View From The Balcony Autumn 2020

Our front balcony entrance brings so much enjoyment, and not only to us but also to Eli the Cat who shows his appreciation for the doormat every chance he gets.

I love leaning over the railing to check out the front garden. The flowering shrubs in the upper right corner of the below photo are two abelia, beloved by bees.  When I recently did my afternoon exercise walk around the garden the other day, I got to see a HUGE bee all on his lonesome, probably belonging to the Megachilidae family, thrusting its upper body into one of the tubular flowers. 

The meandering brick path flanks the part of the garden situated between the entrance walk and the driveway. The aucuba was propagated from plants already present when we moved here ten years ago. Its evergreen, shade-loving, glossy, substantial leaves splashed with gold flourish in a spot facing north, brightening up that dark corner.

The balcony wraps itself partially around the eastern side of our home. Access to the balcony from the inside is facilitated by not only the foyer door but also two living-room French doors. Presently asters are the dominant blooms from that perspective.

While on the side balcony if one turns towards the south, the rest of the eastern planting with its ivy-covered wall can be seen as it continues into the back garden. Eli the Cat stands guard at various points along the eastern perimeter, mesmerised by sounds coming from the plants' direction, mostly made by insects and the wind.

Once back on the ground, going around the southeast corner of the house brings you to the south-facing back garden with its patio and ivy-covered pergola. The pergola-facing potting room is in the sous-sol (our home is a pavillon sur sous-sol, that is, the living quarters are on the top floor; downstairs houses the unheated garage, utility/storage room, potting/mud rooms, and cellier). The temperature is now cold enough for all the frost-tender potted plants to spend at least the nights inside the sous-sol, near the potting room's window, including the tuberous begonia which is spending the day on the table under the pergola.

It is still flowering but will start shedding leaves fairly soon, feeding its tuber, hopefully giving us a fifth year of flowers starting in June and going all the way to November.

Other frost-tender potted plants that need to be sheltered at least during the night are calendula . . .

. . . bougainvillea, osteospermum, and lantana. If successfully over-wintered, they will bloom outdoors once again.

When gardening most days, I wear woolen hats to keep my noggin warm. The summer jobbies are in the mud room biding their time.

À la prochaine!

High Summer 2020

A fresh spring garden, all bright green and friendly, became a lush summer solstice one which is now becoming a glorious mature profusion but not surprisingly showing signs of wear and tear. Watering, weeding, and deadheading will prolong the abundance for a while.

There are three large pots of orange/yellow calendula and deepest blue lobelia, all sowed from seed, throughout our garden. They did need to be sprayed with sulfur to combat a fungal disease called calendula smut. And they may need to be dosed again in order for them to continue flowering all through summer.

For years now social media images of a pot on its side spilling out lobelia visually simulating a small stream intriqued me, and this was the summer I finally got around realising this clever concept.

The 'stream' flows amidst cannas and dahlias. I love it so. It was just a matter of burying one quarter of the depth of an empty pot put on its side, filling it one thirds with soil, and planting by laying the roots laterally with the flowers placed beyond the pot's opening before topping up with more soil. 

It is now the fourth summer that this fragrant tuberous begonia has graced a small sous sol window sill. I hope it will bloom yet again in 2021.

Pots of miniature roses have found their home in a large tub along with a blueberry bush. In this way, not only does the display look full, when the roses are watered/fertilised so is the blueberry!

Hydrangeas are now fading into glorious subtle tones/texture and by autumn will become much like silver lace which always is a treat to behold.

The ivy topiary heart is being shaped gradually.  I just love it! Sculpting greenery is fun and gives so much joy. The structure on which it grows is a thick honeysuckle trunk that gave up the ghost nearly a decade ago. Requiring both patience and decisiveness makes topiary quite a learning experience.

Beets are putting out foliage which when thinned are added to minestrone.

Green beans are flowering. Soon tiny pods will appear and in several weeks they will be ready for picking.

À la prochaine!

Potted Cacti Plus Our Garden's Wild Area

The same acquaintance who gave us all those miniature dormant roses this past winter had bestowed upon us a couple of potted cacti earlier in the autumn. Echinopsis oxygona, known as Easter Lily cactus, also called the sea urchin cactus, has fragrant, lavender-pink blooms with long floral tubes which are pollinated by moths. Flowering overnight, they give quite a show the following morning though they are not long-lasting, wilting shortly afterwards. The smaller pot is filled with massed, small candle shapes with bright, orange-red flowers. I am guessing they are Echinopsis chamaecereus whose common name is the peanut cactus. Most cacti are from and adapted to dry regions, though a few thrive in tropical and subtropical areas. After their photo shoot, they were returned to a deeply recessed, south-facing sous sol window sill so as to be sheltered from any surprise rain and to get as much solar heat as possible.

When being gazed from directly above, the Easter Lily cactus flower bears some resemblance to a lotus.

Most of its 'stem' is hollow.

