Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Travel / Places to Visit => Topic started by: Ragged Robin on July 07, 2009, 01:48:05 PM
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Early July and, despite thunderstorms, the weather forecast predicted a sunny morning - perfect for venturing up the Rhone valley towards the Swiss German Canton of Vaud. Turning off at Bex the road starts to wind steeply up passed alpine villages through densely wooded forest accompanied by the rushing water…the road ends at 1,260 metres at Plan de Nant.
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This was the moment I had been waiting for since the snow melt and now like a Lilliputian taking in the giant scene at the foothills of the 800 metre Great Muveran mountain range, I scanned the surrounding landscape with paths leading to the Vallon de Nant Nature Reserve. Another time…
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Nestled against the mountainside merging with the trees is La Thomasia.
This exquisite miniature Alpine Botanical Garden, covering one hectare, is free to wander through and full of incredible alpine plant collections, mostly grown from seed from all corners of the globe.
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The garden was originally created by the Thomas family beside their chalet as a way of introducing the flora of the mountains to the people in 1891 and still does so today; spreading the message of the fragility of Nature that we must nurture for future generations to enjoy.
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Making use of the exceptional local climatic conditions, over seventy environments have been created including rocks, crevices, streams, ponds, peat bogs and a marsh have been laid out to create perfect growing conditions for rare and spectacular plants
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more alpine plants.....
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Sun-baked paths meander around the rock gardens opening up new vistas where Alpine plants grow at miniature altitudes in just the perfect spot. It’s satisfying to recognise plants enjoying this location and finding new ones to increase your awareness of the diversity of alpine flora.
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more alpine plants...
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From a high point the design becomes clearer undulating in waves of floating heads and carpeting the rocks as far a one can see.
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A cool glade and the mountain stream that is the Avancon des Plans River passes through and creates watery locations for plants that love the wet. Here they reflect their special charm in a timeless scene whilst beyond the shady woodland beckons just over the wooden bridge.
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It’s hard to leave…… at every view a new plant waits to be seen in full flower or leaf in the changing season……..
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This special garden is one to return to time and again with expert advice on hand and a warm welcome for everyone that makes you want to smile and remember its raison d’etre.
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The Alpine Botanical Garden was created by the Bex Development Society and is supported by Lausanne Cantonal Botanical Gardens and Museum
http://www.musees-vd.ch/fr/musee-et-jardins-botaniques/jardin-de-pont-de-nant
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Robin, a superb posting..... 8)
A gem of a place, beautifully presented to us.... to educate or to tempt us to visit.... works all ways!
AND Remember Folks: CLICK THE PIX TO SEE THE LARGER IMAGES! !! :) 8)
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Robin,
What an amazingly natural looking botanic alpine garden !! Not one I had ever heard of !!!! :o :o :o
And what a guided tour !!!!! :D
I hope the owners sponsored your trip - it would have been well deserved
it !!! ;D
I will definitely have another longer look later tonight !
Too impressive to leave it to one visit 8)
Thanks a million for sharing this with us ! :-* :-* :-*
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Thanks Maggi, it is such a little gem that I probably took too many photos but it was all so tempting and beautifully designed and kept up. Francoise, who has been the talented Alpine Gardener of La Thomasia over the past 7 years, was also very interested in the SRGC - so I gave him the website address ;)
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Robin,
What an amazingly natural looking botanic alpine garden !! Not one I had ever heard of !!!! :o :o :o
And what a guided tour !!!!! :D
I hope the owners sponsored your trip - it would have been well deserved
it !!! ;D
I will definitely have another longer look later tonight !
Too impressive to leave it to one visit 8)
Thanks a million for sharing this with us ! :-* :-* :-*
So pleased you like the Alpine Botanical Garden visit Luc, I would so dearly have loved to have known more about the plants and, infact, asked if there was a record of the alpine plantings - no such luck :'( However with F on my side anything could happen and he has introduced me to the Rock Garden Club there ;D Better polish up my French! ::)
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Thoroughly enjoyed your visit RR.
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Thanks David I'm really glad you enjoyed it - I am always impressed by the standard to which you grow all sorts of exotic plants ;)
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What a wonderful tour, Robin! Almost as good as being there...(but I'd still love to spend a few hours there! What a fabulous setting!) Thank you for posting it!
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Lori, so glad you like La Thomasia - even the name is welcoming and it really is a special miniature alpine world set in that vast mountain scenery :)
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Alpine Botanic Garden and a Nature Reserve .... another weekend trip opportunity .... and convenient from Geneva airport too :) :)
Thanks for showing us this fascinating place. It must have given you so many ideas for your garden!
