When he is at work, Jean-Baptiste Martin, gardener in Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône), has the impression that time suddenly sped up. “On these plane trees, we see that there is a fall of leaves which, in summer, in general, does not happen. It happens rather in the fall… This year, it already happens from the end June instead of arriving at the end of September”he regrets.
>> Climate: why many trees are already losing their leaves in the middle of summer
For this boss of a green space maintenance company, there is no doubt that this is due to the lack of water. “The tree does not absorb water, therefore, inevitably, it protects itself and consequently, it eliminates its leaves. We could especially evoke the plane tree, the holm oak, the white oak and after all the white woods. can be hornbeam, beech, possibly more hardy trees like birch, poplarhe explains. This year, we cut large sections of dead wood on lime trees which were dangerous. Trees that can be 70 cm in diameter at the base, which is quite large. It’s really due to the drought,” breath Jean-Baptiste Martin.
With this phenomenon, amplified by successive heat waves in recent weeks, trees and gardens are all suffering, even species endemic to the Mediterranean. “Every day, I have customers who come to complain about the problems of the vegetation which dries out faster than expected…”says Mathieu Bonventre, owner of a nursery in Aubagne.
And to add: “Mediterranean vegetation is on the verge of dying, like cistus, rosemary which is very very dry, thyme which is drying out… We see pines dying. The ivy on the houses, on the walls, is completely drying out . We see it in the forests, in the scrubland. It’s tragic, it’s unheard of”he is alarmed.
Faced with this situation, this professional is seriously considering no longer recommending certain plants to these customers. “I’m starting to ask myself the question of which plants I’m going to avoid selling, recommending for sale, because it’s no longer for us, like everything with large, tender foliage and which suffers too much in summer. They burn out before their time: normally they lose the leaves when it gets a little cold and with a change in the weather in the fall. There, since July, they have not held up,” he sighs. This is already the case, for example, with camellias, azaleas and even rhododendrons, which are almost no longer in its stocks.