Derbez nurseries sit where you'd expect them: the familiar roadside stop between Ramatuelle and Gassin, where Tropéziens go to find their olive trees, their oleanders, their palms. A green landmark on the peninsula, founded decades ago. For the past few months, though, turbulence. The founder was pushed out, a legal process began, and the village talked.
Now, a turn. He's been reinstated. The details blur. Family discord, contested management, passions running high in the heat. But the decision came down, clear. The founder is back in charge.
And that matters. The regulars, those who stop by each spring to revive a terrace or replant after the mistral has had its way, they know it. Derbez isn't just a shop. It's a piece of local memory, knowledge passed down, a particular way of gardening under the Gulf's temperamental sun.
How the reinstatement unfolds remains to be seen. For now the greenhouses turn, the olives grow, and the founder is at the helm again.
