I was literally enchanted by the fun and sunny spirit of Mansonière, a delightful landscape immersed in the French countryside, a joyful chessboard of 10 small gardens (plus a winter garden to come) created since 1994 by the owners, Michèle and Philippe Manson.
The first garden is the Rose Garden , created in a rectangular space and enclosed by a rich vegetation of evergreens to form a wall, it is a tribute to the roses that fill the flowerbeds bordered by boxwood or conifer, arranged on the sides of the central gravel path, which together with the clematis make festoons around the thin arches in the flowerbeds and connect the two banks of the path. From the thicket emerge from lively rings of seasonal plants and decorate statues, jars, the liveliness of a delightful brick fountain and the coolness of a small gazebo where you can enjoy the different fragrant perspectives lulled by the murmur of the water.
From here we enter the magic of the Lunar Garden. Square, small, in the half light, it can be an inspiration for the creation of a small intimate garden whose relative exposure to the sun instead of being a limitation becomes a source of charm. The central part of gravel is centered by a white amphora of cotoneaster, behind hydrangeas, shrub roses, while clematis and climbing roses dot the vegetal walls, in front a minute symmetrical terracotta floor, a chestnut pergola for roses and clematis, lanterns and a whitewashed wooden bench form a resting point.
A new arch, another garden, another idea. The Garden of Calm runs alongside a pavilion and recalls the meditative quiet of a Zen garden. The irregular lawn shape on one side is rounded into a gentle curve of large hydrangeas up to a natural wood bench and a bamboo trellis beyond which, among the reeds and the flow of a stream, is the collection of bonsai, continuing with the drooping movement of a large willow – the inspiration for this theme – small humps with oriental flowering shrubs and a small bamboo oasis around a symbolic mossy boulder on the pond of enigmatic carp up to the avenue on which a pendulous conifer stretches out its sumptuous cloak.
The glass “hut” of the Corte Quadra emerges from among the trees, at the crossroads of the various gardens.
The crescent of the Giardino de Profumi – like a slice of land can transform into an enchanting oasis of scents and colors – invites, during the day, to sit for a moment in suspended time, eyes closed savoring the taste of the scents. All gardens are the memory of the lost Paradise! Michèle and Philippe have collected in this microcosm scents and colors for every season.
Next is the Patio Garden , conceived as a hymn to life with sun and water, distinguished by the color blue formed by a plateau and a charming terraced ledge. From here you reach the beautiful house in red bricks and pink stone surrounded by sinuous espaliers of evergreens, climbing wisteria and climbing roses.
In front, the Garden of Contrasts stretches out , a rectangular lawn, enclosed by a thick, elastic conifer espalier, the same one that delimits the intimacy of the house, bordered by Hydrangea macrophylla , with two deep flowerbeds/gardens that face each other on the sides. In spring, one blooms with spireas and euphorbias, joined later by the peonies ‘Souvenir de Maxime Cornu’, golden yellow with flesh-colored spots and by the ‘Sang Lorrain’ splashed with purple. On the other side, in the shade of a large pine tree, a small world of rigorous forms unfolds, centered by a vine, blooming with roses of various species.
The joy of this special “garden of gardens” is concluded by the Gothic Garden, partly meditative and lit by Gallic roses, partly divided into a vegetable garden with legumes, cereals, aromatic and medicinal plants and finally the orchard with apple trees existing in France in the Middle Ages (‘Court Pendu Gris’, ‘Châtaignier’, ‘Museau de Lièvre’, ‘Reinette Grise de Saintonge’), dogwoods, plum trees, wild strawberries, Cydonia , while the open spaces are dedicated to dyeing herbs (madder and woad), the Hazel Grove and finally the Walk. This last stretch connects the different compositions to the countryside and transforms into a slow walk among the open spaces, encountering the lightness of a gazebo and the magic of the large oaks between Clematis viticella ‘Tango’ and tricolor hydrangeas ( Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Tricolor’).
Michèle and Philippe MANSON – Les Jardins de la Mansonière – 61250 Saint Céneri le Gérei, tel. 0039 (0)2 33 26 73 24, [email protected] , Perso.wanadoo.fr /lesjardinsdelamansoniere
In the various gardens of Mansonière it is possible to attend conferences, exhibitions, classical music concerts (last Saturday of May, June, July and August), by candlelight.