Not a Show Garden View 2

The rose/lavender border was measured and dug about four years ago before the lawn took hold and the concept/size has developed over time.  Last Autumn I widened it from 1m but ran out of energy only being able to dig for 30 minutes at a time. I got about 10m along,  so the Italians finished the last 15m length for me1  It is now 1.50cm wide.  BUT I must keep the edges straight!
Nearest the house is Sorrel which I dislike but make myself eat occasionally in an omelette!
This year I managed to find a beautiful rose that I had in the previous garden called Tequila Sunrise, still small but should reach about 1.50cm height and spread.
Then this year I put two Gaillardia plants

before the  David Austen Rose: Benjamin Britten - pink

 after which is a deeper hued David Austin Rose - Chianti  - I adore the rich dusky hue.  In this photo it is looking too bright.

After that are two blue Ceanothus bought at different times. I can't work out if they are the same variety. I know they are too close together so will risk moving them in Autumn. Must dig in old horse manure. Must learn to prune so they get bushy.

Then sandwiched between three (looks like two)  Laurel which E. told me to hard prune or dig out, is a small Choisya being dwarfed by it's neighbours. I intend to move this further up the garden. Waiting for rain to penetrate the soil.

Originally, the three Laurel were the start of a hedging plan when I could not afford to do the 25m length. I wanted to conceal my neighbours.  I realised a fence was required in front of the dwarf stone party wall with a wire fence on top.  I quite like the evergreen element and maybe that is good for birds so these unsightly hedge plants which grow like topsy may have to be constantly pruned into spheres as they are more or less central to the length of this border.  After the Laurel is a series of much smaller roses. I had no idea what to buy! I purchase roses by name, colour and try to get ones that are 'remontante', which flower profusely and repeatedly throughout the spring and summer season!

The first is Peter Beales Shrub rose - Hybrid Musk 1928 - 120cm - Francesca ... my grand daughter's name! Funnily, it is very wayward and straggly! I wonder who the lady was that it was named after! Not my g.d.!

then for my daughter Felicity, Peter Beales Shrub Rose - Hybrid Musk 1928 - 120cm - Felicia neat in the pink when it buds!

Then

Peter Beales Shrub Rose  Hybrid Tea 1984 - 75cm
Remember Me
 yet to bloom and looking poorly

David Austin  Hybrid Tea 80cm  

Freedom - yellow
next to
Peter Beales Floribunda Cluster Rose - 60cm 
Sexy Rexy 

Unknown  name  - maybe better in a pot.

David Austin - Olivia Rose Austin 80cm
pink when it blooms

David Austin Boscobel 80cm
red when it blooms

Unknown name

After that are Buddlieas at the wild end of the border...essential for butterflies. I had a splendid one in the Mediterranean styled courtyard at my old house in England.  The main stem was pruned about two feet of the ground and so every Autumn we pruned it back hard... it was a sheer delight every year!  Before the buddleia is a plant whose name I can't find which has a beautiful scent...flourishes well in French towns and stays flowering for a long time.

and after that is a Lamprocapnos spectabilis or Dicentra ( called also Bleeding heart, Dutchmans breeches, Lyre flower, Lady in a bath!)
Must get photo

About here in the border I abandoned the rose and lavender plan. I squeezed in some wild flower seeds, transplanted self seeded poppies, and homed a rhubarb plant. Also have put some sweetpeas to train up an old wine rack...had to attach string to get them to climb.
Must get photos later.

In front of the roses are different varieties of lavender.   I must take cuttings as evidently one should annually to ensure continuation. Lavender gets straggly and can suddenly die off. As they are at least 4.50e a plant I have to make savings! For two years now I have made lavender bags using the coloured bags for putting wedding almonds in!  A 'no sewing' gift! Everyone loved them and they were easy to post!  French Lavender even though Lavender is English!
END OF GARDEN VIEW 2

Not a Show Garden View 1

Here is a cat's eye view of the rear garden towards the potager, seen from the 3m² area of strimmed daffodils and tulips. That was about a week ago! I spent three hours mowing my land yesterday. Over to the left are chicken sheds with no chickens! The brown areas are because about a month ago I used very old weedkiller to control clover in grass though hardly is it the style of an English lawn.  I thought the weedkiller hadn't worked but the evidence is that a lot of the clover appears to have died off but again it is creeping through!  The cut grass/clover was not allowed to be used as a mulch between roses to control weeds so have had to wait a few weeks and mows. Meanwhile it mulched itself!

Behind the camera and me is a stone wall - not my property. There are two plants of Rose Metanoia and this year I can begin to train them on some wires along the wall. I like the way they change from deep apricot to pale pink.

I am inclined to leave the wild dog rose (inherited with the garden) between the climbing roses. Along this wall are a few hollyhocks, lots of yellow raspberries running rampant even though I was brutal to them in early February, yellow Kerria also rather swamped,  a Clematis in hiding which is over-run by the growth of other plants and I can't yet get at it. There was a Passion Flower plant which I think has ceased to exist!  There are a few gladioli and there was Nigella (love-in-a-mist). There were bluebells that I didn't realise were there or were they grape hyacinths but much hidden under the growth of wild grasses and cleavers (goose-grass or sticky-willy being two other names!). There is some mint escaped from elsewhere and I have scattered some wild flower seeds to see what happens.There are two paeony plants... one here and the other by the 'not chicken' sheds.

