In Fouesnant, we anticipate the drought to preserve the plants and flowers of the town

On the roundabout at the entrance to the city, a dozen small hands are busy. Fouesnant’s green space maintenance workers have a mission: to dig out each of the tulip bulbs. They give way to new plants for this summer. “It will be the transition between the uprooting of biennials and the planting of annuals. So we are currently preparing the ground”, explains Francis Plantaz, the manager of the city’s green spaces department.

Not a drop for 5 weeks

Fork in hand and boots on, he is preparing the ground, with the ground being very dry at the moment: “We haven’t had any rain for 5 weeks. Or just a little bit, not even 2 millimeters, which wasn’t enough to wet the ground. With the wind on top of that, it dries up right away“laments the manager.

So to keep the plants cool, the agents put pieces of wood on the beds: “For all that is shrubs and perennials, we put straw on our feet. These are large shavings, branches that are ground in winter. it has several virtues, in particular to prevent the water from evaporating and then it nourishes the soil. When you touch, you immediately feel that if you dig a little it’s already cooler“

And then the service also bets on the long terme: “When planting shrubs, we try to choose them that are more and more resistant to drought”

The departments ofIlle-et-Vilaine and Morbihan are on drought alert. For the moment this is not the case of Finistère but the municipalities must adapt to this period of strong heat which stretches, especially when there are flowers on all the sidewalks.

Flowers in Fouesnant are sacred

As you will have understood, everyone is on deck to cherish the tulips, shrubs and other rhododendrons. It must be said that in Fouesnant, plants are sacred. Since 2002, the town has won the national competition for towns and villages in bloom. It has 4 flowers. Moreover, she even won the grail, a “Golden Flower” in 2013.

“We are on the top of the podium!”, rejoices Roger Le Goff, the mayor of Fouesnant. Unthinkable therefore to lose all these petals. The chosen one has already considered increase the water capacity of your municipality : “On some boreholes we looked at how we can take a little more. And then on boreholes that are not quite close, we look to obtain exemptions with the prefecture.”

Fountain, factory and borehole to find water

For the moment, the medians and roundabouts are watered by a natural fountain: “We put in a 30,000 liter tank and out of these liters there are the first 15 thousand which are for everyone and when there is only 15,000 liters is reserved for city services. But if that were to fail, we have the possibility of increasing the contribution of this fountain”, says the mayor.

In addition, the team has already planned to increase its water reserves if the rain does not come: “We have administrative authorizations today to take water so we have just opened an underground plant in Fouesnant which will approach 100 cubic meters per hour so the 2,000 cubic meters per day approximately. And then we have test drilling and we see if we can’t take 15 or 20 cubic meters on those right away, quickly.”

In any case the mayor assures him, in these summer times; Fouesnant intends to continue to hang its lilacs, even under our windows.