My gardener misses a tooth, sees skew with one eye and is as tall as a very friendly leprechaun. He always manages to mow newly planted shrubs and flowers, laughs and apologizes and mows some more. But when he's done the job with la tondeuse or la débroussailleuse his words are as always: "C'est prop maintenant" and is very pleased with himself.

"C'est prop" has become for me the equivalent of a French life style that I do not understand. It is not only a view on gardening from 1 specific single gardener but also a view on life in general that puzzles me. I live "au chateau" as they say and I am the chatelaine or estate manager of an 18^th century château in the Yonne, Burgundy about 160 km from Paris. Life is completely different à la campagne but there are also a lot of similarities to the capital and city life.

I see this "c'est prop" mentality in a certain group of local people from young children to the elderly. It is a form of purity, a more or less "less is more" attitude.  Everything should have its place, it's use and the way things are. No matter how stupid the tradition, it is how they were brought up and therefore it must be the right thing to do. But somehow down the line of rural life it is nature that has lost in many ways. It is natural for the locals that kids should be "bridé", nature should be of use and not a burden. I discovered I'm not the only one who had the same experiences.

Just the other day I visited the Dutch artist Hester Tjebbes, who is an ex-B&B owner and has lived more than 30 years on and off in France and Bali and I sell her handmade ceramics exclusively in the château gîtes. She told me she had problems with the mayor of her town, a place in Côte d'Or. He wants her to clip her trees as they make too much mess in fall on the public pavement. And as I was making preparations for a garden tour arrangement I found out that also French people have the same problems. The owner of the château, parc et jardins in Thorigny-sur-Oreuse has similar fights with neighbors and nearby paysans.  She fights for the heritage of her parc, but also to preserve the countryside.

As I told her I had a similar experience once, with "my" leaves falling on the other side of the wall on the public church grounds, she advised me to make your point and do not change it.  Otherwise you are lost.

She had a point, I not only see children being lost in the do nots of their parents, I see also that if I had listened to the locals I indeed would have been completely lost.  I see children who are not allowed to express themselves with a piece of chalk on the pavement, because it is not prop.  My meandering hundred-year-old cloud box hedge that grows beautifully should be cut into straight lines because it is much easier to maintain and the forms are much more prop. I have to chop my trees, because the leaves make a mess on the tomb of her husband according to a 70-year-old.  And once I got the remark of a lady that she thought that the leaves of Pauwlonia tomentosa are "dégueulasse".  This is a Chinese tree that gives lilac flowers in spring and has enormous leaves in summer, until the fall of course.  I could just shut my mouth in time to say that I was planning to plant at least a dozen.  And that is what I also learned in France.  Never say I'm not "d'accord", but say thank you for your comment, because that is the prop way to say.  I now understand there is a whole army of people who give another meaning to "less is more" or should I say "emptiness is prop"? 

Lara Lunow

Château de Percey