Plants to Use in French Landscaping

Fragrant Lavender

• Lavender says "French garden" more than any other perennial. Lavandula augustifolia is a semi-evergreen shrub that grows to 3 feet tall in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 to 9. Native to the Mediterranean, this plant thrives in dry, rocky soil. Its small, fragrant lavender flowers bloom on woody branches with small gray-green leaves. Provence is one of the most fragrant varieties.

Colorful Perennials

• Claude Monet's garden at Giverny is an explosion of color with annuals tucked between perennials such as poppies, irises and roses. Include the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, which blooms in late spring to early summer in white, pink, orange, red or purple. It is hardy in zones 3 through 8. The elegant bearded iris, with its three top petals over three bottom petals, blooms in May and June in zones 3 through 9. Include a variety of roses, as Napolean's wife, Josephine, did at her Chateau de Malmaison garden, according to ''The Book of Outdoor Gardening.''

Potager

• Any good French garden features a "potager," or kitchen garden, with an array of fruit trees, vegetables and herbs for seasoning food. Include tomatoes, cabbages, leeks and rosemary as much for ornament as for utility. For a more formal look, surround a plot with a low box hedge, such as the garden at Villandry, a 16th century French Renaissance chateau by the river Cher.