More Garden in June

The first blooms of ROALD DAHL David Austin Roses 
I planted the bare root in early April.

This splendid architectural 'thing', was originally about 10cm tall from Auchan with about 5 other small 'thing' plants, four of which died.  The other ground cover plant can be seen just behind it. This has been moved at least twice, but seems happiest in the lavender and rose bed, so much so, that this year, after growing more spiky leaves that I keep away from, it bloomed for the first time.  YUCCA Gloriosa. I was intending to move it as it is in the wrong place for my lavender plan!

Grellier in playful mode - neighbour's cat who cheekily slinks indoors to be gently shooed away.

Two 'surviving their struggle' roses, peeping from behind lavender.

At last these are flowering, having moved from several gardens to here - from the garden of my Aunt Ivy - deceased 1994

Uprooted after flowering, before they seed, ORIENTAL poppies which were glorious, but now need to be hung to dry,
once stems can be cut easily in half.

Filled with prunings from Paul's Himalayan Rose- see images in previous posting.

The gardener clipped off the shooting branches which were new growth looking for jungle trees to ramble through!

This can be a secret haven BUT that there chair has got to go as it is most uncomfortable and always has been.
I think maybe to buy a stripey deck chair..

Arid August

 A field of sunflowers short lived where they turn heads ...

 Lavender flowers lock aroma and flavour into fragrant seeds...

Oange angel trumpets sing above pungent yellow achillea yarrow

Golden light, heat, drought of France create an arid soil ...
which made it easy to lift not a good crop of potatoes.
Tomatoes, kale, carrots, clematis suffered!
Hopeless!  I'm glad that Spring wet weather made planting seeds too tricky!

Sunny Sunday

After a week of cold, wet rainy days necessitating a woodburner alight, either all day, or in the evening, with French doors not open, trying to keep the room warmer indoors than outside, the sun has shone on my village and me.  I feel gloom lifting.

I bought a standard rose in the plant and flower market. The latter needs to grow!  However,  my standard rose seems just the right height with its many buds.

I wanted one for the centre of the quadrant potager.  I have a vision of boxwood all around each section, yet, me thinks it's not a good idea, as box roots would penetrate and rob the veggie soil. Maybe,  at some time in the future,  plastic boarding. At the moment old chestnut beams form a border which encourages fungi to grow, whilst also being a haven for 'gendarme' beetles that like hollyhocks and old timber.
INTERLUDE
I still can't understand the tax boxes on the tax return forma. The recent advice from a reputable knowledgeable person with a vegetable alias says I am supposed to enter GROSS, whereas for the past ten years following the advice of the other Tax office I have declared  net because my pension is taxed at source, not in France.   WHY is there so much confusion when there must be many retired teachers in France!
RETURN TO SUBJECT
Back to gardening. I am waiting for ice cream to thaw a little to enjoy with stewed apples and pears. I mowed one lawn with the electric mower for almost two hours...including the wild areas where cowslips had been allowed to thrive and seed.   Plenty of wild areas left 'au bordure' ... nettles for butterflies and long grasses for grasshoppers.   BUT I DO like a neat lawn even if it is mainly clover, dandelions, daisies and other rooted things.  Mowed grass is spread as a mulch between roses and lavender, and in the box edged section which used to be a herb garden ... it was the first part I dug six years ago!  The garden has come on a lot since then.  Gardening brings me pleasure ... even though it is hard work.
After the ice cream, I wonder if I shall go to mow the other lawn 500 sq metres or more because I must go on a 5km walk tomorrow-a three hour group walk. Maybe I should mow that other plot with the petrol mower and get these legs a moving.     It is tempting to sit in La Place!!!!!!
Sunny Days are for living!
POSTSCRIPT
Yes, I did mow the other grass / lawn which took me an hour and a half.  I returned with a branch of snowy balls on a branch of shrub. 
As it was 7pm, I COULD allow myself to stop and sit in the evening warmth of my courtyard with a rare gin and tonic.  No ice!

The third of twelve

On the third day of Christmas sunshine came my way.

LOVE smiled in my garden whilst all I could hear
were crows cawing endlessly and an aeroplane in the air.
Chickens in the distance, no sign of human race
here to appreciate this peaceful breathing space.
I stood looking, thinking, breathing, in the morning hour,
'minding my memory that effort needs hard labour,
to plant seeds, nurture them before they come to fruition,
whilst wild plants need controlling for a calming vision.
A Garden to be controlled.
A Garden is a Labour of LOVE.

