July 2024
Hello Everyone
There is always so much to write about but sometimes it is hard to start, and now is one of those times. I didn't write to you last month as we have been fairly busy with our lives here in Normandy in France. I have photos to sort and will send these later. We have visited so many beautiful places this time and I would like to share those experiences through photos.
The garden is also coming on well here and it is starting to be a pleasure to be in. Fortunately for me there have been no heatwaves this year and it's made an enormous difference to my life and my ability to do things. This week we planted more perovskia, two forms of sarcococca, (Winter Gem and Confusa), and Erigeron karvinskianus, which is most readily available here. I have two plants of a striking echinacea, called ‘Green Jewel’ which I am watching to see how much they will clump up or should I add more? The bamboo, which rustles softly in the breeze, is under control again and in autumn a young olive tree which is about two metres now, will be planted to add structure to the main gravel garden.
Today Ron has gone with friends to watch rugby at Stade France. One of the members in the group is an eighty-year-old ex-France player. The build-up to the Olympic Games which start in two days is exciting for many. I am happy to be in my garden with my echinaceas, perovskias, grasses and many other plants that are thriving in the situation here. Which means I am actually a plant fanatic and very happy to be in the world of others like me.
Photo 1: In January this year a friend brought me a posy from her garden. I placed it on a table in my "French" salon in Christchurch. Here it is with a French wallpaper backdrop. It was lovely chatting about the collection of flowers here.
Photo 2: A posy from my garden in late January. It includes sweet pea ‘Blue Butterflies’, Salvia patens, Tovara (the painter’s palette), Lysimachia and Dahlia ‘Rococo’.
Photo 3: In early March, delphiniums and the rose 'Rhapsody in Blue'.
Photo 4: If you are thinking of adding a rose to your collection, why not try 'Narrow Water'? I've grown it for years and it's a great doer. Here, with its flush of soft pink and pale lilac tones it goes well with Eupatorium maculatum.
Photo 5: Grown widely here, but as far as I know, not available in New Zealand, is Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’. It is a biennial and ideal for the growing conditions here. When I first saw it in a nursery a few years ago, and was told that it was a euphorbia, I had to break a delicate stem to do the euphorbia test. It passed!
Very best wishes to you all,
Margaret
