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We will be, at long last, moving to our new home near Limoges in early August.  I am a keen gardener and have been taking cuttings and dividing plants for the past year ready to bring with me but I think I may have overdone it and may have to leave some behind.

To help me make my decision on which ones to leave behind are there any plants that are difficult to find in France and are plants expensive compared to UK?

To give you an idea of some of the plants I had hoped to bring with me are many different species of iris, solomons seal, pulmonaria, hostas, day lily, lychnis, penstemon,  etc.

Also I would like to start a veggie plot and someone told me that you can't get runner bean seeds in France (I keep forgetting to look when we are visiting) is this correct?

This move seems to have been for ever on the cards and now I can't wait to get over there and start anew garden although I am determined that this one will be more of an informal garden and not so labour intensive as gardens in the past have been (famous last words!).

Any information on gardening in France especially in the Limousin would be helpful.

Thank you

Sylvia

 

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Bring with you as many plants as you can carry. Cost will be minimal and you will have lost little if some do not survive.

As regards veggies - we have not seen runner bean seeds on sale but there are many varieties of french climbers as well as the usual shorthouses. Grow what yr neighbours grow for a start and also see what is available in the local market.

Happy growing

John

and

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I agree with John regards the cuttings - bring as many as possible.  Nothing to loose.

 

Seeds - pasnips and climbing beans do not seem to be available, but you can get these from UK suppliers over the internet.  Some other seeds seem to be relatively hard to find, but are available if you are prepared to travel around the various shops - Okra, varieties of peppers other than the normal "red" varieties and Bulb Fennel for example.

Climbing beans do not do as well in the heat as in the UK (which may be why they are not sold), but you can improve set by spraying the flowers with a mist of water every evening.  To be honest, although I still like and grow climbing beans, they don't seem to have any great advantages over French beans, which are much more prolific.

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 http://www.graines-baumaux.fr/

This site is good for veggie seeds, and they have the catalogue online or they will send a copy. It may give you some idea of prices etc.

Other gardening websites i have found include:

 

http://www.jacques-briant.fr/

http://www.plantes-et-jardins.com/index.asp?bc=1

http://www.willemsefrance.fr/

http://www.jardinexpress.fr/

http://www.hortiflorbureau.com/

http://www.bakker.fr/

http://leclosdarmoise.com/

(sorry can't get links to work! Maybe because i am not using internet explorer????)

Thanks phil got them working now! (i didn't highlight them first!)

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Thank you all for your replies, most helpful. 

The people who are buying our house are not gardeners and I dread to think what the garden I have lovingly created from a half acre bramble, nettle and thistle patch over the past 15 years is going to look like in a years time, I get the impression it will be back to brambles etc reigning over everything else.

They have no objection to me taking any plants I want so it looks as though I will have to leave something else behind to get them all in. 

Sylvia

 

 

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Sylvia,

I'm not sure but there may be certain plants which cannot be brought over due to diseases etc.

(this may just apply to commercial importers though or not apply between EU countries) I have heard of such things as plant passports though.

Have a look at,

 www.defra.gov.uk

Louise

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Like you my wife is very keen and live 30 mile south of  limoges, near coussac bonneval.

Buy seed s of any variety you like as choice here not like anywhere near u.k.

yuo can now even buy parsnips and runner beans.

we are back twice a year to uk and buy some seeds but things are slowly improving,

after 5 years we have managed to make a typical english garden with potager and even bought a greenhouse to start off some items as this region is susceptible to late frosts depending where you live.

where are you moving to as we have found a gardening club if you are interested.?

alan and muriel.(ex copthorne,bourne,brackley,billericay and newcastle.-andstill trying to settle down .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

we brought a lot of plants and had no problems with customs as long as you don't

 pack cannabis!!!!!!!!

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Panais is correct.  The seed must be avaialable since our market has a stall that sells parsnips around Christams.  But I have not been able to find the seed in any of the usual "culprits" - Auchan, Super U, Cora, local bio store, Gamme Vert etc..
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Chiltern seeds is very good and delivers outside the UK.  You could also join the Cottage Garden Society as they have seed exchange scheme and have members from outside the UK (including France).  Other good plant suppliers that deliver outside the UK are Claire Austin Hardy Plants and David Austin Roses (also available in french).  I have bought from all of these and have been very happy with them.

