Plants used for French style landscaping?

17 years ago

I'm about to finish completion on a house that is French Provincial style. I'd like to make the landscaping complement the house. I'd like it to contain some topiaries and things that have to be kept very manicured. After lots of googling the only plants I could come up with were boxwood, lavender, rosemary and juniper. I also plan to use some meyer lemon standards. If it helps I'm in zone 8.

One of my requirements for plant selection is that nothing flowers yellow (with the exception of my meyers) or orange. I'm fine with pinks, whites, purples, and blues. I also like silvery foliage. I hope I'm not being too picky!

I'm open to design suggestions too!

Thanks so much!

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Comments (4)

lucy
17 years ago
I'm afraid you might be mixing eras - Topiary might go with the Versailles Palace in the 1700's, but not with more recent French provincial, which is fields of perennials in hot colors, lots of blue and gold, etc. You could end up with an inappropriately formal garden surrounding a nice country-ish house, or is your house formal too?
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
17 years ago
I'll not debate the style, as I think you can go either way. Reproduction French Provincial houses can be extremely formalized as well as quite rustic - a rural manor house much like Monet's farmhouse at Giverny. These are pretty common in the California wine country and the landscaping tends to be pretty loose. If the house in question is very symmetrical and formally styled, then a formalized garden would suit as well. Otherwise, I'd go with the looser, more Impressionistic garden style that lucy describes. A formal garden is a lot of upkeep :-)

Do some research on formal garden styles and look specifically at parterres and knot gardens. It is not so much the plant selection particularly as it is the manner in which they are used. Generally, the very formally sheared or clipped hedge plants are used to surround and contain looser plantings, but often these are rather monochromatic gardens with a very strong emphasis on green.

Roses would be appropriate as well as any smallish broadleaf evergreen shrub amenable to frequent pruning - azaleas, gardenias, germander, dwarf hollies, etc. Yews or privets for larger hedges but other evergreens could work as well - camellias or choisya for example. Then it's pretty much your choice as to how the fill the beds these plants define. Lots of lawns and paved areas too.
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jamie5172
Original Author
17 years ago
Sorry, I'll be more specific. The house is formal, maybe I got the name of the style wrong. Very symmetrical, needs very structural compact plants with small foliage. I like the very manicured look. Thanks!
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nandina
17 years ago
jamie,
Let me take a minute to expand on the excellent advice given you by gardengal. She mentioned using dwarf hollies and by this she was referring to Japanese hollies in the Ilex crenata family. There are many named varieties all suitable for close trimming. Suggest you visit several large nurseries and see what they have available. Ilex crenata 'Convexa', I. crenata 'Hetzi, I.
crenata 'Microphylla', are just a few of the many varieties available.

Also, gardengal mentioned parterres gardens. Have you done a search on this type of formal french garden? Search the Gardenweb forums also as a great deal has been posted about them through the years. They are usually installed to the rear of a house; square garden beds laid out in a pattern often having a closely trimmed shrub in the center of each square underplanted with vegetables, annuals or perennials. Do take the time to explore parterres gardening.

It sounds as though you are not too familiar with plants. Perhaps a designer consultation would help you to locate flowering plants suitable for your growing zone in the color pallette you find most pleasing.
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Plants used for French style landscaping?

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lucy

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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Plants used for French style landscaping?

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lucy

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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