Prunus satozakura

Satozakuras in Autumn clothing
Naturetum de Sologne

This name is not an officially accepted name, but this is the one I use to label specific Japanese Cherries.  They were Cherries ("Zakura" or "Sakura" in Japanese) often selected as the ornament of a village ("Sato" in Japanese).  Many of them are now internationally known and cloned, for the pleasure of million of admirers.  
Our Naturetum de Sologne (http://www.naturetum.com/) global target is to protect biodiversity and we do have such a program for the beautiful Prunus sargentii, with many specimens issued from seeds collected in Hokkaido shriving in our woods, asides Prunus avium which occurs naturally therein.
Satozakuras, however, are one of the limited exception for which we constitute a collection of cultivars, because of their unique characters and beauty.  See photos and come to visit our Naturetum, they are magnificent in flowers!

Prunus satozakura 'Tai Haku'
Naturetum de Sologne 

Prunus satozakura 'Ukon'
Naturetum de Sologne

Berberis

From where comes my passion for Berberis.  From the marvelous sculptures of their leaves?  From their delicate blooming?  From the subtle fragrances of their crumpled leaves?  From the enlightening of their Autumn coloring?  From the glistening green of their Summer foliage?  From the gracious stand of many of them?  Or from their fiercely-sharpened thorns?…
At the moment in the Naturetum de Sologne (http://www.naturetum.com/) we have referenced more than an hundred fifty specimen, belonging to ten different species and to twenty different hybrids and culltivars.  We will  love to enlarge the collection, providing we have the funding for more shrubs maintenance (on the long term, shrubs are more demanding than trees). 

Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea  specimen 258
Naturetum de Sologne  allée de FarandoleA

Berberis x frikartii  specimen
Naturetum de Sologne  

Je ne sais d'où vient ma folie des Berberis.  Des merveilleuses sculptures de leurs feuilles?  De leurs délicates floraisons?  Des parfums subtils émanant des feuilles froissées?  Des éblouissantes couleurs d'automne?  Du vert brillant de leur feuillage d'été?  Du port gracieux de beaucoup d'entre eux?  Ou bien de leurs redoutables épines acérées?...
Nous avons maintenant dans le Naturetum de Sologne (http://www.naturetum.com/) référencé plus de cent cinquante spécimens, répartis sur plus de dix espèces et sur plus de vingt cultivars et hybrides différents.  Nous irons beaucoup plus loin si nous avons les fonds nécessaires à l'entretien des arbustes, beaucoup plus onéreux dans le long terme que celui des arbres!
Admirez sur l'instant ceux de ces photos, et je reviendrai vous en parler.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides

This is a relic tree, considered as extinct till its rediscovery in China in 1941.   I love its silhouette, the light shining green of its new leaves in early spring, its beautiful Autumn colors…
Many of the trees planted are issued from a few seeds received from China in 1948 and thus show signs of degenerescence, due to poor genetic diversity.  I recommend to those who want to grow that tree to carefully check the origin of the plants (cuttings, seedlings and place where seeds had been harvested, etc.).  It is possible to get fresh seeds to China (unfortunately too many are collected, endangering the natural seedlings of the remaining wild trees, which number less than 6,000).
Eleven specimen are living in the Naturetum de Sologne (http://www.naturetum.com/) so far, with at least nine growing very well.  We intend to saw more with the aim to have at least one hundred trees of different genetics.

Baby Boars too do Dance; la Ronde des Marcassins

In the evening of an early-June day, two of my friends and myself were walking in La Cloche Nauretum  (http://www.naturetum.com/) along the Agénie alley.
As we approached La Martinière lake, we suddenly realized that on the bank left to the lake more than twenty baby wild boars (Sus scrota) were playing together.  At least three families considering the differences in size and in robe colors.  They in fact were running after each other in a dance-like perfect circle.  It seems unbelievable that such a play occurs and more even that it could be observed.
For more than fifteen minutes, and from a distance of less than fifty meters, we could watch this extraordinary show.
Then warning calls came out from the near-buy common broom (Cytisus scoparius) bushes, presumably from mother boars.  Mothers may have suddenly realized that we humans were so closed, and were urging their progeniture to hide back to the bushes, which babies did, though rather slowly as if regretfully.


