The Gardens of Cormatin

Colorful trees are a nice touch, but it's the hugging bush I adore. Below are garden scenes from 2 windows of the chateau...

 On the ground floor along with the wine cellar and jail, was an open doorway at the level of the moat...

 Marie-Annick, Mimi and I returned on Saturday to wander the gardens...

Since we have been joking about meeting French men in Cluny, it just seemed right to get my picture taken with a naked man in a French garden!

Yup, I'm wearing my gloves! It's been a bit nippy out.

Why have two rows of hedges?  Look at the next picture...cool!

Water surrounds the chateau as well as surrounding the gardens. In the distance you can see the aviary which has a labyrinth created by tall hedges all around it. From the top of the aviary it is possible to help people find their way out or to help them stay lost.

I thoroughly enjoy these shrubs as fanciful animals but I can't quite see doing this in Vermont...

There was still plenty of color in the gardens...

 I assume the hedges were trimmed this fall and that spring growth will hide the brown core with a cover of new green leaves. 

I'm pretty sure this is a sumac, which we wouldn't think of putting in a garden...for us it's a wild roadside bush, but Joe Pye Weed grows wild and nurseries sell it, so why not sumac?

This yellow tree was spectacular, especially in contrast with the dark greens. Then we moved on to the kitchen garden...