also created a rare collection of botanical roses from all continents.
The discovery, in La Neuville-sur-Essonne, of the large garden of the Théâtre des Minutes will not be less attractive. In front of the large farmhouse installed in the ruins of the 13th-century castle, Arnaud Parent and his artist friends welcome the rose garden conservatory designed and imagined by the famous creator of roses, André Eve who, in the evening of his life, had bound himself of friendship with them. This rose garden, therefore, brings together all the roses he has created, each associated with his two “parents,” in an impressionistic setting of perennials. Those who wish can also, by appointment, visit the private garden of André Eve at Pithiviers (his friends maintain him, gathered in association chaired by Arnaud Parent), and nearby, in Morales, the rose garden which has long served as a showroom.
If all the stops on the way of the rose are exciting, Orleans remains nonetheless unavoidable. Its remarkable rose garden located in the floral park of La Source, near the water mirror, offers a beautiful view of the castle of the same name. The Garden plants hosts, him, a rose garden in which are presented all awarded roses to the annual international competition held there since 1959. Finally, in the Saint-Marceau quarter, the rose garden Jean Dupont home to 200 varieties of roses created in Orléans and its region since the 1850s.
Will highlighting all these wonders be enough to give courage to the nurserymen and to create new vocations, as Aude de Quatrebarbes hopes? “It will be necessary, insists Francia Thauvin, that the communication effort is supported. “
Cultivated since the Middle Ages
Since the Middle Ages, gardeners spotted a small wild rose with five petals and delicate colors, Rosa gallica rose or France, which grew spontaneously in forests and wild edges of Gâtinais. Transplanted in fertile soil, this rose spontaneously to 10-15 petals. The habit was therefore taken to tear it in the woods for use in gardens where he became the ancestor of many varieties of roses.
This species endangered has been protected since 1982. It must not be confused with the wild rose that belongs to the species Rosa canina, or dog rose, which also grows in the forest of Orleans. From the late eighteenth, loggers tore these wild roses for resale to orléanaises nurseries that used them to graft their roses “between Notre Dame” (August 15 and September 9).
