Plant

Book shows how to cook with the weed black bryony in south-west France

‘It’s a local speciality with a taste like nothing else,’ says mayor who published recipe book

Spring into plant swap season and visit a local French ‘TrocPlantes’

Columnist Sarah Beattie discovers the community spirit of swap events where gardeners exchange cuttings

Gardening in France: New Year’s resolutions and jobs for January

Take time to assess last year and get excited about the gardening year to come

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Snowdrop display is perfect showcase for French Open Gardens charity

We visit a founder member of the scheme and learn of her obsession with snowdrops or ‘perce-neige’

Best plants to add a pop of winter colour to your French garden

We share the winter-flowering plants that can brighten up your garden on the greyest days

France’s autumn strawberries: the arbousier fruit

The red berries have a sweet but bland taste

Visit: stunning dry garden in Aude wakes up like spring in Autumn

Two horticulturists experimented with minimal watering and created a beautiful garden packed full of the toughest plants

Plea to plant local flowers in your gardens in France

Gardeners can play a significant role in helping to maintain the country’s biodiversity, a new study suggests

France prepares to ban use of word ‘steak’ for vegetarian food items

The agriculture ministry is working on a new decree on the controversial issue, which would also ban the use of the words ‘bacon’ and ‘sausage’ for plant-based products

Plants recalled in France over soil contaminated by a parasite

The presence of crop-destroying worms has led to a second recall in as many months of the houseplant

French app helps you identify flora and fauna

The French forests agency has developed an app which can tell you what tree you are looking at thanks to a few simple questions

French nursery specialises in plants that taste of cheese or oysters

The gardener behind the idea says he sees no point in plants that are purely ornamental

Can we decorate our French balcony with plant pots?

Balcony use will depend on apartment block rules but these are usually quite liberal

Can I bring plants into France for garden at my second home?

The rules and regulations are in general very strict, though imports of some items are in theory possible

The French gardener inspired for 40 years by British winter planting

Visit Jardin du Bois Marquis, near Lyon, to see a garden tailor-made for colder months

Open Gardens to visit for autumnal colour in Auvergne and Hérault

A woodland paradise and a Mediterranean haven - two passionate gardeners open their gates as part of the Jardins Ouverts scheme

Gorgeous private gardens open to the public in Loire and Aveyron

The hosts have created their dream gardens in France and invite you to visit as part of the Jardins Ouverts scheme

French garden: choose drought tolerant daisies and echinacea

Cathy Thompson tells us why she is hooked on the grassland plants of the North American prairie

Ragweed pollen allergies arrive early in France this year

The highly-allergenic plant spreads particularly fast in warm weather, and the higher temperatures this summer have accelerated its arrival

Private gardens created with passion to visit in Brittany and Provence

Two hosts who are ‘mad’ about rare plants and design welcome visitors to their gardens in August for the Jardins Ouverts charity

Plant-based food can be called a ‘steak’ in France, court rules

The highest administrative court has suspended a law that would have banned meat-related words from being used to describe plant-based meat-style products

Gardening in France: Dianthus or pinks are a classic passalong cutting

Cathy Thompson looks at the history of gillyflowers and how to take cuttings to keep up the ‘passalong’ tradition

Moving to France: Can I take seed packets with me from UK?

When the UK left the EU, rules on transporting plant and animal products changed

Five drought management tips for gardens from a French plant expert

This May was the hottest on record in France and almost all departments are soon expected to face local drought orders

How can we stop the spread of Japanese knotweed to our French garden?

This highly invasive species can withstand extreme weather conditions and will resprout if cut

Plan against allergenic ragweed launched in south of France

The plant and its flowers, also known as ambrosia, can cause severe allergic reactions, especially in warmer weather – and it is spreading across France

Your French garden - growing clematis in containers and pots

Growing climbers in pots is becoming more popular. Our gardening writer Cathy Thompson shares tips for thriving clematis, which variety to choose and where to buy in France

Herbalists want new French government to lift 80 year ban on practice

Pharmacists in France continue to block the legal recognition of ‘herboristes’ who use plants for healing

French producers struggle to slow lily of valley bloom ahead of May 1

The white flower, which is traditionally sold and given on the May public holiday, has been blooming too early this year, and a lack of seasonal workers has also affected the harvest

France should establish its own CBD production industry, says MP

Hemp and CBD is ‘just a crop like any other’ and needs a ‘precise legal framework’ to enable producers to seize the ‘interesting economic opportunity’

The ‘ideal town of tomorrow’ imagined by the French public

Independent neighbourhoods, more greenery and better transport links were among the ‘must haves’ identified. The study will inform 2022 presidential election candidate campaigns

Expand your houseplant collection with this free swap scheme in France

Troque ta plante, which was started in 2018 by Bordeaux PhD student Sarah Roux, is proving a popular way for gardeners to expand plant collections at no cost