Rampant raspberries by a bricked up doorway.

I really don't know how to manage this section of the garden!

 

Three nasty concrete plant troughs which were in the front courtyard were brought around to the back garden using the Italian workawayers' muscle power and mine. It was funny and even the French neighbour had a laugh whilst he stopped work in his potager!  I have six strawberry plants in one, lettuce plants in another and 'cut and come again' lettuces and radishes in the third. I even added manured shop compost and expensive garden shop straw which is cut into little pieces into the poor soil.  I haven't had the courage to ask anyone where I can get a small bale but problem solved now as I have used the grass mulchings.

The elder bush encroaches on the path and the washing line and this year bears flowerheads!

I like elderflower heads dipped in batter, preferably deep fried... hold by the stalk, dip in the pancake batter and you could shallow fry... I don't eat the central stalky part but the fragrant flowers are nice!
END OF GARDEN VIEW 1

Sky

out on the bicycle, stop to eat a pear,
lie down upon the ground, stare into the air,
empty the mind of things that really do not matter,
stop words and nuisance thoughts that make a mindless chatter,
conversation flutters like a brimstone butterfly,
dizzy day dreams disappear, Life could simplify,
brilliant cobalt blue above, clouds scud slowly by,
forming changing vapours, castles reaching high,
not a soul around her, 'cept fields and clouds and sky.
LOVE

Vintage Cakes at the CCC

I think baking standards rise. The organisation and hosts were again cool, calm and welcoming. Their efforts to make these afternoons such a treat is very much appreciated!  It seems to be more fun and we seem to be less inhibited about our baking efforts - certainly it is not a competition though there may be some light-hearted competitive spirit!  In fact it can be quite fun when someone else makes the same cake and one confers and compares.  Folk gathered round the table sampling and chattering, so no one really sat outside to relax in the afternoon sunshine. All too soon the bell rang to signal the end of the session and so it was time to take a choice of cakes home.
For me: Austrian Sachertorte was fudgyyummy, Brandenburg was exquisitely engineered, Coffee Walnut was excellent.

I loved the 'better than my grandmother's bread and butter pudding' which was always served as a cake, the jammily filled Swiss rolls and Parkin is always such a treat.

N. made a Caraway Seed cake too so we stood and compared the two. His was more orangey with the Cognac. He could taste the butter in mine. Other than that they taste the same to me. Maybe his was more pointy because of the s.r. flour whereas I used plain and added baking powder. I am uncertain.  We each added about the same amount of Carvi (= Caraway).  I also made a completely gluten free version.

Then there was a Strawberry Cake to die for, an Old Grumpy Aunty Fruit Cake, a moist Carrot cake, another cake of which the description I have forgotten, a Pineapple Upside Down Sandwich cake and a Victoria Sandwich.

17 cakes evidently!

It took a long time to get the photos in this format but not the same as the editorial format. I went into HTML to try and space them in the preferred position but methinks I need a tutorial!

Whilst trying to present a decent posting I was wondering why I spend so much time at it when there are other things in life!!! ... and when I am not getting on with essentials!!!
A: I do it for me as I like being a kind of journalist! It is creative. Creativity is important to my happiness.

A cake designed to keep lovers together...

Caraway seeds (not exactly a seed but a fruit comprised of crescent shaped achenes)  are, according to folk lore, designed to keep lovers together, or to prevent the theft of any object, including one supposes that hearts are not stolen and fidelity is guarded!

It is the CCC today.  I missed the April event but realistically was too busy with family visits and imminent travel.

The theme this month is VINTAGE cakes.  My first thought was Caraway Seed cake so didn't bother thinking what else I could make.  I wasn't prepared to fuss about with Brandenburg or Angel Layer Cake which I made many years ago.  I'd made gingerbread but not yet a fruit cake for CCC!

So... this Old Fashioned Lovers Seed Cake would be just the ticket! It would be interesting as I had not made one for maybe thirty or forty years!  Thanks to the wonderful web I learned a great deal, some of which I once knew but had forgotten.  Ah... caraway ... wasn't that in the medication we used to give as a colic treatment to babes in the 1970s?  It certainly had that taste! Caraway belongs to the Umbelliferae family and is related to cumin, fennel and anise.
These are three websites that give
1. good recipes including a gorgeous recipe for Courgette and Caraway Seed cake... very Modern!!!  2. good botanical information....  and 
3. good encyclopaedic info all for caraway seeds.

I think it must be the next superfood as evidently it is rich in

- minerals including magnesium, calcium, potassium, selenium and zinc, 

- vitamins A E C and B 

- anti-oxidants,

They are a rich source of fibre and can bind toxins together to protect (not cure!) colon mucus membranes from cancers and lower cholesterol levels.

They can be used as a cold remedy or for bronchitis,

for bad breath as a mouth wash

and assist digestive problems such as IBS and as an anti flatulent!

