My Garden

Our plans have changed many times since moving in  and having bought an old French farmhouse with a couple of outbuildings and started gardening purely for my own pleasure, we now have two gites and have moved into what was previously the barn.

The result is that I now have gardens around the gites, a garden by the swimming pool and a fairly new private garden behind the barn, plus a communal courtyard with pots to tend to. Really there is too much garden for one person and when you also factor in the fact that my garden is built on clay soil which cannot be worked in the very cold, but short winter, and that the earth cracks badly in the very hot and dry summers we have here.

Combined with the lack of opportunities I have to actually work on the gite gardens once holidaymakers are here, I have to accept that I am never going to have a perfectly manicured garden but go for a more relaxed feel.

This is a (largely photographic) account of progress here

La Glycine garden,

May 2006

May 2008

La Glycine's patio garden

I have recently created a small border just down from the patio of La Glycine. In the summer this will be largely yellow plants such as Rudbeckia and yellow Heleniums.

May 2008

Viburnum opulus (pom pom tree), Kniphofia (red-hot poker) and the blue flowers of Ajuga reptans 'Atropurpurea' dominate in spring. My ajuga is a brilliant ground cover plant. I brought a small piece from a neighbours garden in the Uk and now have it in almost every border growing well in France though I find it is not happy in blazing sun.

Le Grenadier long border

May 2006

 

May 2006

May 2006 - Irises are one of the first flowers in the spring and so particularly welcome

 
May 2008

Mimosa is a beautiful tree with gorgeously scented yellow flowers in the winter

 
March 2009

At the other side of the drive from the long border is a magnificent mimosa tree. It flowers in Feb/March time and has a froth of beautifully scented small yellow flowers. I cut some to bring into the house filling the house with the scent. Unfortunately they do not last long as cut flowers, dipping the end of the branch in boiling water seems to help the flowers to last longer.

Le Grenadier patio garden

May 2006

Border at the side of the house

May 2008 - not terribly fashionable perhaps but I love kniphofias

Barn patio garden

We moved into the barn in December 2004 and so I have started gardening this area only recently.

May 2006

and in August 2006

September 2007 - I'm looking for a very lush almost jungle feel to the garden surrounding our patio.

May 2009 - The Acer on the right is growing magnificently as is the palm though these grow slowly. Unfortunately the black bamboo on the left of the patio was becoming too rampant and I have removed it and planted it in my bamboo hedge. I have planted another ornamental acer to fill the gap as these grow quickly but not too big.

Blue border next to the patio changed in 2009 to a vegetable garden

Inspired by a garden with many grasses, lavenders and predominantly blue shades and fed up of mowing this small triangle of grass which cannot be done with the tractor at the same time as adjoining lawn I decided to plant this predominantly blue border.

just started Aug 2006

The 'crise financière' as the French call the depression of 2009 has led me to re-start my potager. Having learned from experience that  my vegetable gardening efforts do not normally hold my interest I have decided to start small and make it as easy as possible for myself. I am therefore going to put 3 or 4 raised vegetable beds into this part of the border and intermingled with some of the plants already planted in this part of the garden. I have bought some wood from the local timber merchant and each bed is about 1.5m square. Filled with a mixture of garden soil and compost I am now ready to start planting.

Border opposite patio

Inspired by a local garden filled with bamboos I spent some days chopping down the brambles covering the bank which we look out on from the barn. At the moment my variegated Arundo donax dominates with Euphorbias filling the front but I have also planted a beautiful variegated bamboo with almost a weeping form and I hope to see this growing much bigger next year.

Sept 2006

May 2008 - the variegated bamboo hiding behind the euphorbias is growing quite big now. It does eventually develop a slightly weeping habit.

Barn  border one,

May 2006 - We have just moved into the barn and so I am just starting to change this field into garden. The structure of this border is  provided by Viburnum opulus, a Liquid amber tree, Cotinus (a purple leaved variety) and a purple hazel tree. I have also planted lilies, Heuchera, purple fennel some grasses and an artichoke plant. 'Pink' will be provided by dahlias, cosmos, a pink buddleia and some pink alliums.

and again in August 2006 . The combination of dahlias and amaranth has worked really well and further along the border the pink cosmos keep the colour theme.     

and Sept 2006 with the picture taken looking towards the woods. The dahlias are the star of the border at this time of the year.

May 2008 - the border is really beginning to fill out now. The liquid amber tree has grown really quickly and is lovely with a large cotinus growing behind to the left and a purple hazel behind to the right (still quite small).

May 2008. I got these gorgeous aquilegia from a plant swap with a friend and the purple provides a lovely contrast to the bright green 'flowers' of the euphorbia. The white pompoms of the Viburnum opulus and the lovely drooping seed heads of Carex pendula add to the picture.

May 2009 - This area is becoming very well-established now and is lovely in May.

Barn  border two

Sept 2006 - this border was started in April and is already beginning to fill out nicely.

May 2008 - the border is beginning to fill our well. Euphorbia, Lupins, Peonies and Weigelia are in flower at the moment with poppies and a Philadelphus close to flowering.

May 2008 - I'm not sure what this plant is, some sort of lily I think, but it is superb and in a couple of years time is going to be gorgeous against the blue grass which is starting to fill out behind it. Note the honesty (Lunaria annua) behind. This self seeds all over my garden and a couple of weeks ago was a mass of lovely purple flowers. Definitely one to encourage.

May 2008. I love lupins and their early flowering and vertical accent makes them very welcome in the border.

May 2009 - Hard to believe this border is only 3 years old. Peonies seem to love my heavy clay soil and I have a lot of white peonies originally planted elsewhere by the previous owners, and I have started adding a selection of pink and red peonies.

Simple pink peony

 

Prairie garden,

May 2006

 July 2006;

September 2007. This garden is really beginning to take shape now and is my favourite part of the garden. The grasses include pampas grasses and a variety of Miscanthus grasses. Asters and Echinacea are amongst the flowers used in large clumps in this part of the garden.

And again in September 2007