LATER:
I went to my duties, to be rewarded with six eggs.... oh is it omelette tonight?  BUT, as I returned via 'la Place' I considered to indulge in an entree with 'une verre du vin' at la cafe. It looked busy. I lost my nerve.  As I saw the 'oyster' people packing I regained my nerve.  Six 'moyenne' were opened. Happy was I to walk home with my plate, envisaging a picnic, nay a feast, in the sunshine of a garden. All for 2e50.

OH MY GOSH... I am sometimes a woman who knows how to treat herself kindly. We ate, my cat and I.  Well she didn't much fancy an oyster nor 'les poivrons rouges farcie au thon',  exquixotically incroyable!  Part of a little crottin, (not my cat!!!), goats cheese sadly non cru followed with biscuits, dates et guacamole, a touch of peppery spice! I ate lemon rind knowing it's good for my tummy!  All awash with a Montbazillon 2013, half bottle, bought for last Noel.

In the warm sunshine I read,  slept, weeded.  I took some selfies but I look old!  I wanted to stay outdoors...but needs must bow to 'warmth inside' when the heat of day disappears!!! Thank you for my lovely lazy day!

Les Grues Cendriers

The cranes flew overhead in several batches crying to announce that winter is not far away.

It had been a really warm, sunny day yesterday.  The day began in winter clothing but by coffee time we were wearing tee shirts or thinner jumpers.  My returning friend had arrived one week earlier than expected. We did 6 hours hard labour each plus with another chap for three hours.  First of all the huge ivy ball hanging onto the neighbour's plum tree, sprawling further across the chicken coop roof where now I store certain cuts of wood for the woodburner was attacked and a huge bonfire pile created.   Meanwhile another of the wretched nuisance acacia trees which had been sawed at head height a few weeks ago and is growing through the metal fence had holes drilled around the base. It was treated with trunk-killer and allowed to continue to be a fence support. My friend decided to treat in the same manner the other acacia trunks which had been cut to grass level last year.  They were still sending up young shoots.

With two hours before lunch they agreed to repair the broken wood supports holding up the corrugated roofing sheets that look like or are asbestos!  These were covered with about six sheets of corrugated metal, more fibreglass/plastic corrugated sheets, wire netting, a flat sheet of metal, halved breezeblocks, rabbit hutch concrete feeding troughs PLUS old rotten wood supports strategically laid by the previous owner of this property. What a mess!  It took much more work and effort than anticipated!  One task leads to another. I am glad it is done and the space in the sky is more favourable.  The plum tree can breathe and probably the ivy will grow again but we tried to cut it back at root level as much as possible.

After clearing up tools, cable. clothing and useful wood as well as the neighbour's wild patch,  I mowed the lawn! Grateful for aperos we sat in the garden at dusk as it is an hour earlier.  Then we enjoyed pre slow cooked beef in beer, carrots, spinach and jacket potatoes.

I attempted to keep the gravel below free of metal and dirt by covering with blue baches. This is an ideal place to sit in the shade and shelter.  All was finished this showery rainy morning.  Now there is a mountain of wood to chop for kindling etc from the lilac, from the garden, and from this shed roof.

The garden is feeling under control and after tomorrow we can start in earnest planning the kitchen.
There will be two weeks to crack the conundrum plus do other jobs before my friend goes south in France and after that maybe to Asia to warmer climes again. 

Bordeaux Botanical Gardens

Opposite the city centre where tourists abound are Botanical Gardens which can be reached easily by tram or if one steps out it isn't a long walk from the bridge. Our tram ride was from the hotel near the peripherique. It was dead easy to find a place for coffee before entering the gardens.
For some reason I am working backwards with the pics!

Alongside the river were poems and historical facts etched into stone.  When I read and translated the one, by Jean de La Ville Mirmont,  not only did I think about those who went on a journey away from their families and friends during the war, but I also thought of the many people today who are migrating or travelling for whatever reason, leaving loved ones and beloved things behind.  I am also reminded of the journey of life, when death is perhaps the ultimate voyage. Those who are left, those who are not travelling, not migrating, might perhaps feel abandoned or rejected.  There are those who can feel the depths of intense emotion, passion, pain and torture of 'an unknowingness'  when their loved ones pack their bags. Much later, even after divorce or separation, even after wars of a different kind there are those who are saddled with their baggage.  WE MUST remember the faces of our loved ones, happiness we once experienced...and all of all the rest.  My memory often remembers my gentle grandmother; her face, her voice, her demeanour and I know not what baggage she carried! Hearts remember. 
My own interpretation is: 
This time, my heart, it is the grand voyage. We don't know when we will return. Will we be more proud, foolish or wise? Whatever happens we are going to have to leave and part from each other.
Before we leave, let us pack and put into our baggage all the wonderful and beautiful desires that we have offered or that have been offered to us.  Regret nothing, except the faces and loves which console us.  Remember.  This time my heart it is the long, hard, grand voyage / journey....
Is he telling his own heart, his own self or his sweet heart and all the people he has loved or known?

