by Pat Hunter
During the winter months my reading and research revealed a French Peony collection in the moat of a Château in northern France.
Further research resulted in making a holiday itinerary around the opening hours. For information in 2024 the garden was open 27th April to 2nd June (which was extended by a few more days due to the weather) 12pm to 7pm, but not Wednesdays. The collection is at The Château de Sourches near Le Mans and can easily be combined with Normandy or the châteaux of the Loire.
To try and catch the peonies mid-season, we planned our visit for May 16th.
From approaching on the drive up to the Château I knew we were in for a treat. The Château de Sourches is a long neoclassical building but it is not until you reach the small box hedge in front of the Château that the first peonies are revealed, immediately over the hedge teetering on top of the moat, there is a border surrounding the moat. From this border there is a drop of approximately 20 foot into the moat below.
When you get down into the moat the peonies are planted in island beds. Some beds are dedicated to a single breeder i.e. Klehm, Saunders, Kelways, and Auten others are mixed e.g. peonies from the Soviet states. Species peonies, Itohs and lactifloras are all there in abundance. There is a large number of tree peonies on the shadier side.
On the information leaflet the collection currently holds 3024 varieties of tree, herbaceous or intersectional peony plants. I would like to say they are all labelled even those behind the little box hedge, but unfortunately a couple that I loved had no label!
When the moat has been toured, and a delightful lunch taken on tables amongst the peonies, we were reminded to visit the other side of the Château. There is a complete border along the length of the château.
If you walk out into the parkland there is a statue of the Duchess of Burgundy ( godmother to the Marquis of Sourches) surrounded by, yes you guessed, peonies!
Around the statue bed there are now 4 more beds which are being created with weed supressing membrane, the collection is still expanding.
Bénédicte de Foucaud clearly has a passion. She is hands-on, helping to serve at the tables during our visit, but she does have a head gardener as well as other garden help.
Pat Hunter