Though pollinated by moths, another type of insect, most likely a bee, was having fun inside the deep interior. It was stumbling about, its head well dusted with pollen, so much so, that it just might be possible there's a tiny, mirrored vanity plus a pot of loose powder replete with a puff hidden in the floral tube's depths! It then climbed up with the help of a very impressive stigma to the petal area.

When our acquaintance was giving me the pots and snipping off bits from an extensive collection flanking an eaves-shielded, south-facing side of her house, The Calm One was visually communicating from our Zoe the Electric Car via subtle facial expressions that he had been ready to depart about a half a hour ago. Therefore the giving of cacti care info was very brief—sun, not much water. The first on-hands lesson once arriving chez nous was painfully learning that wearing leather gloves when intimately handling cacti as in potting up (use a mix just for cacti!) any remnants is essential, not to mention that skin punctures can result in irritation or rashes. After all, those sharp structures are protective against animals chomping on the plant. In general, cacti can not tolerate temperatures much below freezing and during summer, may need watering as frequently as twice weekly. This winter was mild, but if necessary, they may have to go into the cold frame in the future. A small amount of balanced liquid fertiliser should be added to the watering can. To snip off blooms, cut just above the fuzzy base which eventually will become more of the plant.

The garden was neglected for two years before we acquired the property a decade ago. I knew I had to pace myself in getting it into reasonable shape. Being on a limited budget at that time, my priority was to grow food which I never had done so the learning curve was steep, actually the incline turned out to be dizzying. So when I noticed a patch of brambles growing under the dying cherry tree, I decided, ah, let it go for a while. Well that while stretched out further into time than desired, and seeing growth midway up to my height, I decided, let it be. The wild area was born. Ivy, laurel, Italian arum, sweet violets, honeysuckle, bay laurel, blue bells, and leather-leafed viburnum were either already there, seeded from elsewhere, or planted from cuttings/divisions of existing established plants. Mostly the earth was uncovered and the wire fence perimeters open to viewing from the outside. Today, it's the reverse. It's hard to catch a glimpse of soil (except for the veggie beds) or sneak much of a peak into what is a lush garden with sturdy, mature green 'bones' like ivy, laurel, and bay laurel. In the below photo, on the left, blackberry and raspberry bushes signal the end of the cultivated garden while on the right, brambles and sweet violets announce the wild area's beginning.

Looking towards the east (I am standing amidst a riot of honeysuckle), right into the heart of the wildest part of this less tended part of our verdant paradise, I know that thorns would stop me from just going where I want to go, so the path surrounding this tall mass of green often alive with a great many starlings will be followed. The more open area is where prunings are put while awaiting chipping and compost piles do their thing.

This is the most eastern edge of the wild area; that bit of white is a large shed that used to house the previous owners' recreational vehicle and now is filled with lavender cuttings waiting to be chipped and various junk, all topped with a sagging roof. Beautifully hidden, I say!

A little further west, the shed's entrance can be spied.

Here's a closeup of the honeysuckle growing over a hedge and sprawling on the ground. My horticultural perpspective is to keep only a small part of the wild area truly unkept while the outside edges are pruned so it's a surprise when the garden's central cement path is followed to its end to see just how woodsy it becomes. Remember that dying cherry tree? Its chopped up branches circle the bramble-covered thick trunk, all rotting away which is excellent for fungi and for emitting a forest fragrance. I regard extension lopers and line strimers as sculpture tools to undulate emerald waves and shape green geometry. I just love how ongoing it all is as I am guided by what nature is doing.

À la prochaine!

Gardening In The Time of Covid-19, Part II: Resilience

Though resilience has always been part of my emotional and mental arsensal since childhood, it has never been more important than now as France enters its tenth day of lockdown. Research shows that elements of resilience can be cultivated, in other words, it's not just a personality trait. Adversity is an opportunity to further learn how to regulate emotions, keep cognition clear and solution-based, and to accomplish goals regardless. The kingdom of plants has held me in thrall from earliest memory. Their flexibility despite being sessile, that is, fixed-in-place, astounds and is one of the attractions gardening holds for me. If the winds buffets them, their elaborate chemistry ensures that their stems thicken to take on the challenge. Some marigold seedlings were started early and put in a cold frame to protect them against frosty overnight conditions, but during the day the tiny greenhouse is cracked open so the wind will encourage their delicate stems to strengthen.

Though fungi are not plants, they certainly are a presence in the garden. They are tough little things living off the fat of the land, like this small scarlet elf cap (Sarcoscypha coccinea) in the wild part of our garden, 'munching' on a dead twig, helping it to become soil. Being in a country with a high standard of living (plus a social safety net), believe you me, there's a lot of 'fat' available to keep us two from shopping and going out on a daily or even a weekly or longer basis. We are checking our immediate environment for ways to occupy and take care of ourselves while sheltering in place so as to keep all of us safe. It's sobering to realise how readily we have regarded superfluous activities and merchandise as necessary.

