« Expats » from Belgium and England, we are also “uprooted city dwellers”. Much impressed by the magnificence of the Jardin de Berchigranges while visiting the Vosges department, we decided it was time to leave the city to “cultivate our own acre of ground”. In 2013, we undertook with enthusiasm, and some naivety as beginners, to give life and colour to a large garden surrounding our retirement home on the edge of the Forest of Darney, near Vittel and Contrexéville. What we didn’t anticipate in this Vosges plain is that we would have to deal with four summers of drought, two heatwaves and various threats to our beautiful forest. Perhaps it is the acute awareness of its fragility, the urgency to act to preserve it, and the decreasing population of wagtails in the garden that triggered the opening of this blog. It is also the pleasure of sharing beautiful blooms, of exchanging plants, seeds, cuttings and our experiences both successful and unsuccessful. All while respecting the soil, the water in our stream and pond, and their inhabitants, frogs and kingfishers, earthworms, salamanders and amphibious voles.
Danielle et John
unjardinenforetdedarney@gmail.com
Un jardin en forêt de Darney 