{"id":30514,"date":"2024-01-17T15:27:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T14:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/11c5a577-fdb5-4015-87ea-b0a1f9ea7bd6"},"modified":"2024-01-17T16:36:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T15:36:06","slug":"this-bewitching-garden-in-brittany-takes-topiary-to-a-whole-new-level","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/this-bewitching-garden-in-brittany-takes-topiary-to-a-whole-new-level\/","title":{"rendered":"This bewitching garden in Brittany takes topiary to a whole new level"},"content":{"rendered":"

Explore Le Grand Launay – a bewitching garden in Brittany that takes topiary to a whole new level thanks to one man\u2019s playful approach to clipping evergreens. Words Claire Masset, Photographs Anna\u00efck Guitteny <\/p>

By Gardens Illustrated Team\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 17 January 2024 at 14:27 PM<\/p>

\n\n

When Jacqueline and Jean Schalit bought Le Grand Launay in 1973, there was everything to do. The 17th-century manor was neglected, the garden overgrown and the surrounding land used for intensive monoculture. Forty years later, the estate was designated a Jardin Remarquable<\/a> by the French ministry of culture, the highest accolade awarded to gardens in France \u2013 among its ranks are Versailles, Villandry and Giverny. <\/p>

The transformation was achieved thanks to the collaboration of two men: journalist Jean Schalit and garden designer Ga\u00ebl Bo\u00ebdec. Jean sadly passed away in 2020, but Ga\u00ebl remembers their partnership fondly. \u201cWe were always exchanging ideas,\u201d he says. Jean had already cleared the ground and added many shrubs and trees to his garden when the two met in 1997. But, as Ga\u00ebl recalls, when he first saw the site it lacked unity. \u201cThe different parts weren\u2019t linked together. There was no sense of destination or invitation to journey.\u201d <\/p>

What first attracted Jean to Ga\u00ebl\u2019s work was his unusual use of clipped evergreens<\/a> \u2013 a far cry from the razor-sharp geometry of traditional French topiary. \u201cIn my garden I\u2019d created a 40m-long Lonicera<\/a><\/em> hedge with lots of undulations. It looked like a mass of people, except with no heads. Jean really liked the playful element and asked me to visit Le Grand Launay to see what I could do there.\u201d So began their long partnership. <\/p>

\u00a9 Annaick Guitenny<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For seven years, they saw each other regularly. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t transform the whole garden at once, so we did it little by little.\u201d This slow evolution is in tune with the centuries-old site, and the end result is a garden that feels like it belongs. Ga\u00ebl started by tackling the existing evergreens: thickets of laurel, camellia<\/a> and rhododendron<\/a>. He thinned them in places to allow the gaze to pass through the plantings rather than being cut short. Then he added new plants \u2013 beech, box, holly<\/a>, hornbeam \u2013 chosen for their contrasting habits, leaf shapes and, of course, their propensity for clipping. Distinct garden rooms began to take shape and vistas appeared, framed by a rich mix of topiary and hard landscaping. <\/p>

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\u00a9 Annaick Guitenny<\/figcaption><\/figure>

At the heart of the garden sits the unforgettable and much photographed Verger des Tentations, or Orchard of Temptations. Its design was inspired by the Garden of Eden, in which Eve is seduced by the serpent into eating the forbidden fruit. In accordance with the story, the small orchard features box \u2018snakes\u2019 that spiral their way up the trunks of Reinette apple trees<\/a>. Their writhing shapes create a vibrant counterpoint to the traditional formality of the neatly spaced orchard trees. Ga\u00ebl, who loves injecting a sense of movement into his gardens, originally planted the tiny box shrubs into small trenches with metal surrounds next to each apple tree. \u201cThe idea was that the snakes would look like they were coming out of the earth,\u201d he says. Nowadays \u2013 in a pleasingly organic development \u2013 they appear to be winding themselves from one tree to the next, sometimes intertwined with one another. As the box is now getting older, clipping and maintenance requires patient work \u2013 something Ga\u00ebl is still involved in at Le Grand Launay. He spends at least ten days a year looking after the topiary in the garden.<\/p>

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\u00a9 Annaick Guitenny<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Throughout the garden, elegant metal structures \u2013 arches, gates, walls \u2013 add grace and focus to the design. Everywhere, Ga\u00ebl has injected his own unique horticultural drama; what he describes as mise-en-sc\u00e8ne, or scene-setting. And while each separate area works on its own, the whole site is linked by a network of paths, steps and low walls made of local granite and slate, echoing the materials of the manor. To create extra viewpoints, Ga\u00ebl also added a perimeter walk, known as the Sentier de D\u00e9ambulation (Path for Wandering). The Grande Cour (Large Courtyard) is another example of Le Grand Launay\u2019s understated whimsy. <\/p>

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\u00a9 Annaick Guitenny<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Set within a large lawn, a simple rectangular border is framed by parallel ripples of low box edging, containing semi-formal plantings of grasses, hostas, hardy geraniums, bluebells and shrub roses. Here also is a nod to the site\u2019s history. A stone fountain, found during the clearing of the site, has been given pride of place at the centre of the border; its moss-covered stonework the perfect patina for a garden bathed in green. While green is the main event, water is the subplot, whether channelled or left to its own devices. <\/p>

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\u00a9 Annaick Guitenny<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In the Jardin des Ondes (Garden of Waves), the final area created by the two men, a pencil-straight rill descends in wide terraces towards a metal wall. The channel continues its journey through a tiny opening in the wall and into a natural rivulet in the woods beyond \u2013 a charming reminder that formal garden and landscape are closely intertwined. \u201cThe garden is like a big woodland clearing,\u201d explains Ga\u00ebl. With its artful originality and strong sense of harmony, there is no doubt that Le Grand Launay is a remarkable garden. It is the result of slow, patient work by two nature lovers who consulted the genius of the place, but also, crucially, of the imagination.<\/p>

IN BRIEF<\/h4>

Name<\/strong> Le Grand Launay. What<\/strong> Private garden of rooms with topiary set pieces and evergreen structure connected with water. Where<\/strong> Brittany, northern France. Size<\/strong> Four acres. Soil<\/strong> Poor, acid soil. Climate <\/strong>Temperate with frequent rainfall. Hardiness zone <\/strong>USDA 9.<\/p><\/div><\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n

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