It made me cry as someone walked away.  I stared long at someone who was on a long journey  in which I was not included.  I braced myself.  I know that people have freedom to do they have to do.  I am grateful there is no war currently in my own life. Well... there have been plenty of disagreements in the past and there was certianbly something from someone going on this day.  Little did I know at the time that the global migrant issues were gathering apace.
SAD! 
Back to the joy of the gardens:
At the end of the gardens nearest to the river were wonderful metal gates but not gates, at the entrance / exit. I was not sure if they sometimes were closed. It didn't appear so by observing the ground.

The gardens were fascinating because they presented all forms of global terrain and the plants that grew on that kind of soil.  My heart found water lilies... whilst I was looking for lotus blossoms.

Within the gardens were apartments: the idea is that people tended the community gardens near to their housing, but some plots looked quite neglected.  The gardens are surrounded on three sides by high rise habitations and on the fourth side by the road, a green belt for leisure, cycling, jogging, picnics and the river.

The border of the botanical gardens is a metre wide wall of timber felled in the tempest of 1999. If one were to calclulate the amount of timber here one could appreciate the number of trees felled by the storm yet some put to good use here.  They probably harbour earthly creatures as well as provide a boundary.

Food and Garden

Pear cake made in the makeshift kitchen.

The Garden is as dry as a bone.. akin to an Autumn clearance of weeds.. and this is only one third of the unwanted growth removed.

I plan to plant roses instead of herbs. Sage spread to kill thyme and marjoram. It was vigorous but now it has gone.

Mashed potatoes with bashed carrots created tuna potato cakes, served with a melange of green beans and an extra half an egg for protein, served on small to medium plates.

Chateau de Touffeau

On the Sunday of the Open Gardens Weekend we drove to Chateau de Touffeau, at Bonnes, a 12th century castle converted to a nobleman's mansion, owned by a relative of Chateau de la Brosse, where we paid entry for the chateau but the gardens were free.
We didn't realise it was a guided tour of the house. Yes, we followed the Madame but we thought the group was a private one. So we'd missed the beginning because we had wandered into the garden.  Trying to locate the group I opened an exterior door, which was clearly to private residency, and quickly closed it when a fierce daschund barked at the closing door!  Woops! Later, we asked for a refund as we could not locate the group.   I hope to go back a different day!
Another reason we did not join the group was because we were startled when purchasing tickets. The woman was aggressively formidable,  telling us in imperfect English that commerce had to be conducted only in French, not in English.  I didn't understand that she was talking about the guided tour! I thought she was telling us to speak French which we did, when we bought our ticket after they had started to speak to us in English!  All very confusing!  Later still, I realised the female cashier was in a hurry and LATE for starting the guided tour.  We'd coincided with her handing over the reins  to a chap and she seemed stressed telling him what to record in a book when he sold each ticket.  Lots of columns to tick!!!
For the uninitiated, the guided visit starts one hour after opening time in the morning and the same in the afternoon.  I guess the guided visit is 60 minutes at least. It would be helpful if it declared this on the literature! So many people had been waiting a long time!
The gardens were interesting and once much larger than they are now.  It must cost a fortune to maintain but some were inaccessible.  The chateau is or has been used for wedding or conferencing venues, hence the pool in the garden and inaccessible stable buildings.
ALSO in that region are some Limousin beef farms selling meat so I must investigate with someone else in order to do a shared purchase. 
Here is Sunday lunch, then the chateau pics:

Roast Goat ribs, veggie rice, roasted red peppers in scorching garden heat...

 with le son de vignoble glasses filled with Chardonnay...

Is the entrance Italianate?  The side gates seem akin to Renaissance Romeo and Juliet!

The plan...

A tower...

The Gardens...

I want one like these!

Magnolia trees by the pool...

Old and newer chimney pots

Two lions stand guard

Thank you for the visit!