May 2024
Hello Everyone
We arrived at our home in Normandy in France in the second week of May and we will be staying for the usual three months. It is nine years since we bought our place.
I have shared bits and pieces about our life and the garden here, but thought that this would be a good time to write about the further development of the garden, now that I can see things clearly. For a long time I didn't know what to do.
If you go to the website: www.frensham.co.nz and read the newsletter for September last year, it will give you a good introduction to the story of the development. I am continuing here with some rather dismal looking photos, but in the seemingly dismal parts of the development there is always hope and promise of the future. In this case I wasn't so sure, because of the paucity of the soil, the regular heatwaves, and the fact that we are here for only three months of the year.
Photo 1: Before we start to make the big change. Green lawns weren't an option, because of the maintenance when we weren't here and the poor shrubs were all woody and dead underneath the green cover; not a first choice for a gardener!
Photo 2: Starting the project which involved deleting the lawn and clearing the whole space so that I could get a clear view of things.
Photo 3: This is one of the upper levels of the garden. A friend who was staying a few years ago suggested that we put in one of the old olive trees that he had seen potted in a wooden barrel at the local garden centre. It was a small engineering exercise to achieve this because of the access, but I enjoy looking at this dear old tree every day and it is in a very healthy state now, looking as if it has been here for many years.
Photo 4: Digging holes for planting. The plants had a deep watering on planting, which was too late into the summer as I was a bit late organising plants. I watered the plants six days later and that is the only manual watering that they have had.
Photo 5: Planting and laundry. Calamagrostis acutifolia 'Karl Foerster’ plantings.
Much planting was done these five years ago. One or two things may have died naturally but some were also lost as we had an inexperienced gardener who came while we were away and removed whatever he thought should be moved, despite my labels.
Photo 6: A year later with the Calamagrostis groupings, Echinacea ‘White Swan’, Gaura ‘Geant’ and rosemary. It’s very much a mediterranean style garden out of necessity, so I am still thinking about more olive trees. It may seem strange when we are in Normandy, which is known for its dampness and it has rained nearly every day since we have arrived, but these hot dry summers dictate most things.
A group of irises that were divided and replanted last year were flowering beautifully when we arrived, so a photo of these will be in the next newsletter.
In spring a soft mauve lilac flowers, and I have planted a climbing Hydrangea petiolaris against the northern wall of the house.
Tomorrow I am going to England for a four day garden tour in Devon. One garden which we are going to is Keith Wiley’s ‘Wildside’ which I have wanted to visit for a very long time, temperatures are going to be about 20°, so life doesn’t get much better. I am revisiting Dan Pearson’s garden, which we saw five years ago, so it will be a highlight to see its development which I follow on Dig Delve.
Best wishes
Margaret