So… a good little seed it is….

Here is my recipe for a "Vintage Old Fashioned Lovers Caraway Seed Cake":

Cream 175g margarine or butter with 175g sugar. Whisk 3 eggs separately then mix into the creamed mixture, with 200g flour, 50g ground almonds, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 2 teaspoons caraway seeds.  Bake in oven about 160C for apx an hour.  Ready when an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Yesterday
I had a baking afternoon as I needed a cake for today,  plus a gluten free version for a coeliac and one for me, (lower three in the pic)  a fruit cake to donate to and express my gratitude to the neighbour who mowed my long grass (on the board),  a fruit cake (in foil to be gifted to a friend) and a fruit cake for 'I know a man who can' (on the plate). He is arriving in one week's time to help me renovate the kitchen  which is very 1980s. VINTAGE is not the word!  Yikes company coming!

Un Vignoble

I'm not sure how many people were in attendance on the final night of a three day wine and music festival called 'Le Son du Vignoble',  but it was beyond my expectations, as was the parking.  It was smart that I did not go in my chic dress and heeled sandals  - 'les talons',  as we had to trek across a field that looked as if in wet weather it would be water logged.

It was the 4th year.  I didn't realise that and hadn't understood that one could spend the day there and take a picnic.  I don't remember information telling me how much it would be, so thankfully I took monetary notes! Like many experiences in France I discover BEAUTY.  This was an interesting evening!
A 14e entrance fee provided me with a tampon (= an inky rubber stamp! The difference in language is always amusing!) stamped on my arm, a ticket and an inscribed glass.  This is civilised France and I didn't see any broken glass! Long may it last!  It wouldn't happen in UK!  Far too dangerous!  In the glass was a paper token for the first glass of wine. Thereafter one exchanged euros for jetons (plastic disks) which could be exchanged for wine, juice or food.  Pretty neat idea!  I haven't been to Music Festivals so had no idea how it all works.

I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to comment on the musicians. The Healthy Boy played for the first concert in the garden. It was nice as the sun was shining, children were playing far away under the orchard trees, people sat and listened nicely.  I found the echo system of repeating and overlaying phrases played by a single guitar a bit much for me. I was really impressed when the SOUND man for The Healthy Boy was doing it all on an ipad!
The second concert was by Thomas Fersen who is well known in France and I think hails from Bretagne. That was under a huge hangar. I could not understand the poetic nature of his music.
HOWEVER
I love Ampelidae wines especially Pinot Noir, which is why I went all that distance.  It took me an hour plus to do the journey so didn't get home until the early hours but did buy a case of 6 Pinot Noir to indulge the Summer.
These organic wines are sold in our village shop. It's been a long while since I set forth into that terroir.  I had forgotten how rich it is on many levels. I went to Marigny Brizay for a dégustation in about 2008 when the company were just getting better developed.  The enthusiasm of Kate the proprietor of the Chateau and Frédèric were palpable... such enthusiasm poured from their hearts... we were shown the vignes, the cuves,the cellars and part of the chateau and generally the group we were in were keenly welcomed and indulged.  That was then.

Last night, as I sat by the bar,  I found again that warmth and trust in their mission to create quality organic wines. Then along comes Kate who seemed to remember me and I enjoyed speaking to friends of hers from London, who worked in the technological domain.
I could not avoid listening to a discussion that a french lady had with an expert behind the bar, about the effects of citric and tartaric acids used in white wines causing muscle cramp.  She could not drink white wine because of this.  He suggested Pinot Noir and a massage.. at which point I was included in the conversation by laughter.  Not many moments later she brought her female friend who had not believed her to listen to the expert explain, at which point I was very much more included in the exchange.
An attractive man discussed with the same sommelier the connection between passion, oenology, trust, horses and the natural world. I was astounded at the intellectual discussion which I only in part understood,, but then the chevalier and I discussed in English.  Only in France does this level of Passion seem so tangible, yet it makes me feel so ignorant, humble and questioning as to why on earth I stayed within the four walls of an educational establishment much of my life, seemingly trying to educate, failing to educate myself, and generally wasting precious life!  Mind you, the pace of technology has brought about so much magic to the world that who can keep up with it!?
I sat where I did at the end of the bar, perched on the end of a table feeling comfortable and safe as a single woman, occasionally having interesting conversations, maintaining French as much as possible. I discovered the sommelier was part English/French/German. As I have said his passion and knowledge for oenology was fascinating as I concentrated on listening to improve my language skills.   I had two tokens left but he offered me a glass of the new Rosé which was the BEST rose wine I have tasted..... SO I wish to buy a case for Summer and friends!  THEN, he gave me a glass of PN 1328 -- which is named after 'une parcelle' of land.  This was such a fantastic wine and I did just sip and sip.  I'd like a case of hat too! The palate can taste the difference between wines even if one has tasted others before. And with that, when the music ended,  I came home to hot chocolate and bed, sensing that I had possibly missed a marvellous opportunity because friends from Toulouse called the chevalier to travel on. Probably just as well!