During the latter half of my forty-five-minute, twilight garden-romp yesterday, the air was filled with the enveloping sound of church bells ringing and ringing and ringing from all directions. I asked myself, has the Pope died, perhaps Macron? I finally conjectured that it had to do with some religious event. Later on, I found out that since Catholics couldn't celebrate Ascension at churches, bells instead were rung all over France to foster a sense of congregation. The below photo shows the part of my 'exercise track' flanking the wild area. I do various sized figure-eights by skirting around bushes, chairs, structures, the many terracotta-roofing-tile-framed parterres, and the driveway which is on a decline, all over the garden plus going up and down the steps leading to the entrance balcony. That blur of green jutting out from the photo's lower right is a plastic pot alerting me to the danger of my possibly becoming impaled in dim light on the double metal arch lying upon its side. The goal is to keep me healthy so I don't bother beleaguered medical staff not to cause a major commotion of someone arriving at the emergency room resembling a vampire who has met her end!

On today's morning, a cold, sunny one, my seeing that our bay laurels were covered in bright yellow flowers was a welcomed sight.

Ten years ago, they were fifteen centimetres/six-inch high seedlings, volunteers from a neighbor's hedge. They are much, much, much taller nowadays.

Their flowers are held in puffy clusters.

Our patio's pergola is covered partially with ivy which has grown up three of its pillars and is now spreading over its upper cross beams. Additionally, on the side facing the garden, it has cloaked a dead honeysuckle vine and a dying rose. With this abundance and structure, I say topiary is in order thusly the rose support is being shaped into a wishbone . . .

. . . and the honeysuckle support into a column topped with a heart.

The upper parts of the three pillars are being trimmed into rounded forms. I love the process of it, that is, their developing a monumental presence under my guidance.

Bearded irises are in full bloom. I put some in a vase near one of the sous sol windows; I shot the photo below from outside, capturing an almost watery reflection. One of the pergola's ivy-covered pillars and a terracotta-roofing-tile framed bed seem to be setting out gentle ripples.

À la prochaine!

RELATED LINKS

How the Pandemic Will End, an excellent Atlantic Monthly article by the very impressive science journalist, Ed Yong. (Paywall is suspended during the pandemic, but registering is required.)

That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief

Is Anyone Else Just Barely Functioning Right Now?

Late Summer Garden 2019

There's a paradoxical edge in the air. The pervasive mellowness of late-summer laziness when much already has been harvested, specifically rhubarb, asparagus, peas, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, is brushing against the beginning bustle of sowing for autumnal crops such as beets, carrots, kale, and tansy along with picking plus preserving peaches, plums, the second flush of raspberries, and figs. Watering and mowing chores are being replaced by weeding and clipping hedges such as ivy, laurel, and the wild area's brambles. Ivy covering walls/fences and pergola pillars gets about four trimmings per year chez nous. This one will be the last until late winter/early spring. When the cutting back is vigorous, dead leaves tucked deep into the vines will show. Through time they will flutter down on their own accord or be covered with new growth. This final trim was done a little too late as clusters of berries which sustain starlings through winter already had started developing so though some unfortunately got the axe, I made sure the ones up high were spared as on the ivy-covered wall in the below photo's bottom left-hand corner.

But the bustle is not exactly a bustle. Even it is pervaded with a sense if not exactly of laziness, then one of satiety with the promise of more to come. This halo of contentment hovering over our little city plot is reminiscent of the much larger one that floated over a farming community we visited about ten years ago south of Grenoble. In exchange of our being custodians for a century-old country property while their owners went abroad we got to spend two weeks during late August in an active agricultural setting.  The large house more in shambles than not is referred to on local maps as Le Chateau hence at one point in our stay a pair of hikers stared with confused disappointment over the chain-barred dirt road entrance at the rather dilapidated structure in process of being renovated. We made sure the horses got their daily water and the orchard's apples got picked and stored. As we hiked around fields dotted with bales of hay and walked through narrow village streets where workers were making sure roofs were in good repair for the coming winter, this dual sense of activity laced with satisfied fulfilment was everywhere. 

At the moment in our urban garden, there's a bumper crop of peaches! As I pick up the fragrant ones volunteering easy harvesting by their dropping to the ground, I hear neighbours' chickens clucking, clucking, clucking along, in their own feathery universe, bringing memories of our stay in that farming village where the sounds of domesticated animals were everywhere, from horses to cows, and of course chickens.

The fig harvest looks to be a record breaker also.

Beets still have a ways to go in developing their roots, but a few leaves here and there have been plucked to go into minestrone.

It's a common saying among gardeners that the best crop yield often is found on the compost heap. Ours at present is covered with squash and tomato plants.

The front garden's lavender, abelia, purple plum tree, and potted heather are bathed in flitting shadows cast by the much taller and still fully leaved cherry plum and box elder trees. Within a couple of months the shadowy dance will become more subdued once those trees start to shed their leaves.

Companions to the heather are a solar lamp and floppy, chartreuse echeveria. The succulent will put out welcomed, cheery, bright-yellow blooms in late winter.

Lavender cradles pink, low-growing dahlias.

It will get a clipping after flowering.

Deadheading regularly will keep dahlias blooming right into autumn like these lovely, single, red ones set in a dramatic background of yucca with its sword-shaped leaves.

À la prochaine!