The theater representation was over but the exquisite remembrance is high in our hearts.  And I am happy that my friends were there and can corroborate this incredible reporting!
I would like to know if anyone else in the World had a similar experience?

La Fercelle lake: Autumn

La Fercelle lake like many others in Sologne was probably made in the middle-age by monks, with the purpose of providing a proteins' source to the local populations.  
This lake is depicted in the Napoléon fiscal mapping ("Cadastre") in the beginning of the 19th. Century.  I didn't find (nor really search for) older maps.  
In the late part of the 20th. Century, the lake land was cultivated and its sluice-gate disabled.  When it became a part of La Cloche Naturetum (http://www.naturetum.com/), we restablish the waters and can now admire many species of visiting water birds.  Especially the lake is a stopover for migrators:  as it is situated in a large open plain, birds can see it from very far, and can also feel secure (as they easily monitor its surroundings).

In Autumn, La Fercelle is a fairyland, with migrating birds flying in and out, swimming, etc., and the splendid colors of the trees in its North.
Please come and visit us!

Prunus padus

In La Cloche Naturetum (http://www.naturetum.com/), the early flowering of our oldest Prunus padus (the Bird Cherry) is a magic event, short in time but so intense.  May be birds too love the lighting of this tree as they come in high number to populate it.  Their songs add to the tree frenzy with its downpour of simple small white flowers soon lying all over the site.
I love you Prunus padus for this show of a musical vision of beauty, but I love you too in Summer when your light shade overshadows the giant hammock I dispose at your foot.  A hammock in which sometimes a visiting beauty rests and adds her sumptuosity to the decor.  A hammock in which other times I let my brain floating in a half dream while humming the fresh air you dispense.
I love you in Autumn for the light song of the wind in your falling leaves.
I love you in Winter for your hosting of birds who much before the Spring claim their will and approbation to life in such a delicately-noisy, delicious, concert.
Prunus padus you decorate the sub-artic and even the artic countries of Euro-Asia, to the pleasure of so many species, including the human one.

Prunus padus  Specimen 1534  Naturetum de Sologne

Farandole got three breakfasts a day!

For ten days in a row Farandole the pony managed to get three breakfast a day, while his escapes remained unnoticed...

7:00 am, Farandole the pony gets up in La Cloche http://www.naturetum.com/

7:00 am, Farandole the pony gets up, and goes out through a secrete pass door he has found in his fence.
Then, Farandole energetically canters two kilometers to the South, cautiously crosses the car road, and reaches the farm where a fellow horse had just been served a succulent breakfast.  Farandole has a share of it, but soon after starts moving four kilometers North East where he knows a fellow donkey got his breakfast served around 7:30.  Again he gasps a share of it, briefly touching the warm head of this second fellow.
Farandole should be relabeled 'the just-in-time horse' as he rushes back South-West to reenter his own pasture before his keeper arrives at 8:00 with a dedicated breakfast.  What a journey!


It is difficult for a bright tricolor pony to remain unnoticed.  In the village there start to be rumors that a pony - and that might well be the one known to live in La Cloche - mysteriously appears here and there in the early mornings.  Also a horse and a donkey seem unusually hungry, and again there are rumors of a well-fit pony running around at their breakfast times.  When I came back to La Cloche Naturetum (http://www.naturetum.com/) the next WE, several people expressed suspicions concerning Farandole early daily routine.
When in La Cloche, I usually get up very early, before dawn, and indeed the next morning I observe from the house top floor what Farandole might be doing.  I saw him moving towards a specific place of his pasture ands next disappearing.  I rush there and found a place in the fence where a pony this size might be able to go.  I waited hidden for about an hour just to hear a pony cantering bravely and soon appearing and going through the suspected pass just before the car of the keeper enters the property.
Of course I fixed the fence more properly and Farandole escapades came to an end;  it took sometimes however before I find out what have exactly been his journeys...