We created our (acre) garden from field and would hate to think of it being abandoned by a new owner.  I can empathise completely with digging things up to take with you.  I have collected so many unusual plants over the years - many from friends (some now gone) or grown from seeds / cuttings (again from friends or places we have visited). 

Just as an aside - someone mentioned gardening clubs around Perigueux - we are about 24km east of Perigueux and would be very interested in more information.

Kathie

 

 

 

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Thanks for all the gardening info websites etc, they aye useful.

I am a kean gardener too and just moved into our permanent home near Cahors.  I too brought a fair few plants with me, but when we moved in they were not the main priority.  The infestation of various crawling guests were!!!...  then making our living quarters livable, unpacking essential items and hunt the kettle etc.  It has taken a few weeks to re home most of the surviving plants and I did loose a few plants which was to be expected.  Remember Rome was not built in a day.

The only other thing is the cost of watering those thirsty sun loving plants.  Until we buy a pump for our large citern we have watered them by hand but as we have a water meter this is proving a little expensive.

Hope all goes well with your move, and may all those cuttings survive!. 

  

 

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I forgot to add, the Thomson & Morgan site is French based - so all other things being equal it may be cheaper than buying from the UK sites, even if they also deliver to France.  At least worth comparing since the French T&M site seems to have everything seed-wise that they sell in the UK.

Phil

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What a great topic!  I have been so busy with legal, health, education etc that my gardening passion has been on the back burner. 

We are moving mid July to Toulouse, is anyone close?  I would love to find a gardening club.

I have all the usual questions, what is the actual gardening climate like? will I need a greenhouse? what won't grow/should I leave behind.  I too have 1/4 acre of beautiful 3 yo borders, roses (mainly old french!) raised bed organic veg plot.  I'm gutted to be leaving it behind especially as during the winter the move was looking uncertain and I didn't dig/split ANYTHING I could kick myself now as I will lose so many old friends.  Is there anything I can move this time of year that could live in a pot for 2 years or should I admit defeat?

We are renting for 2 years does anyone know if you are allowed to plant veg in a rented garden????? (don't trust the agent not to fib about this)  will buy runner bean seeds as french beans can't touch them for taste in my opinion.  I use white flowered ones as they usually set well in hot weather as they seem to be self fertile.

Donna

 

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Thank you all for replies,  I am so glad to have found this forum and some knowledgable fellow gardeners,  I am sure once we have settled into our new home and the plants I am taking with me are also settled in, it will be just about the right time for me to try and find the best garden centre/nurseries for more plants, is anyone near Chalus who might be able to point me in the right direction when the time comes.

Donna, I thoroughly agree with you on the runner bean v french bean,  I could quite happily sit and eat a plate of  home grown young runner beans properly cooked with a little bit of butter and pepper sprinkled on.  A couple of years ago I was given a packet of the runner bean seeds with a mixture of different coloured flowers and decided to plant them behind a fairly immature border to give some height, it looked a bit ugly to start with all of the cane framework but once the beans were in flower everyone commented on how attarctive it was, and the non veggie gardeners didn't realise veggies could have such pretty flowers.

Another thought has occurred to me, are terracotta pots (all sizes) more expensive in France?  I have quite a few that I have decorated myself and am not sure whether to bring those with me or to start again with new ones.

Thanks again

Sylvia

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If you are buying seeds it is well to remember that UK seed packets hold far far less than their French counterparts for the same seed. This was broadcast on Gardeners Question Time by Bob Flowerdew who said he bought all his seeds from European suppliers as they were of equal quality but had many times more seeds. One of our friends just came over with a packet of courgette seeds - he got 5 in the packet. When you have to plant 3 to a seed pot as was instructed it was a waste of money. Our equivalent packet was full of seed and ours were specialist courgettes and not just the long common variety.

I would buy my seed from a local French garden centre. We have not yet had any failures but have had total 100% failure from seeds brought over from the UK and I have always bought on my own plants until the mini-huricane destroyed the polytunnel last year. This year we are battling the mice who are eating whole plants of peppers and aubergine. The hot winds are also not doing them any good and even ornamental plants we have had for 3 years cannot stand up to the sudden temperature change and strong winds that have gone on for days - 30 is fine but add to that a wind speed of 30 and you have difficult conditions.

When in Rome and all that...

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