Summers still here in France.

 

 

Although our summer has not been glorious sunshine everyday
and I was not able to give our garden the care it needed
we still have some plants giving us lots of colour.

These  Echinacea  have flowered all summer
 and it looks like they will for a lot longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 They will definitely have to be moved to the new flower bed,

as they have taken over this small area smothering the smaller plants

which are now hidden underneath, fighting for a bit of light.

 

 

I bet you're wondering why I'm showing these Lobelia growing in the gravel ?
Every year I used to sow Trailing Lobelia seeds in trays,
they would germinate,  start to grow, then shrivel up !
Now I go to the nearest garden centre and buy them fully grown in small pots.
Then every year half way through the summer they pop up in the gravel,
from seeds which must have fallen from the previous year.
I pull them out and put them into my hanging baskets.
They must like the cold moist gravel during the winter.
So much for my tender loving care I give to the seeds I sow.




Iceland Poppy

Last year I acquired two Iceland poppy plants.
They were on the shelf in a little shop and looked like they were almost dead.
 As I had bought a few other plants, I thought I'd ask if I could have the two for the price of one.
It must have been my lucky day, he put them in a bag
and said it was a petite cadeaux / a little gift.

They flowered for quite sometime, then completely disappeared.
Then this summer after thinking they had died
they must have been slowly growing without me knowing what they were,
and now summer is almost over they've decided to flower.
I need to mark there place so that I'll remember for next year.

 

This is another annual plant that I found growing in the gravel from a fallen seed,

 I pulled it up and popped it into this blue glazed pot so that I can move it about  

and now it adds some bright colour to an other wise dull spot.

 

 

 

Blue Campanula - carpatica

I did plant some white ones, but they don't seem to have survived the wet winter.

 

 

 

 

 I rescued this on one of my walks from a compost heap.

Perhaps someone had been thinning out their flower bed. I took them home,

not sure what they were until they flowered, then I knew... Osteospernum

I've put them in pots until I'm able to get the proposed flower bed dug out.

 They have flowered on & on all summer.

Being white I need to be put them somewhere that needs lightening up.

 

 

Such a pretty flower.

 

 

Hibiscus - Adonicus pink.

I've kept this in it's original pot and it's been flowering profusely   

since my stay in hospital. It was a gift from a friend.

It still has lots of buds.

 

 

This Fuchsia has such a beautiful flower. Unfortunately I don't know the name.

 I managed to over winter it from a hanging basket I'd bought last year.

It's struggled a bit, but it's now showing some lovely blooms.

 now that summer is nearly over. 

 

 

 

I see from several of my blogger friends gardens that Autumn is certainly here.

I hope some of you can manage to hold on to summer a bit longer, If not,

maybe you have some plants in pots that are still flowering that you can bring indoors.

 

What ever your weather enjoy your garden.

 

I know my posts have been few and far between these past few months,

but I'm almost back to my old self.

I have greatly appreciated all the kind get well wishes from so many of you.

 

I'll be back soon, as  I have something I want to share with you.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

In the Pink.

 

 

My garden is full of pink this summer

and

I'm also feeling in the pink.

 

 

 

Almost recovered from my surgery.

 I'm  now able to do lots of things which have been on hold

 

 

Come with me and enjoy some of my PINK.

 

Not the usual sort of thing I put in my garden.

 

 

 

This was given to me last year by the Floral committee

 along with my diploma as part of my prize .

 

Not sure how long this will have a place in my garden !

It's now tucked in a corner till I get used to seeing it.

 

 

 

The only Lily I managed to see.

The Lily bug ate the rest before they were able to bloom.

 



Welcome to La Petite Maison our holiday rental house.

 

 

 



 



 

 

View from the sun deck. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Echinacea  (Poupres)



 

 

 

Phlox ( panicilarta )

A present given to me for my new flower bed.

to be created in Autumn.

 

 

 

Wild Foxglove

  Which pop up somewhere different each year.

I hope you enjoyed my Pink mood


I'll leave with a pretty posy
 to enjoy what ever mood you are in.

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 



Lavender from the garden.



It's Lavender time again and thank goodness I have plenty to pick.

Back in Springtime I didn't think I'd have very much

as we'd had such a long period of rain.

 

I really will have to think of renewing a lot of my plants.

However I have a good harvest

to be able to make my Lavender posies

Take a look at the old post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The 1st picking

 

 



 a few ideas of how to arrange some bunches.

 I used fine wire to attach small bunches onto this raffia heart.

 

A rustic style which I've hung to  dry on the terrace.

Filling the air with it's heavenly perfume.

Which will always remind me of our trip to Provence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Of course there will also be lots of lavender bags.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this will give you a few other ideas

of how to show off your lavender.

 

I still have a lot to harvest.

so I'll be busy this next week.

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 



Sketches... painted of my garden during recooperation time.

 

 

Poppy painted on my Nepalese hand made paper.

After trials and errors I now realise

 I have to use more paint and less water.

 

 

This one was painted on hand made paper from Solange in the Provence.

When I was there I visited the paper mill where you could see
the process of how the paper was made. I wish I had bought the sheets of paper,
but I had only just started to paint with water colours then

and I only bought a pack of postcards, but I still have a few left.

 



 

 

Our pool, which I've only been looking at over the past few weeks.

and now I am allowed to swim, we have dull rainy weather

and as I'm a sun worshiper and not a keen swimmer

I need a hot sunny day to tempt me.

 

 

 

 

 

Our new brightly coloured sun brollies for the pool area

 

 

 

 

Where we sit for morning coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 A corner of the garden that has given us plenty of colour,

especially the poppies on the left. which have now been removed

ready for some herbaceous plants to take their place.

The roses on the right where beautiful, until we had a terrific storm

 a few days ago and now they've all been battered .

Hopefully we'll get a second lot to flower over the following weeks.

 

 

This area is work in progress.

However since my back problem it has been put on hold.

The wall was built in the springtime

 and a few cuttings of Buddleia were literally shoved in,

have grown well and now beginning to give us some colour

along with the never ending butterflies that love it.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm now feeling much better so I've been pottering about dead heading,

nothing too energetic for the time being.

 I do start to get carried away and get told off by Mr France

 and made to rest, I must be patient

 

I'll be so happy when I can get my hands in the earth again,.

 

I've sketched a lot over the past few weeks.

So I'll be showing you some more soon.

In the meantime I hope you are enjoying lots of warm sunny days in your gardens.

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Looking back.

It's now early June and I'm resting after my surgery

I've only planted up a few hanging baskets and

I've just had a phone call from 'Le Mairie' ( our local town hall)

It was strange to hear an English voice and also one I recognised,

 informing me that she was now the person in charge of the 'floral committee'

and would I be entering the floral competition as usual this year,

as I had not sent in my application form.

How things have changed since I first arrived to live in my tiny village

 take a look here

 

During the time  I've lived in France I've always had pots of flowers

on the window sills and by the front door, even when we were renovating our house.

 I felt a little sad having to say NO I would not be entering this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you'd like to look back with me at one of my previous posts  

 

here  are some of the flowers which have won me prizes.

Little by little I'm getting better.
I'm still having to rest a lot and not allowed to go out in the car yet.
Fortunately we have glorious sunshine so I've been sitting on our terrace
I've done a little sketching, but really not 100% back into it.
Hopefully I'll get my enthusiasm back soon.

 I hope you'll enjoy seeing some of my older posts.
when the pots & baskets where at their best.


Since I've been absent,  I've gained some new followers
I hope you will come back even though my posting will be sporadic
for a little while.
Also thank you so much to those of you who have sent me get well wishes.

 

 

  

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian