ELLE.fr. What place does the garden have for you?
Julie Andrieu. It is a relatively new but important place. It is true that this is something that was quite absent from my childhood because I was born in Paris and the relationship with nature was quite absent in my upbringing. I cultivated it afterwards, first by making food, and then, when I had the means for it, I wanted to buy a house in the countryside, in Gironde. I didn’t settle there all year, but I went there as often as possible. There I started to cultivate my garden and I discovered that it’s something I really like, even though I know nothing about it. I approached the garden a bit like I approached the kitchen at the age of 20, that is to say with a lot of enthusiasm, quite a bit of naivety, not being afraid to spend time there and not being afraid of not chess. I learned that way on the job as an informed neophyte, yes, one could say.
ELLE.fr. How long have you been gardening?
Julie Andrieu. I bought the house in 2007, but the garden came gradually. So I’d say that’s it, it’s really been 10 years since the garden became a priority. I have two gardens that I look after, the one in Gironde and the one at my house in the Paris region. They take up a lot of space in my daily life, in my mind, in my heart too. I think it actually comes with age, trying to put down some roots.
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ELLE.fr. Do you also have family ties on the Monaco side?
Julie Andrieu. My grandmother was Monegasque, but hey, Monaco and nature… Except for the botanical garden, it’s not exactly the nature I dreamed of. I dreamed of a wilder, fatter countryside. I have always loved the countryside, the forests. Mushrooms, chimney fires and that goes with a garden of course, but it’s really a deeper countryside that attracts me. Finally, I created this campaign myth. I didn’t inoculate myself on childhood memories. I went to the Gironde, to a region I didn’t know at all. I put my roots there.
ELLE.fr. How did you get started on the vegetable garden adventure?
Julie Andrieu. The vegetable garden is quite recent, it really came with the show. Finally, the desire for a vegetable garden, it was no longer born during childbirth. But the ornamental garden I already had clearly served as a prelude to the vegetable garden.
ELLE.fr. And in this ornamental garden, what do we find there?
Julie Andrieu. There are many, many, many plants because I am a compulsive shopper. And sometimes we don’t know where to put them. There is one tree that I really like among others, it is the “purple Albizia” with its serrated, almost chiseled leaves. In front of the house I planted a variety called “Summer Chocolate”, a fairly deep brown, glowing with shades of bronze, almost black. I married it with “pittosporums” cut into a ball and of a beautiful, very bright green, as well as purple grasses, “Pennisetum rubrum”.
ELLE.fr. What is your favorite plant or flower in this garden?
Julie Andrieu. It’s hard to say because in the end what I like is the combination of plants. The mix and match. It’s like a cooking recipe. It is not an ingredient but the arrangement and the meeting of ingredients that create, I find, harmony and emotion. Among all these different species, I have one which is quite common in the end but which I like and which has really found its place in the garden: the golden pheasant tree. It has species of clusters, flowers of a very dense, very dark purple and with very pale green leaves.
ELLE.fr. Green and purple are colors that seem to come back often…
Julie Andrieu. Yes, I like contrasts, I like dark and very light shades together, but at the same time I have a lot of pink, pale pink, pastel pink.
Julie Andrieu at the Journées des Plantes de Chantilly with Arnaud Delbard (director of nurseries and rose gardens Georges Delbard), creator of the rose. © Pascaline Noack
ELLE.fr. Speaking of roses, tell us a little about the “Julie Andrieu” variety that we were able to rediscover during the Journées des Plantes de Chantilly, of which you were the godmother of the last edition. How is she? What are your secrets for maintaining this rose bush?
Julie Andrieu. It makes a nice bouquet of roses. It’s a climbing rose that doesn’t go very high, I was very surprised by its ability to grow, especially in the shade, I don’t really know where to put it, I put it next to a low wall, though took advantage of it enough. some sunshine He has grown incredibly and is full of health. It is surprising because it is resilient and manages to overcome disadvantages that are great for this type of plant. (Editor’s note like the lack of light) And it is also a joy because it blooms for a long time.
ELLE.fr. How do you find your inspiration for arranging all your plants?
Julie Andrieu. I have a large library of books about the garden, I draw a lot of inspiration from them. But in reality it really comes when I’m at the nursery. I see plants, I’m crazy. It’s a bit like clothes. We go to buy something and say to ourselves: “I don’t need it at all”. But once we have bought it, as we like it very much, we will still manage to highlight it, to harmonize it. Sometimes it doesn’t work. But most of the time I manage to put it somewhere.
ELLE.fr. Your ideal garden, what would it look like?
Julie Andrieu. I hope it looks a bit like mine… But let’s say it looks like a mix of an English garden and a French garden. Obviously for the very romantic side of the English garden in which one has the impression that everything got there, laid down by chance, which of course is never the case. I also like their slightly mysterious side, ultimately very far from French perspectives. At the same time, this so-called French garden is still grandiose. I am always amazed. I really find that you never tire of this perfection, of this very classical order, but at the same time revealing a timeless harmony. I will try to merge these two spirits into one.
ELLE.fr. Finally, do you have one or more beginner tips to share?
Julie Andrieu. It will be mulching your garden to avoid the loss of humidity, It also limits weeds, weeds, to have less weed problems. I also recommend preparing your soil for the vegetable garden at the end of summer, to allow time for branches, dead leaves and grass clippings to decompose. This facilitates the work from the month of March-April when we will start sowing or planting.