The gardens of La Mansonière, in the Orne

The Mansonière gardens in Saint-Céneri-le-Gerei, in the Orne, are among my favorite gardens. Each space can be tasted like a small or a big delicacy.

For 28 years, Michèle and Philippe Manson have given themselves body and soul to this vast space, organized into green rooms with very different atmospheres. There is a Japanese style garden, an Italian garden, a vegetable patch, a white garden, a rose garden, cloud-cut conifers, common or rare trees…

Everything is planted in conditions that are not always easy, explains Philippe Manson: “Here, we are in the Mancelles Alps. It is the beginning of the Armorican massif. The soil is therefore very granite. When you dig to plant, you have to use crowbars to overcome the rock blocks.”

“Planting here is not easy, you often have to dig the planting holes with a crowbar.”

Phillip Manson

at franceinfo

However, the difficulty of the terrain has never slowed down Michèle and Philippe’s desires. The smallest spaces, nooks and crannies are planted. And the work on the floors, in and between the gardens, is remarkable. So, yes, there is grass, gravel but also pine bark, large slate slabs, or this concentric assembly of cobblestones, pebbles and glass in the middle of a tide of grasses (Stipa tenuissima).

And as we have to deal with two perfectionist gardeners, the weeding of the paths is done by hand, and the size with shears. Michele is keen on it: “All sizes are done manually. I once tried trimming the larger subjects with a heat tool, but was disappointed with the result. It’s less pretty, the resulting appearance is less soft, less velvety.”

The oldest plantations are on one side of the house. There, Michèle and Philippe applied the lessons learned during trips to England.

“When we went to Britain to visit gardens, we realized that they had applied the same recipe in their plantations for centuries: they planted a third of evergreens. So we did the same here, notably by planting a large-flowered magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora).

At that time, the person who sold us the tree told us: But you are crazy! He will end up lifting the house! Thirty years later, the house is still there and so is the magnolia! In this part, there is also a magnificent rosebush ‘Ghislaine de Feligonde’ and a large wisteria. And then, from the campanula of the walls (Campanula portenschlagiana) which, in the spring, blooms blue in abundance.”

It’s not easy to paint a portrait of these rich gardens in two minutes. Better to get an idea yourself by going to visit them. The gardens of La Mansonière are open until the end of August, every afternoon, from Thursday to Sunday. In summer, classical concerts are given there at night. The garden is then lit by hundreds of candles. Next concerts on July 30 and August 27.