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Absolutely, Tony, it looks like a great place to walk on a clear day - I need to get up to the higher levels but may be not quite as high as your efforts tout seule! Your alpine flower images are so incredible I would love to see them in the raw.
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Robin, it looks like being a very nice alpine garden. Never heard of it though.
Thank you for showing the pictures!
Are you planning to visit Champex too. I once was there many years ago and it was onforgettable.
Don't know how it is now ( was at the time of Mr. Anchisi as head gardener)
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Luit, I'm glad you enjoyed La Thomasia alpine garden - it is beautifully planted but utterly different to Champex Lac garden, which is much more rambling on a slope - the water features are particularly unusual. My last visit there was 2 years ago and I took some photos but would like to go again and enjoy it to the full. The setting on the lake is spectacular and the gardener we met (a woman) very helpful. It's good to know that you enjoyed your visit there.
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Thanks Robin. What an inspirational place!
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Oh good Simon you had a look....thought you might be too busy posting your terrific photos ;)
I really do feel it is an inspirational garden as there is so much going on in the planting and everything looking so a home - must be the special climatic conditions they mention with the position and glacial waters that feed the river running through. On the plan close by there were orchids and wonderful chest high (mine anyway ;D) campanula growing with huge flowers :)
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Robin,
Incredible place, by the look of it. Some amazing scenery and plants! Dose anyone know what 23, 24 and 35 are? I'm assuming some sort of Allium or kin? The flowers at first glance I thought were Dierama, until I realised they were clustered at the top and had a fleshy stem. Very, very nice, whatever it is.
Thanks so much for the tour, Robin. Awesome!! 8)
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Robin,
Incredible place, by the look of it. Some amazing scenery and plants! Dose anyone know what 23, 24 and 35 are? I'm assuming some sort of Allium or kin? The flowers at first glance I thought were Dierama, until I realised they were clustered at the top and had a fleshy stem. Very, very nice, whatever it is.
Thanks so much for the tour, Robin. Awesome!! 8)
Looks like Allium insubricum, if the name did not change in the mean time :-\
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Paul, thanks for your enthusiastic comments, I would love to know more about the plants there - not all the labels were evident or maybe I just didn't connect them with the actual plant ::) I, too, would like to know what number 23, 24 and 35 are and will try to find out unless anyone else 'visiting' can give a clue or answer? Both are extremely attractive in the way they display each flower in a arc and looked very happy 'on the rocks' :)
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Thanks for the name, Luit. I grow very few Alliums, but might have to make an effort to find that one. I just love the flowers and the arching stems. 8)
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Paul, thanks for your enthusiastic comments, I would love to know more about the plants there - not all the labels were evident or maybe I just didn't connect them with the actual plant ::) I, too, would like to know what number 23, 24 and 35 are and will try to find out unless anyone else 'visiting' can give a clue or answer? Both are extremely attractive in the way they display each flower in a arc and looked very happy 'on the rocks' :)
[/Robin , what an amazing garden , thank you for showing it to us.
There is another beautyful Alpine Garden [though on a smaller scale] to which I have climbed on a few occasions above Garmisch , Bavaria . It is the alpine offshoot of the Munich Botanic Garden .
The mistery Allium looks to me very much like A. narcissiflorum .quote]
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It would be great to have a year round stream through the garden- so many more niches to fit plants in!
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Paul, thanks for your enthusiastic comments, I would love to know more about the plants there - not all the labels were evident or maybe I just didn't connect them with the actual plant ::) I, too, would like to know what number 23, 24 and 35 are and will try to find out unless anyone else 'visiting' can give a clue or answer? Both are extremely attractive in the way they display each flower in a arc and looked very happy 'on the rocks' :)
[/Robin , what an amazing garden , thank you for showing it to us.
There is another beautyful Alpine Garden [though on a smaller scale] to which I have climbed on a few occasions above Garmisch , Bavaria . It is the alpine offshoot of the Munich Botanic Garden .
The mistery Allium looks to me very much like A. narcissiflorum .quote]
Are Allium narcissiflorum and A. insubricum synonyms or can they be told apart? I have been told that narcissflorum has flowers that don't nod to the same degree as insubricum. Anyone know?
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i was looking forward to a chance to have a look at this---well worth the wait! what a delightful place!
seems like a wonderful range of plants... good to see the one shot with someone in the background, made me realise those mounds/beds were larger than i thought
very cool that you were able to meet the gardener..lots of potential in a connection like that :)
i agree with simon, would love to have a stream through the garden--not to mention all that rock presumably close at hand ;)
how far would this be from you?
