Le Figaro Nantes
When he discovered one of his majestic trees lying on the ground last Friday, Jacques Dalibot couldn't help but shed a few tears.
After the passage of the violent storm Louis, one of the three Monterey pines belonging to this resident of Saint-Père-en-Retz, in Loire-Atlantique, did not survive.
“He had no illness, he was doing very well.
He could have lived a very long time
,” regrets his owner to Le
Figaro
, after speaking to
Courrier du Pays de Retz
.
In his superb two-hectare park attached to the Gruais manor, which he acquired five years ago with his wife, 29 notable plant subjects follow one another.
Among them, notably a giant sequoia, an extraordinary spring tamarisk possibly 400 years old or even a Lambert cypress, distinguished by a circumference of 5.40 m.
That is 40 centimeters more than that of Pinus insignis, which fell during the night of February 22 to 23 and whose total height reached 25 meters.
Read also Just elected “French tree of the year”, this Norman beech could win another title
Originally from California
According to its owner, the deceased tree dates from the 17th century.
By promoting the different species of the estate, which he is keen to open free to all* and which is part of the regional association of parks, gardens and landscapes of Pays de la Loire, Jacques Dalibot worked with specialists who came to do the inventory of its trees.
The latter would have taught him that “
in the 17th century, the three pines signified the presence of a chapel hidden at the bottom of the park”.
The renovation of the said chapel was undertaken by the couple attached to old stones who, initially, wanted to make the manor a wellness center.
“The tree was native to the southwest coast of the United States, in California.
Most of our essences come from America.
They arrived from
Paimboeuf
(located 10 km away, Editor's note)
, which was an important port at the time
,” adds Jacques Dalibot, manual therapy practitioner.
Co-author of the book
Remarkable Trees in Saint-Père-en-Retz,
Jean-Luc Morantin, who values heritage and local history, shares the geographical thesis.
“All this was collected by Paimboeuf, which was the outer port of Nantes.
All direct or triangular trading boats unloaded their goods there, then went up the Loire to Nantes
.
Moreover,
“we have quite a few houses of character and castles in the town.
Who says houses or castles says gardens.
There are therefore quite a few plantations and old trees in the area
,” underlines the man who is also president of the Saint-Père Histoire association.
On the other hand, after consultation with an expert who once came to tour the property, the former landscaper asserts for his part that the pine in question would have been planted in the 1850s.
The park of the Gruais manor and its majestic trees
Access the slideshow (5)
Also read Where are the 3 most beautiful trees in France?
An endangered species
Still, despite the dispute over its precise age, this species is classified
as “endangered”
in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Contacted, the French committee of the IUCN clarified that this classification concerns
“its natural range”
, that is to say the southwest coast of the United States and not France.
In memory of this element of history swept away by the weather, Jacques Dalibot would have liked to entrust his Monterey pine to a sawmill in order to transform it into a statue*.
Failing to find it, he looks for someone to give it to.
The disappearance of the plant does not, however, demotivate him.
This nature lover announces to Le
Figaro
that he has applied for one of his other trees, the umbrella pine (see our slideshow),
“a subject of more than 200 years”
to become a
“remarkable tree”
in 2024. The file is in progress. instruction course.
*TEL: Mr. Dalibot can be reached on 02 51 18 66 56 for visits or to collect his tree lying on the ground.