Growers in France say EU’s labelling plans may destroy lavender fields

Under the draft EU regulation, the 600-plus chemical molecules found in lavender could be potentially relabelled as dangerous, threatening the future of the industry

Warning in France over poisonous plants in shops and in the wild

Common plants and herbs accidentally used in cooking or homemade cosmetics can be toxic and even fatal to humans and pets, the French food safety agency has warned

Experts can now enter private Riviera gardens to pull up toxic plant

The Alpes-Maritimes prefecture says giant hogweed is dangerous to people and the environment – hence tough new measures to stop it proliferating in the area

Back in fashion: How to care for ferns as houseplants

No direct light (or at least part-day only) and cool conditions with some heat in winter are a fern’s ideal milieu

Herbal expert teaching ‘essential’ properties of plants and flowers

Murielle Iris, based in Cap d’Ail, runs nature awareness workshops from her coastal plot of land

Spring is the season for gathering nuts and other delicacies in France

The custom has its roots in hard times: Spring is when reserves put aside in the autumn are finished but still too early to harvest crops

Gardening in France: Oriental poppies go centre stage in springtime

Why Papavers in your French garden are not just the support act to other blooms and how they should be shown off

Bringing plants from UK to France not permitted

EU’s plant health laws to stop pests and diseases coming in now prevent bringing plants from the UK to France

Brexit: Can I bring plants from UK to France?

There are strict rules on moving plants, plant cuttings and fresh flowers over the Channel because the UK is now seen as a 'third country' to the EU following full Brexit on January 1, 2021

Not just for Christmas: How to grow poinsettias year-round

This much loved yuletide plant can actually be kept all-year-round with a little know-how

It is planting season in France: Why plant bare root?

Cathy Thompson's tips on bareroot planting in your French garden this autumn

Simple ways to save in the garden: Seed libraries

Grainothèques are popping up all over France, allowing the public to take home for free and donate to the collective library of seeds

Bacteria deadly to olive trees found in southern France

The bacteria, xylella fastidiosa, was identified in a lavender sample in the southern Occitanie region in August.

France to introduce bug that eats harmful ragweed plant

Should a bug that eats harmful ragweed be deliberately introduced into France?

Coronavirus: do plant-based supplements reduce immunity?

Some plant-based supplements people are taking in the hope of boosting immunity from Covid-19 may have the opposite effect.

New map: France on red alert for pollen allergies

The grass pollen count is high throughout France with many departments in the east and southwest on red alert.

Join battle in France to stop butterfly extinction

The survival of some of nature’s most beautiful creatures is in your hands. Jane Hanks looks at how the drop in butterfly numbers can be reversed

Incurable tomato virus found in France for first time

A highly-contagious plant infection with no known cure - dubbed the “tomato virus” - has been confirmed in a farm in north-west France, making it the first known case ever in the country.

France at ‘high risk’ of incurable tomato plant virus

Tomatoes, peppers and chilli peppers in France are at “high risk” from a new virus that currently has no cure, food and health agency Anses has warned.

French eco group calls to ‘cancel’ crop spread rule

A French environmental association is calling for the cancellation of the government’s recent decree to set a minimum buffer zone of 5-20 metres between pesticide spreading and inhabited buildings.

Glowing plants will help us to see in the dark

Lights out!

Plant species given Breton lifeline

Jane Hanks visits a unique botanical conservation centre in Brittany that is saving exotic plants from extinction

Unmasked: the mystery plant-namers of Toulouse

Mysterious botanists who have been identifying wild plants and writing their names on a city’s streets have been unmasked.

Summit on major biodiversity report opens in Paris

A summit to evaluate the declining state of the planet’s biodiversity has started today in Paris, presenting findings from a new 1,800-page expert report that warns of possible “mass extinction”.

French garden diary - April 2019

How do your tall grasses grow? Cathy Thompson gives her tips for creating elegant textures using tall grasses

French ex-surfer turns hemp farmer

Retired professional surfer Vincent Lartizien has relaunched professional hemp growing in France. He now has 40 bio-farmers producing the crop while he develops factories to process it.

Mulch ado...

In response to November’s Garden Diary, and following this summer’s drought, I concur with all recommended plants suggested and would like to add Nepeta Sp (catmint), which I have found thrives during dry conditions.

Pesticide ban and ‘new’ ways to beat weeds

After farmers using the common pesticide metam sodium had difficulty breathing, it was banned in France until February for tests. Similar fears on other pesticides prompted a national ban on councils using chemicals in parks and, as Brian McCulloch finds, encouraged other ways of working

French garden diary - November 2018

How to be ‘water-wise’ in winter? Do your bit by helping to save water in the garden, writes Cathy Thompson

Group fills cracks in pavement with plants not cement

Moves to stop more of France being concreted over with new developments – the government says builders must compensate by creating equivalent green spaces – come years after residents in Caen took ‘greening’ into their own hands... by taking over pavement cracks for plants.