Villages of Flowers -- A Good Idea?

One of the things I immediately noticed about Sancerre was the flowers.  Blooming flowers seemed to be everywhere.    Not just in big areas but everywhere you could fit a flower planter there seemed to be one.  And each planter seemed to be filled with blooming flowers. Private properties, like the hotels, were not landscaped better than the public places.  The city’s one round-about was filled wth flowers.  The fire station alone had about 10 hanging planters.   

Saint Satur City Hall

Knowing how costly it is to maintain such plants, I was surprised that such a little town was able to have so many and such large displays.  Then one day when I took a little walk outside the city, I came upon a sign the said Sancerre was a village of flowers.  From what I had observed, I would definitely agree with this characterization but the fact that there was a sign seemed to suggest more was involved than just having a bunch of flowers.

Sure enough, when I checked into  I found that there was a system for determining which cities qualified and there had been since the 50s.  Cities apply and are evaluated by a committee, including representatives of tourism, horticulture, and the environment.  The committee decides, based upon critiria, which cities get the designation.  Depending on how good your city is, you are awarded up to four stars.  Cities achieving the designation get a sign and apparently some honor.  People in Sancerre seemed to be proud of their flowers.  Saint Satur, a nearby city,  is also a village of flowers.  It even has flowers planted along the river.



Sancerre Roundabout



I love this idea and think the U.S. should come up with a city of flowers system.  Or maybe if not the government, an association could set up a system and sponsor participation.  We need more flowers and quite frankly many cities need more to be proud of.  Seeing flowers as you go about your daily activities puts a smile on your face.  The French seem to understand this. Their house may need painting but they’ll probably have a flower in the windowbox.  And whenever I mentioned how many flowers there were or how pretty they were, the locals seemed to take a little pride in this.   No one ever said the city spends too much money on flowers.  Perhaps this is an area where we can learn something from the French.