The gardener is always eager to see his plants grow. From time to time, a little retrospect is necessary to appreciate their progress. On these 2 photos of the northern border taken only 4 years apart we can see that the shrubs and climbers have done a good job of…
Continuation of the “adventures” of my Lavatera Barnsley… By the middle of June my Barnsley Lavatera was in full bloom, swaying its long, tender stems with two-coloured flowers. But suddenly a gust of wind mingled with heavy rain gave papi Jo’s garden a bit of a shake. In spite of…
When creating the new garden in 2014, following the advice of Fanny from the Esat La Simonière nursery, I planted a specimen of Lavatera ‘Barnsley’, more exactly Lavatera x clementii ‘Barnsley’. This variety of lavatera is in fact what is called a ‘periclinal chimera’, a not quite stable mutation of…
Common name: Hairy canary flower. Often listed as Dorycnium hirsutum, Lotus hirsutus is a Mediterranean sub-shrub found growing wild in Portugal. It’s a choice silver-leafed plant for warm and sunny areas, particularly gravel gardens and rockeries, where it forms a spreading mat from which small creamy pink flowers appear at…
In the past years I’ve came back empty-handed and disgusted from several “insect safaris” field trips in the surrounding countryside. As a result, since I no longer go to watch the insects, they come to visit me in my garden. When I saw this magnificent “dragonfly” still asleep on a…
The new version of the fern wall has arrived. You can read all about the extension, and view all the new fern specimens with their names, etc. at http://www.rezeau.org/wp-garden/en/the-fern-wall/
Today I could take a pic of a common brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni, basking in the sun on flower-bud of my Clematis ‘Mme le Coultre’. It was not quite awake, so gave me plenty of time of take very close shots. Then it flew away. An incredibly hairy creature!
The siskins have arrived in papi Jo’s garden! First ever visit was 2 years ago, in early March. They finally found their way to my garden again this year … and of course to the enticing fat balls hanging in my Everest crab-apple tree. Lovely colours, exp. in the males,…
Today is the first day of the Meteorological spring! Meteorological seasons are instead based on the annual temperature cycle and measure the meteorological state, as well as coinciding with the calendar to determine a clear transition between the seasons. The meteorological seasons consist of splitting the seasons into four periods…
A new addition to Papi Jo’s garden, an electric scarifier. With the weight of the years the gardener’s back was starting to seriously complain about the endless manual scarification sessions. I hope that I will be able to master this new tool to get a correct result.
