Dordogne public garden wins second prize for “Garden of the year 2010″

Dordogne public garden wins second prize for “Garden of the year 2010″

February 18th, 2010 |

A public garden located in the Dordogne has been awarded second-place in the national competition for “Garden of the Year 2010.”

Femme Actuelle (‘Real woman’) magazine reports that Albadere Gardens in Saint Cybarnet, a commune in the south-east of the department, has been recognised by the French Journalists Association of Garden and Horticulture (AJJH).

The garden was given the prestigious “coup de couer” award. This is named after a popular French expression that, like ‘Deja vu’, has no simple English translation. Effectively, it translates to “love at first sight” or an impulsive fondness for something based on nothing more than first impressions. The phrase tends to be used more often for impersonal objects and is a popular expression for French language tourism guides.

Albadere Gardens impressed the jury with the organic farming methods used by the resident gardeners, married couple Brigitte and Serge Lapouge. These green-thumbed Gaelic’s have been responsible for the upkeep and design of garden, which covers around two acres.

The jury of gardening journalists and horticultural experts were impressed by how Mr and Mrs Lapouge had made use of organic compost and mulch and for their ability to suit their plants to the range of climates that can sweep through the Dordogne valley over the course of a year. According to Femme Actuelle, the plants in Albadere gardens thrive in the dry soil of summer and still manage to survive the frozen sub-zero temperatures of winter.

According to their website, the Albadere gardens has been a welcome challenge for both gardeners. Committing themselves to reviving a “land almost barren”, the Lapouges have shaped their terrain from “dry, poor, stony limestone” to a fairer landscape that can handle the “cold winters and warm dry summers” .

Now, ‘Jardin d’Albadere’ contains areas such as an orchard, an ‘English garden’ of lavender and biannual flowers, a main garden of summer flowers, an enclosed garden and a ‘wild garden’ of sculpted bushes that mixes with the neighbouring woodlands.