Fete du Citron pavilion |
Chimera orange+lemon |
Australian Round Lime |
'Mela Rosa' |
Buddha's Hand |
Pink Grapefruit |
A private garden near Menton, France |
I had heard about an important private citrus collection in Menton, but couldn't
contact the owner by e-mail. It took a letter to arrange the visit in early February
2007. When I met Edouard Mazzola, a retired nurseryman, he was watering the
garden. I suggested perhaps he didn't have a computer. "You are correct" he
replied "if I had a computer I would be in the house too long, instead of looking
after my plants in the garden!" |
L'Esquinade is reached along a twisting road into the mountains above Menton. The
garden was built over 30 years by partially infilling and terrassing a steep valley,
almost a ravine, facing the sea. Lower down, the valley is crossed by a
tall viaduct carrying the motorway. The supporting pillars and the motoway bridge
frame a view - at times of the old town of Menton, at times the deep blue of
the Mediterranean sea. In addition to citrus, L'Esquinade contains fine collections of hibiscus, mimosas, and palm varieties from around the world. |
page created 11th February 2007 |
Here are just a few of the 150 citrus varieties at L'Esquinade:- |
CITRUS in and around MENTON SEE THESE OTHER PAGES |
Citrus medica |
The variety on the left was labelled 'Jerusalem', but looked to me the same as 'Cedrat
de Florence' in the nearby Palais Carnoles collection. The variety on the
right was 'Vozza Vozza', possibly a lemon x pummelo hybrid. |
A grafted triple variety tree. Citrons 'Florence' and 'Sicily', plus a sweet orange. |
A thorny, tangled Fingerlime, Microcitrus australasica, 1.5m high |
Fortunella hindsii, the Hong Kong wild kumquat, also around 1.5m tall, with hundreds
of tiny fruits |
A splendidly bumpy Thai Lime, Citrus hystrix Thornless tree form |