How many geraniums would your town have?

One of the many delights of traveling through Alsace was appreciating their flowery towns.

That's an awfully "fleuri" ruin you're standing next to, H.

For those of you who think this is a lovely display of flowers, you've got a good eye. The French government would agree with you. Yes, you read correctly - the French government has an entire department devoted to determining which French villages are the "floweriest." According to their website, the floweriest villages are a societal phenomenon in France. Wow-ee! What delighted me most were the signs:

No, ladies and gentlemen, this isn't just any town. This is a four geranium town.

Every year, over 12,000 villages and towns from all across France enter the national competition of floweriness. Now, once the official flowery folk come to your town, they submit a ranking. Over three thousand towns and villages receive a rank of at least one geranium, while only 202 towns and villages have the status that every French gardeners surely aspires to: a four geranium ranking.

J and I had the pleasure of traveling through not one, not two, but three towns that achieved the status of four geraniums. Bergheim, Itterswiller, and last but certainly not least, Ribeauville. My favorite flowery moment was this one:

Please, come into my flowery home.

But I really should leave you with a photo from Ribeauville, which not only was a four-geranium town, but won the national prize for floweriness.

Check out the size of those pink geraniums.

Should a representative of the French government read this blog, I humbly submit my candidacy for being an evaluator of the 2008 competition.