Arles is a territory apart for a landscape gardener: the town spreads between the wet, salty Camargue, the stony plain of the Crau and the northern foot of the Alpilles. Three micro-climates, three soils, three ways of designing a garden — and that is exactly what we have been working with from the Jardins du Vigueirat yard.
In the town centre, in the townhouses of the Roquette and Hauture quarters, we work on narrow courtyards, stone-paved yards and terraces built over slabs. The challenge here is shade, the wind funnelling down the lanes, and heritage constraints (UNESCO zone, specific planning consents). We favour plants in containers — Mexican orange blossom, multi-stem olives, citrus — and restrained palettes that sit well against the pale stone.
In the mas of the Crau and the Trébon, the soil is frankly stony, free-draining and poor. There we draw dry gardens built around a cypress avenue, with beds of cistus, rosemary, phlomis and euphorbia that need no permanent watering once established. The edges of the Camargue lagoons call for the opposite approach, working with rising salt: tamarisk, oleaster, atriplex and salt-tolerant grasses.
On the maintenance side, the Arles climate sets its own rhythm: olive pruning in March before the sap rises, statutory firebreak clearance before 1 June for properties bordering the garrigue, cutting grasses back at the end of winter, and watching for the coloured canker that hits plane trees hard in this area. We offer annual contracts built around that calendar, with 6 to 10 visits depending on the size of the property.
You live in Arles, Raphèle, Moulès, Salin-de-Giraud or Le Sambuc? We come out free of charge for the survey. Explore our garden design, annual maintenance and tree surgery services, or request a free quote.
A free, no-obligation quote, prepared with care by our team.