Other peoples gardens .

This summer I've been away from my own garden so it's been badly negleted,. Mr France did the watering for the hanging baskets and the occasional grass cutting which wasn't needed very often due to the heat.
But I had the pleasure of seeing and enjoying other peoples gardens. Would you like to share them with me.

First my daughters garden,

 where I spend most of the summer when we let our property.

Her garden has very little attention and is a little on the wildside

but has great charm.

Each year the hollyhocks are always so pretty.

Entering the drive way the buddleia greets you, usually covered in a mass of butterflies.

When Mr France & I went to stay in  La Petite Maison. the buddleia I'd planted before I left had come into flower, so I picked a few blooms and put them in a lttle old bottle I'd found in the barn when we first bought this little house. I  took a photo so I could paint them at a later date.

So I thought now is  a good time to get back to doing my watercolour painting.

 Here's the scketch I did in my journal.

This is my first effort for over a year

 I'm still only a beginner, but hope that eventually I will improve.

I've only ever shared any of my sketching with my family.

Back to garden visiting.

This is my French friends garden near where I live.

This part has been created with the help her grandchildren, she has seven all under the age of ten.
I love to visit her and see what the little ones have added during their summer holiday.

A lot of watering has been needed
so every little helps.

Another friend I have I admire so much, she  & her husband had a house built not far from where I live. They live and work in England but divide their time between France & England. Gardening is her passion.

I always say, 'she could plant a stick and it would grow.'

It's not easy for her, but with the help of her husband they have made a  vegetable plot and  grow all sorts of vegetables, they always seem to survive whatever the weather, which gives them fresh veg, each time they come back.

Her first batch of haricot vert.

These pictures are from the garden of a dear English friend who has recently passed away.
Although she didn't live in France permanently she chose  her plants carefully.
 to be able to look after themselves, she loved her garden.

This year her hibiscus in white, pink & blue where spendid.

.

As always her hydrangia was beautiful.

I'm sure she chose these because she loved to wear different shades of blue even if it was only a scarf.

Now this garden I've never actualy seen.

This lovely dahlia I've only seen from this photo,as it's  in the garden of my lovely English friends.They used to have a second home near to where I live in France. Her garden in France was planted for every season and always looked as if someone lived there permanently.

They sold their house 2yrs ago and the new owners do live there permanent and they have changed it completely, now when I pass I feel so sad as it doesn't look as pretty as when my friend was there.

Now to North Wales, where my family live.

These beautiful pink poppies are so delicate they are almost like tissue paper,
  are in my nieces garden and she has just been to visit us and brought me envelopes full of poppy heads.
So hopefully I'll have some flowering in my garden next year.

This is my sisters garden also in Wales.
This lovely clematis climbing up the wall to greet you at the front door.

Their garden at the rear of the property.has always been lovely.
Now it's planted mostly with shrubs for ease of maintenance.

This arbour is usually covered  in pale pink clematis flowers.
but due to their severe winter & late snow in spring it's suffered a bit.


My brothers house was an old Welsh farm.

He loves his garden.

When he was younger he was head gardener on the estate of Lord Sefton in Liverpool.

The wall surrounding the front of his house is covered in white alysum, red sauge & blue lobelia.

Then he has a tower of baskets, this had only just been planted when I went to visit him in late June, so I'm sure by the end of summer it was a beautiful mass of colour.

Now I'm back home we have a lot to do in the garden. 

I have plans to make a new area for some shrubs.

So some hard digging will be necessary. I'll show you that later when we get it started.

Before I leave you I must show you the gift my niece bought for me at the market just before she left.

This beautiful giant hibiscus

the flower is as big as a large dinner plate.

Hope you enjoyed seeing these gardens, all so different.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Ma Maison Fleurie.

Do you remember when I told you about the very first time I met the floral judging committee which to me seemed to made up from anyone who liked flowers regardless of their knowledge. That was 20yrs ago. It has come a long way since then for rural France.

The competition judging is done at the beginning of July. That period this year was not very good weather wise, We'd had a lot of rain & not very much sun, so the flowers well behind in blooming due to lack of sun. So consequently all the hanging baskets & troughs were at there best when the jury had been & gone.

At the beginning of last week I received my invitation from M. Le Mayor to attend the diploma presentation  which was to be held in 'La Salle de Fete' in my commune.  This year chairs were set out in rows & a screen was in place up on the stage with a projector for a photo slide show of all the entrants gardens or fronts of houses. I thought wow! our little commune has certainly come into the 20th c. what progress since 20yr. ago. The Mayor welcomed everybody & explained about the slide show. Then he started to give out the diplomas for the different categories & clicked onto the laptop to show the photo of the winners garden or house. Somewhere along the way the photos seemed to be out of synchronisation with the receiver of the diploma, as the little old who was sitting next to me said 'Why is M. Charbonnier collecting a diploma that's not his house it's mine' after 23 yrs. my understanding & communicating has greatly improved, although I still make the odd 'faux pas'  Apparently right from the beginning of the presentation the photos were not the house of the diploma receiver, but nobody had said anything. Oh well ! maybe next year they will get it right, nobody seemed to mind, all the entrants seemed to enjoy looking at every one else's gardens or window boxes and every entrant was given a diploma even if it was just for making the effort of planting a few flowering plants and each one of  went away with a Camellia shrub to help them add a little more colour to their garden. 

