STILL IN BLOOM IN OCTOBER

I haven’t finished with my series “La douce France” but I first wanted to give you an update on what is still blooming in my garden in October.

The pictures I am going to show you were taken last week, 2nd week of October.

We had quite nice weather  up till a few days ago, it started raining Saturday evening and temperatures dropped quite a bit, but hey, what do you expect ? It’s Autumn !

Here are some pictures I took before it started to rain.

MY YELLOW DAHLIA

A SUNFLOWER, GIFT OF A BIRD WHO DROPPED THE LITTLE SUNFLOWERSEED

MY FUCHSIA’S GO ON AND ON TILL THE FIRST FROSTS, ON THE RIGHT YOU CAN ALREADY SEE THE BUDS OF A DWARF RODODENDRON

TRICYRTIS, A LATE BLOOMER, BLOOMS FOR A VERY LONG TIME

MY RUSSIAN VINE KEEPS ON BLOOMING

ANEMONE JAPONICA HONORINE JOBERT

FUCHSIA MAGELANICA MAGELANICA

THE LAST ROSES IN MY GARDEN

GERANIUM ROZANNE HAS BEEN BLOOMING SINCE MAY !

VIOLA CORNUTA, A SELFSEEDER, I LET THEM DO WHATEVER THEY WANT TO COS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

A PELARGONUM ON MY WINDOWSILL

MY 3 LANTANA CUTTINGS ARE DOING GREAT !

AND ANOTHER TRICYRTIS

After all the rain my garden looks sad now but I am already making plans for next year, and I have loads of pictures of how my garden was in 2013.

Next post will be about France again as I still have a lot of pictures to show you. Have a great day and enjoy your garden or your indoor plants if you don’t have a garden !!!

LA DOUCE FRANCE: DIJON 3

Today I want to show you the garden of the B&B we stayed at when we were in Dijon. The guy who runs this place was really friendly and his English was good, I prefer to speak French in France as I speak it well enough to make myself clear, when I was 18 I lived and worked in France for 6 month’s so I have no problem with French. This B&B was really a gem, an old big house with 3 guest rooms and 1 guest suite. Every place was really nicely decorated and so was the garden.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

THIS WAS A CORNER IN THE DININGROOM

THIS LITTLE OWL ALSO FOUND A PLACE IN THE DININGROOM

WHEN THE WEATHER IS WARM ENOUGH YOU CAN EAT ON ONE OF THE TERRACES

ONE OF THE SEVERAL OLD STAIRS IN THE GARDEN

THIS COCK IS WATCHING OVER THE GARDEN, COCKS ARE THE NATIONAL SYMBOL FOR FRANCE

VIEW ON THE GARDEN

ANOTHER COSY CORNER IN THE GARDEN

THERE WERE SEVERAL CYPRESSUS IN THE GARDEN, ONE OF MY FAVORITE TREE’S, UNFORTUNATELY WE CAN’T GROW THEM IN BELGIUM

AN OLD CHESTNUT TREE COVERED IN MOSS

AN ARCH WITH PLANTS WHO FORMED A GREEN  CURTAIN

PELARGONIUMS IN POTS WERE EVERY WHERE

With these picture I close the part of Dijon, at the moment we are in a small place near Lyon but that is for my next blog page.

Enjoy your garden ! I miss mine ! Thanks for stopping by, it is much   appreciated !

GARDEN UPDATE

We have had about 2 weeks of really hot weather with one or two showers and today a heavy thunderstorm. I took some pictures before the storm, now that the storm is over the garden looks a bit of a mess but they needed the drink. I’ve tried to keep everything alive by watering every evening but they really prefer water from heaven. The forecast is for at least another 2 weeks of really hot weather. I only wish I could have my holiday now but we have it planned for September. But I do try to enjoy the Summer in the mornings and in the evenings, eating outside with a garden view…what more do you want ?!

The flowers have been suffering a bit from sunburn and so did some bushes, so I try to keep them cool and give them a bit of shade with an umbrella or a thin cloth, every little bit helps, but of course all the tropical plants are having a ball now.

The tomatoes are finally starting to get a red colour and the beans are growing and ripening so fast ! I love it ! The salad doesn’t like the hot weather, I keep it in my greenhouse as otherwise the birds will eat it all.

A PURE WHITE MALVA

WHITE BEGONIA

THE FIRST BLOOMS ON MY BUDDLEIA (BUTTERFLY BUSH) THIS YEAR

I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS IS, IT’S A GIFT FROM THE BIRDS, IT IS SO PRETTY AND LACY I HAVEN’ THE HEART TO PULL IT OUT

HERE YOU CAN SEE HOW BIG THE FIGS OF THE FIRST FIG HARVEST IS, THE TINY ONES ARE THE SECOND HARVEST, USUALLY ONLY THE FIRST HARVEST WILL RIPEN ENOUGH TO EAT OVER HERE, A FIG TREE GET’S 3 HARVESTS PER YEAR BUT THEN IT NEEDS A HOT COUNTRY TO LIVE IN, NOT A COLD RAINY COUNTRY LIKE BELGIUM, I GAVE MY FIG TREE A NICE WARM DRESS THIS WINTER AS LAST YEAR IT WAS ALMOST FROZEN TO DEATH, THE WINTERDRESS REALLY MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE !

THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE DAHLIA LUCKY NUMBER, THE PICTURE THAT CAME WITH THE BULBS SHOW A DARKER PINK FLOWER, I HATE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS, IT’S A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER BUT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PURPLE

MY LITTLE YELLOW AFRICANS (TAGETES) ARE THRIVING OF COURSE

ANOTHER WHITE FLOWER, LANTANA CAMARA, IT ALSO LIKES THE HEATH

THEY HAVE YELLOW HEARTS, I LOVE THE SMELL OF THE CRUSHED LEAFS !

THE EUCOMIS BICOLOR IS GETTING SEEDPODS NOW

THE FIRST OF THE JAPANESE ANEMONES ARE IN BLOOM

One of these days I’m going to give you an update on my succulents and cacti.

Have a great weekend all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden !

ANOTHER WEEK IN THE GARDEN

Another week gone by, a nice week weather wise, not too hot but just nice, no rain no damaging wind…everything is growing nicely and I enjoy sitting on the terrace and watch all the blooms and the garden is looking nice and smelling nice, although there still is a lot of work to do but I need a bit of a break from the hectic weeks we’ve had.

My roses finally found it warm enough to perform !

ROSA THE PILGRIM, A LOVELY SOFT YELLOW ROSE WITH A SOFT PERFUME

ANOTHER VIEW OF ROSA THE PILGRIM, SHE TURNS ALMOST WHITE AFTER A FEW DAYS

ROSA GUIRLANDE D’AMOUR, A RAMBLER WITH A HEAVENLY SMELL

I DON’T KNOW THE NAME OF THIS PINK BEAUTY, IS A CLIMBER AND SHE CLIMBS AGAINST THE AVIARY, WHEN I BOUGHT THIS ROSE THE TAG WAS OF A SOFT PINK ROSE BUT THIS IS NOT THE ONE THAT WAS ON THE PICTURE, I HATE IT WHEN THE TAGS DON’T MATCH !

CLEMATIS ETOILE VIOLETTE, ONE OF THE EASIEST CLEMATIS AND IT BLOOMS FOR A LOOOOOOONG TIME ! IT’S THE FIRST TO BLOOM AND CONTINUES TO BLOOM TILL THE FIRST FROST ! I COMBINED IT WITH ROSA CONSTANCE SPRY A PINK ROSE, BUT SHE IS NOT IN BLOOM YET.

MALVA, A LOVELY “WEED” SOWS ITSELF ARROUND BUT CAN BE EASILY REMOVED.

THE LAST OF MY DAYLILLIES TO BLOOM, A BIG YELLOW TRUMPET

PHIADELPHUS BELLE ETOILE, THE LAST OF THE BLOOMS WITH A LOVELY SMELL

I MADE SMALL BOUQUETS WITH THE JASMIN (PHILADELPHUS) SO MY HOUSE IS FULL OF THE SCENT OF JASMIN

YELLOW DAHLIA CALLED YELLOW STAR, IT IS IN A POT AN D IT IS DOING RATHER WELL

HERE YOU HAVE A BETTER VIEW OF IT, NEXT TO THE DAHLIA IS AN EUCOMIS COMMUNIS IN  A POT, BEHIND THE DAHLIA YOU CAN SEE A BIT OF MY INSIDE CACTI AND SUCCULENT COLLECTION

Now I am going to enjoy the rest of my  Sunday in the garden. Have a great Sunday all ! and thanks for stopping by !

Enjoy your garden whenever you can !!!!!

 

 

 

 

END OF JUNE

What’s been happening in my garden at the end of June ? Not much really as we still have no real Summer weather, most days  of the last 2 weeks were cold and rainy and windy but the forecast for the near future is a lot better so shall we finally get Summer over here in froggyland ? I’ll let you know, ok ?!

My garden is full of frogs, I really have to watch where I step when I am removing weeds or plant a plant cos I don’t want to step on one, some are tiny others are quite big but we have the quiet ones, the brown frog, he only says prrrrrr  prrrrr ….The slugs are having a ball too, they are everywhere, luckily we have a thrush with a nest full of babies and I see broken slug shell’s everywhere.

MY FIRST DAHLIA FLOWER OF THE YEAR, A YELLOW ONE CALLED  YELLOW STAR, IT’S IN A BLUE POT SO I LIKE THIS COMBINATION, IT HAS A LOT OF BUDS SO I AM HOPEFULL, ALL IT NEEDS IS A COUPLE OF WARM DAYS

A SOFT YELLOW DAYLILLY COMBINED WITH GERANIUM ANN THOMSON

MY GOATSBEARD (ARUNCUS)  IN FULL BLOOM

MY FIG TREE IS STILL NOT COMPLETELY RECOVERED FROM WINTER BUT IT LOOKS OK AND THE FIGS ARE REALLY BIG THIS YEAR

THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF ONE OF MY AEONIUMS WHO IS DOING VERY WELL DESPITE ALL THE RAIN AND COLD IT HAD SO FAR

AND THIS IS MY DARLING GRANDDAUGHTER (3) WHO LOVES TO WATER EVERYTHING IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE HOUSE, I HAD TO SAVE MANY CACTI AND SUCCULENTS FROM DRAWNING ! BUT I LOVE TO TEACH HER ALL ABOUT GARDENING AND WILDLIFE, I LOVE HER TO BITS !!!

Have a great week all and thanks for stopping by ! Enjoy your garden !