The sun is a warm, insistent pressure on the back of my neck as I shelter beneath a gargantuan shrub bursting with fuchsia camellias. The slightest movement brings a spray of blooms closer to my face, leaving behind a trail of condensation. A bee meanders past, landing on the waxy surface of a leaf overhead. It is possible to imagine that spring has arrived in
Gaujacq, a commune located in the southwest of France. And yet. there are signs that today is an anomalous occasion. A wooden bench feels swollen and damp under my touch, while every step I take is accompanied by a distinctive squelch-signs that heavy rain has just swept through.
"We're having a spot of good weather today," remarks Jean Thoby, international camellia expert and owner of the botanical conservatory garden I am standing in. Indeed, the land in La Chalosse is associated with frequent rainfall and non-existent winds. The fact that the sun has chosen to emerge today feels fortuitous; a blessing befalling us as we traverse the sprawling grounds of Thoby's Plantarium: the home to 2,000 varieties of camellia, including two seedlings from the mother plants that were purportedly ordered by Gabrielle Chanel more than a century ago.
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