Then the aperitifs were served, which always goes down well, delicious canapes made by the local boulanger and a glass of wine, followed by plenty of refills. Everyone then mingled and chatted about their gardening success 's or the failures due the bad weather early in the year, hopefully going away with encouragement  for 2013.

My categorie is for Terraces & balconies & this year I received a 'Diplome d'Honneur avec mention special.

I was well satisfied with my award, but it was not as rewarding for me as the one I received 2yrs ago. That year I won the 1st prize for the whole of the department, not just the commune. But who ever it was who won it this year, I'm sure they will feel as proud as I did and who ever you are I say congratulations.

My Diplome d'Honneur

The balcony with hanging baskets and troughs.

 

Close up of the Surfinias in the trough.






One of the many window boxes.

A half wall basket.

Hanging basket in front of the holiday cottage.

More Surfinias.

On the steps leading to the pool.

A metal ware container from Denmark.

This is a glimpse of some of the flowers that helped me win my Diplome d'Honneur.

Hope you enjoyed sharing my flowers.

A bientot 

Barbara Lilian.

Almost the end of Summer

When I lived in England, and the month of September arrived, I always thought, that's it summer's over now, but here in central France where I live I've found that September is a lovely month. Fortunately we're still enjoying warm sunny days by the pool and as we had a late start to good summer weather this year, all the summer flowers are now at their best. Hopefully as we've been given a good forecast for the next 2 weeks, our summer will stretch out a little bit longer. Naturally some of the leaves have started to change colour and the early mornings & evenings are dewy & slightly chilly, so the signs of Autumn is on it's way. A new season which will be a joy for all it's colours and the fruits on the trees to enjoy, also searching in the woods for the hidden mushrooms, if I'm lucky enough to find them. I've never quite mastered the art of  'trouver les champignons'.

Today we've spent a lovely day with some of our friends who are staying in the house which we rent, called 'La Petite Maison'. I thought you might like to have a peep.

La Petite Maison terrace

with a grape vine covered pergola & the beautiful climbing Campsis,
 with it's vivid flame coloured trumpet flowers.






The grapes and Campsis growing happily together.

La Petite Maison.

A peep inside the cottage, with it's cosy lounge.

 

One of the many hanging baskets.

Still looking good.

Preparing to share aperitifs on the deck with our friends, on their last night.

 

Their last view of La Petite Maison for another year.

  

Hope you liked seeing the end of summer at La Petite Maison.

Au revoir.

A bientot.

Barbara Lilian.

My garden in June.

A little while ago I gave you an idea of what my garden looked like, well now I can show you how it's looking  at the end of June. Hope you like what you see.




This is a selection of the soft colours.

 

This year we have not had the best of weather, a cold May & a rainy June. We were wondering if summer was ever going to arrive, as mid-summers day has been and gone. However it's finaly arrived in full force, it's hot with clear blue sky and the plants are beginning to look healthy and are blooming well, so I'm happy. I've always been a sunshine girl.
Today the floral committee from our local commune arrived with their clip boards. I told you about my first experience of this, not long after we arrived to live in France. After 22 yrs they have not changed very much.
However I did notice that they had a a new member who knew her flowers. The others are quite happy just chatting about everyday life, as long they can have a look around, they're quite content. This committee has to pass first, they select 2 or 3 from the commune to be entered into the department competition, then a week later the horticulturist committee comes to judge, that's when the important part starts. The  local French people seem to be very curious , I'm not sure if it's because I'm English, but now we have lots of English in our area, so I can no longer think of it as 'Un coin perdu'  (a place miles from anywhere)



Surfinias
If you don't know this flower, it's certainly one to have for it's heavenly perfume.
& the vibrant colours. these are planted in troughs so they tumble down over the balcony.

The pale mauve flower is  double Surfinia.
Look at the lovely marbling on the petals
This one is my favourite.

In a few more weeks these troughs will be totaly hidden

 by the profusion of the flowers.



 This antique wine bottle corker was found in a brocante.
I've had it a long time
but now found just the place to show it off.



Hope you liked what you saw.

I'll be back again soon showing more of my hanging baskets as they progress.

A bientot

Barbara Lilian

My garden in France.

 I have a love for France and in the short time since I created my blog, I can see that so many of you share the same feelings. Maybe it's a holiday you've spent somewhere in France  where ever it might be and you have  wonderful memories, which you've taken back home. So I felt I wanted to share a selection of pictures I have taken of my garden from summers here at our home in France.

The arbour with roses & honeysuckle.

So French

Colourful Geraniums in pots.

A colourful mixture of herbs & annual flowers.

This is our well. After my man gave it some TLC

Which we can now use to water the flowers.

One of my many hanging baskets.

I can't wait for this summers flowers to be in full bloom. I'll show the results in a few weeks time.

Hope you'll come back to me to see the results.

Enjoy your gardening where ever you are even if it's only a window box.

a bientot

Barbara Lilian