Even I am shocked by how long it is since I blogged, not since our open garden day in 2024. I know you’ll forgive me. So much has happened in the last couple of years, some of which I’ve already written about here and elsewhere. Someone very important (more later) mentioned today in an email that they’d looked at my blog. So I realised it … Continue reading Time for an update
For many years we’ve enjoyed visiting NGS (National Garden Scheme) gardens in the UK. There’s a certain rhythm to a visit: notice a window in the diary, open the NGS app, search for gardens, reject gardens that we’ve visited before (unless they’re very special and need to be revisited) identify one that’s not too far away, drive to it in eager anticipation, take a long … Continue reading Open garden : Jardin ouvert
I was drawn out into the garden early this morning by the light. The rising sun illuminated the remaining leaves on the five huge plane trees by the gate, highlighting the autumn golds, reds, and yellows of these amazing trees, which almost certainly date back to Napoleonic times. And a closer view And, of course, with light like that I couldn’t help being drawn further … Continue reading A quick November early morning walk around the garden
The 9th Garden Museum Literary Festival took place on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th June at Parham House and Garden in West Sussex and we were delighted to be part of it. This event is one of our absolute favourite events in the entire calendar and we would happily cross continents to attend. Indeed one other attendee had done just that, travelling from New York. … Continue reading Garden Museum Literary Festival 2023 at Parham House in Sussex
Creating a garden is a complex activity. For me it includes being able to include favourite and/or simply very beautiful plants, creating pleasing shapes, vistas and flow. It’s hard work. Forget the current fad for “rewilding” (fantastic when done properly, an awful apology for not doing any work when done badly). The very concept of gardening involves tweaking and managing nature. Otherwise it is just … Continue reading Harsh decisions sometimes need to be made
Some recent passing comments on Twitter about our rose garden prompted me to write an update on how it is progressing. I promised one or two people that I would do so. Here it is … I put a great deal of effort into planning the rose garden. It is situated on the south side of the parking area, on slightly raised ground, and is … Continue reading The rose garden: a new and radical approach
Firstly, the hellebore. We had a good collection of hellebores from single to double, dark to light, in our old Surrey garden. When we bought our French house we never imagined they would grow well here. How wrong we were. A friend gave us a few clumps and we went from there. We now have quite a number, and they are beginning to self-seed. We … Continue reading A long gap, a beautiful hellebore, and some unexpected news …
Edit: we arrived home in France after the overnight ferry and a long all-day drive tired but elated. We’d made it. Just 24hours later an email arrived which changed everything; there had been a massive mix-up in the work visa application process and the upshot was that R had to return immediately to the U.K. This was, as you can imagine, a cruel blow to … Continue reading A new chapter begins (edit: its all on hold)
Don’t you just love Facebook memories? I’m firmly of the Facebook generation (unlike my grandchildren!) and one of the things I love is the way it reminds me of what I was doing on the same day in previous years. This morning I was reminded that one year ago I arrived in France, ahead of lockdown, to ensure that one of us could establish residency … Continue reading One year to the day
One is never far from the great rivers of France. Today two of them featured in my adventures, the Garonne and the Dordogne, the Garonne because I crossed over it twice on my return journey to Bordeaux this morning, and the Dordogne because I drove alongside it on arrival in the centre of the city. The two rivers meet at Bordeaux and then flow out … Continue reading The great rivers of France, terrace furniture, and the story of a resident’s permit
The Renaissance Gardener 