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Glad you enjoyed the visit,Cohan, I felt as if everyone was there whilst going round and was looking for plants that I thought might be of interest.
The Alpine garden has a pretty natural feel to the layout and formation of the gardens which I particularly liked - nothing forced looking and everything blending in and asking one to explore. The main planting is medicinal and the students from Lausanne university use it a lot for research. Really great to find a place like this that is for the people to encourage and educate rather than to make money don't you think? :)
It's 50 mins drive towards Lausanne from Martigny
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Really great to find a place like this that is for the people to encourage and educate rather than to make money don't you think?
It most certainly is, Robin.... and that description fits the ethos of the SRGC too!!
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Robin,
Apologies, I have viewed the photographs several times and read the subsequent comments but failed to thank you for your excellent report. Greatly enjoyed it.
The whole concept of the garden is wonderful. Last July we visited Wengen and visited a similar garden near there. My only regret was that it hadn't been the first place I had visited as it gave a great start to days walking in the mountains, a great introduction to the plants to be seen - and all labelled, making subsequent days out all the more informative and enjoyable.
As above, I think the allium is A. narcissiflorum, a lovely plant.
Great report!
Paddy
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I had read that Allium insubricum was the species that usually masqueraded in commerce as A.narcissiflorum. Though Phillips and Rix say they are closely related with only minor differences.
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Really great to find a place like this that is for the people to encourage and educate rather than to make money don't you think?
It most certainly is, Robin.... and that description fits the ethos of the SRGC too!!
Maggi, perhaps that's why so many of us feel so at home as part of the SRGC and are willing to share information in a way that is quite extraordinary - just for the thrill of knowing that it is beneficial and appreciated :)
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Robin,
Apologies, I have viewed the photographs several times and read the subsequent comments but failed to thank you for your excellent report. Greatly enjoyed it.
The whole concept of the garden is wonderful. Last July we visited Wengen and visited a similar garden near there. My only regret was that it hadn't been the first place I had visited as it gave a great start to days walking in the mountains, a great introduction to the plants to be seen - and all labelled, making subsequent days out all the more informative and enjoyable.
As above, I think the allium is A. narcissiflorum, a lovely plant.
Great report!
Paddy
Paddy, no need to apologise, I'm delighted you enjoyed the Alpine garden and found it interesting. As you say, it is great to find a place like that that offers another experience close by and I would love to have had the time to walk through the Plan de Nant Nature Reserve - it takes about a day but the view must be stunning and, of course, the alpine flowers ;D
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By the way, can anyone identify the blue flowering plant, in photo 31, which is rather intriguing?
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Well i was going to say it was a Moltkia- but then I saw the sign behind it ;)
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Glad you enjoyed the visit,Cohan, I felt as if everyone was there whilst going round and was looking for plants that I thought might be of interest.
The Alpine garden has a pretty natural feel to the layout and formation of the gardens which I particularly liked - nothing forced looking and everything blending in and asking one to explore. The main planting is medicinal and the students from Lausanne university use it a lot for research. Really great to find a place like this that is for the people to encourage and educate rather than to make money don't you think? :)
It's 50 mins drive towards Lausanne from Martigny
yes, great to have a local government who feels its worthwhile :)
as for the SRGC, another great resource and community! as for plant groups, i guess one is happy if they can SURVIVE financially, and in terms of the great amount of unpaid work needed, let alone make money!
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Well i was going to say it was a Moltkia- but then I saw the sign behind it ;)
Thanks for the ID Simon, I couldn't quite distinguish the soft focus half sign but was sure someone would recognise it especially as it comes from the Balkans ;D Do you grow Moltkia?
Chiltern seeds describes Moltkia petraea Boraginaceae (if that is the one shown) as a rare and unusual plant to grow:
This plant is a delight. A rare species from the mountains of the Balkans, it is a dwarf sub-shrub, a neat woody bush with the entire plant covered with silky hairs. Not only are the flowers gorgeous, tubular in shape, opening pinkish-blue and becoming deep violet-blue and produced in abundant dense colours, but they bloom from spring well into summer, if not to September. Quite easy to grow in any reasonable soil, it is particularly partial to sunny crevices in rockwork. 12-18 ins.
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Hi Robin, yes I grow the plant here but from seeds I brought with me. I hope to see it in the wild here but we haven't yet been to the right areas- hopefully this summer. It is a beautiful genus, together with the closely related Lithospermum for blue flowers.