October 2023
Hello Everyone
We will be home at the end of this week after nine weeks at our French home. In my last newsletter I wrote about, and sent some photos of the development of our garden here in Normandy. I intended continuing the story this month but unfortunately my cell phone skills aren't that good so I'll finish another time.
I will say though that I had a space at the back of the garden which I have been undecided about, and then something came to mind. A group of Hydrangea 'Limelight' will go in. They will form the perfect backdrop to the garden which has few flowers, but those that are there are either mauve or white. Then in autumn when the Limelights take on their smokey pink autumnal tones they will look great against the cream stone walls.
The other thing that has fallen into place in our French garden is that I have a small garden space that I'd created amongst the gravel, against the northern wall, so equivalent to our southern wall at Frensham, and the climbing Hydrangea petiolaris will be planted there. I also grow H. petiolaris on the south side by our front door at Frensham, and at our French home it will be very close to the entrance to the house.
This all came about because my niece, who lives in a neighbouring village in France, put me onto a website in Brittany, for a hydrangea garden and nursery. The catalogue makes interesting reading and perhaps some readers may be travelling to Brittany and would like to know about this hydrangea heaven. Or just drool over the catalogue; many of the hydrangeas are available in New Zealand. www.hortensias.fr
Back at Frensham I’ve been sent photos of what is happening there. Before I left we completed some changes which I had been thinking about for some time. Many of you who have visited the garden will remember the kitchen courtyard where there was an inner rectangular plot edged in buxus, with an old olive oil jar, and for many years a silk tree. That has all gone now. I had wanted to open this space and also widen the garden that sat against the garage wall. The idea was to simplify things. Photos are a good way to explain this.
Photo 1: The garden against the garage wall. It was less than half this depth, so the paving was lifted and the box plants moved out to be in line with the edge of the trellis behind. They are still looking like marshmallows in this photo, but have since had their first trim since moving. Several plants of the rose ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ have been reshuffled away from the wall more, and within a month of this change the plants breathed a sigh of relief and just came alive. I’m so looking forward to seeing this garden through the summer.
Photo 2: Looking the other way from the kitchen courtyard the box domes are doing very well against the house and will eventually link up with each other, and the flow of domes follows on in the gardens beyond. The shrub which has been limbed up gradually is Viburnum propinquum, which adds interest to the corner, and because of the way in which it has been limbed up, it lets the daylight into the house.
Photo 3: Gardens can be seen from so many angles.
Photo 4: Coming back to the kitchen courtyard again, it can be seen now where the inner garden has gone, the garden against the garage has been moved out, and the courtyard now allows for much easier movement for everyone.
Photo 5: Saying goodbye as we leave soon; this is the entrance to our home in France. The timber piece at the left and at ground level have been removed. Outside the wall hypericums provide nice colour for passers by; mainly pedestrians.
I hope that you all enjoy the garden visits that you make this year. There are so many lovely gardens to see.
Very best wishes to you all,
Margaret
