In May this year I visited Nice botanical garden on the Côte d'Azur in France. It was an overcast day, which can be perfect for strolling around in gardens as it can be quite warm in the south of France in spring. The gardens are large, but sadly unkept. The diversity of plants that has once been its pride and joy are still to be found, but many of the name tags have been lost over time. First up is the collection of Cistes, Agues and Phlomis. It just once have been beautiful and the bones of the layout are still visible, but weeds and wild grasses fill up the borders as much as the botanical collection.
The most beautiful plants were found in the section for the Grand iles de la meditedrranae that represent Corsica, Sicily, Sardinia and Baleares, but sadly these had all lost their name tags. I was really sad about this, as being a real plant nerd means I'm naturally curious and always write down the names of plants I really like.
The garden lies on a steep slope, and in the middle there was a pergola that must once have been pretty. It was covered at one part with a sweetly smelling simple climbing pink rose, but what variety it is has also been lost with time. Next to it there was happily one plant that was new to me that had a tag: Vinca Difformis or commonly known as intermediate periwinkle. I have never seen this little star shaped Vinca before although it is native to Western Europe.
The agave section was excellent with lots of different agaves growing like monsters in the the warm costal climate. I wish I could name the different varieties, but... alas there were no name tags once again. Still, it was a perfectly pleasant day out and if you simply like walking around gardens I can warmly recommend a visit.
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