The season of the Mimosa in Provence

Bonjour à tous from Provence 🇫🇷

It is the first week of February, and the sky is blue on these winter days. It is the season of the mimosa, which starts flowering along the Côte d’Azur during the last of January until March. The fragrant yellow flowers are a symbol of winter in Provence and the first to bloom in the new year, with a joyful message announcing spring or « printemps » is just around the corner ! They are now in every marché. Mimosa festivals  can be experienced along the French Riviera from Saint-Maxime all the way to Grasse, the famous village for the world’s perfumeries.  The fragrance from mimosas is used in perfumes, soaps, and even baking, but the cut flower industry is the biggest reason for its cultivation. Close by is the Tanneron Forest, painted yellow this time of year with all the wild mimosas. It is the largest mimosa forest in Europe! Viva La France 🇫🇷 

And so it begins this year in Provence, with the cutting of the vines, some of the fields that were planted last year will be rotated this year. On my walks, I can sometimes mark my distance by the field of carrots, then turnips, then after the beets. But it is always changing from year to year so next year might be something else planted or a different sequence. 

After the mimosa this month, will come the first blooms of the almond trees. Their pale pink  blossoms are short lived but mark another step closer to spring. When March arrives , everything changes like the backdrop in a theater !

I love these last months of winter when each evening the sunsets are getting a little later with their showy pinks, oranges, and blues …the village smells of fires from the chimneys where many houses still depend on the fire for heating . It is quiet ..even the cafe is closed for a couple of weeks. Getting outside for walks to see the earth changing its clothes into a new season is magnifique ! 

À bientôt.. bon février ! 

Beth