Saint-Étienne-du-Grès sits on the plain between the Montagnette and the northern slope of the Alpilles. The setting is very different from the hill villages nearby: larger plots, deeper and cooler soils, family gardens that combine ornament, vegetable plot, orchard and space for children.
On these plain sites the planting palette widens: we keep the Mediterranean base (olives, lavender, cypress) but can bring in species that need more water — Montpellier maple, nettle tree, plane-leaved mulberry for summer shade, Virginia creeper, wisteria. The silty clay soil holds moisture better than the limestone of the Alpilles, which opens up hard-wearing lawns (tall fescue, clover and fescue mixes) and permanent vegetable plots.
Local demand leans heavily towards boundaries and screening: mixed informal hedges (viburnum tinus, viburnum, photinia, Mexican orange blossom) rather than single-species cherry laurel, timber fencing in sweet chestnut or black locust, chestnut paling, split-cane screening. We pair these with fast-growing screen planting on the mistral-facing side.
Maintenance in Saint-Étienne-du-Grès and Tarascon usually takes the form of annual contracts: regular mowing from March to October, hedges cut twice a season, hand or thermal weeding of paths, leaf clearing in autumn, winter fruit pruning in the orchard. The proximity of the Rhône and a relatively high water table also mean paying attention to drainage and to surface water management.
For a project in Saint-Étienne-du-Grès, see our annual maintenance, our family garden design and our automatic irrigation installation, or request a quote.
A free, no-obligation quote, prepared with care by our team.