Monday 23 February 2009

The garden of Hyères

The garden of Hyères : a description of the most southern point on the French Riviera / by Adolphe Smith,...Publication :J. Evans (London)

Most persons have had to travel hundreds of miles further south in order to experience a transition similar to that which the comparatively short journey to Hyères enables us to enjoy. It is difficult to believe that in France, not more than thirty hours' post from London, while still within the pale of advanced Western civilization, we can live in a semi-tropical climate surrounded by all the marvels of vegetation which are generally associated with distant colonies and semi-barbaric southern countries. There is no better proof of the climatic advanatges of Hyères than the vegetation that grows in the open, flowers in the winter, and survives uninjured the coldest months of the y
ear. It is impossible to walk a few steps in Hyères without noting the magnificent palm trees, often laden with dates, the yucca, the aloes, the prickly pears, the roses in mid winter, the geraniums, the English summer flowers blooming in the open air during December and January.

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