Visitor Information

La Roseraie de Berty,
07110 Largentière.
Tel: 0033 (0)4 75 88 30 56.
For details of opening times visit the Roseraie website

Further reading:

Roses by Eléonore Cruse & Paul Starosta,
pub. Editions du Chêne, 2002
ISBN : 2842773659

Roses Anciennes et Botaniques by Eléonore Cruse & Paul Starosta,
pub. Editions du Chêne, 1997 (original larger, hardback format of the above - currently out of print).

The French Country Garden
by Louisa Jones,
pub Thames & Hudson, 2000.
ISBN 0500510059

La Vie en Rose...

Spring is in the air, and deep in the heart of the Ardèche a hidden valley will shortly erupt in a blaze of colour. We visit the Roseraie de Berty. Once again, our featured garden is quite unlike any other we've come across. First there's the plant collection, which is dedicated almost exclusively to old-fashioned roses. This means that the garden will open for just a few short weeks each year, timed to synchronise with the height of the flowering period. Then there's the process of getting there, which feels like something of an adventure in itself. I'll explain. First you have to make your way to Largentière, a medieval walled village set in a narrow valley SW of Aubenas. When you've penetrated as far as the village église, keep an eye out for a small painted sign nearby pointing uphill, out of the village and into the surrounding hills. For now it's your only clue, although there are a few more like it further along the way. It's just as well, for the route is little more than a dirt track, winding its way up and around the hillsides, heading ever deeper into the wild, unspoilt heart of the Ardèche, with only woodpeckers and squirrels for company. Eventually, when you feel surely this really can't be right, there's a sharp left turn through a narrow gateway, followed by a gentle descent into the lush pastureland which spreads across the base of a sheltered, wooded valley. Congratulations. We've made it.

The visit begins with a warm greeting from the gardens' creator Eléonore Cruse, who points out that the season has arrived unusually early, and many of the finest displays are already past their best. Never mind; it still looks totally captivating. Eléonore settled here in the early 1970s, and immediately fell in love with the valley. Since then, however, the native arbutus, bay, box, chestnut and evergreen oaks which greeted her have been joined by a vast collection of old rose species, 'old', in this case, meaning pre-1920s. Eléonore doesn't know for sure, but she and partner Christian Biette reckon that the actual figure must by now be around the six hundred mark. It's a radical transformation from the tired peach plantation which occupied the site when Eléonore first discovered it. At first her sights were set on achieving a lifestyle of organic self-sufficiency, which meant removing all traces of the chemical fertilisers and herbicides applied by the previous owners. She certainly lived the part, keeping Jersey cows, sheep and goats to graze the land and enrich the soil. Next, the growth of more persistent weeds was checked by sowing planting rye, potatoes and phacelia for ground cover, while Eléonore mastered country skills such as spinning and weaving the wool from her sheep, and caning chairs from the rye straw. Once the land had finally recovered, she planted vegetables and then began trying less-common plants capable of providing vegetable dyes for her weaving. This unlikely start led her to discover more and more endangered plant species, whose seeds she acquired as part of an inspired initiative undertaken to ensure their survival by the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Next came the roses.

Eléonore began by planting a handful of varieties whose romantic-sounding names particularly appealed to her. The results were startling, as the plants plunged their roots deep into the newly-revitalised soil, and flourished in a way which would have been impossible had she planted them when she first arrived. The thrill of her discovery inspired her to try other varieties, and to learn as much as she could about both wild and cultivar roses. With the encouragement of noted rose producer André Eve of Pithiviers and gardening writer Michel Lys, she made rapid progress. So much so, in fact, that before long she was selling personal favourite plants at local country markets. Eventually she progressed to doing so at the prestigious Marjolaine Salon in Paris and the great plant fairs at Courson. Her reputation was thereby rapidly established, and continued to grow to the point where today she is held in high regard as one of the country's foremost rose specialists.

But for all the generous moral support and encouragement which she has received over the years, it is Eléonore's instincts which have undoubtedly served her best. Her touch is visible everywhere, and underlies the garden's most fundamental elements, not least its wellbeing. Apart from the traditional Bordeaux mixture beloved of wine-growers, plus a gentle hand-dusting of sulphur during spring, chemicals remain resolutely banished. And any further pest control is left to companion planting, among medicinal herbs and aromatic plants native to southern France, including lavenders, rosemary and sage. Feeds, too, are deemed unnecessary; Eléonore has found that simply freeing any compacted soil around the roots at the start of the growing season is quite sufficient to maintain the plants' natural vigour. A similarly naturalistic approach extends to the structure and planting plan of the garden. Whereas French rose-gardens are almost invariably highly formal and disciplined in their execution, at Berty both style and layout are dictated by more subtle factors. An intimate knowledge of the site, its soil conditions and the particular needs of each rose variety allows Eléonore to place each plant in exactly the right place, where it will flourish and realise its full potential. More vigorous varieties are allowed their full head, producing often spectacular results not often seen within the constraints of man-made surroundings. Thus vast, billowing ramblers create dazzling waves of colour, while other, less extrovert shrub forms are encouraged to explore their supporting roles in more intimate surroundings, often with the encouragement of companion shrubs, or perhaps a wild strawberry plant or two for moral support.

Ultimately most striking of all, though, is the setting itself. The garden is unwalled, producing the effect, when seen from a distance, of the wild chestnut and oak forests of the surrounding hills having defied nature and somehow managed to produce a miraculous, exotic blossoming of their own. This near-seamless transition is achieved by retaining many of the wild shrubs already present, and by minimising the signs of human presence. The old farmhouse overlooking the garden is large, as is the pattern in the Ardèche, but its grey stone walls are gradually being hidden behind the exuberant verdure and, for a few short weeks in early summer, a veil of pink and white rose blossom. These are signs not of neglect, but of care and concern for nature, exemplified by Christian's patient rebuilding of the collapsed stone retaining walls of the terracing below the farmhouse.

For all its hard-earned reputation, the garden remains a total and all-consuming labour of love for its creators. Eléonore greets visitors personally. 'How could I employ someone for just a few weeks each year?', she says. Then, after the visit, she patiently answers visitors questions as they sip their drinks around one of the tables of her shaded tea-room terrace, or signs treasured copies of her acclaimed books. Finally, for those who have been inspired to follow in her footsteps and create an old rose collection of their own, she is able to supply visitors with a selection of rose plants. That she also now supplies large numbers of keen rose gardeners elsewhere via her mail order service gives some measure of her commitment to one of nature's greatest wonders. And the mood is infectious.

© Words and pictures Roger Moss
This feature first appeared in everything France magazine Issue 12

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