Monday, Gloomy Monday

What do you do when the autumn is coming?
When Monday is rainy, with dark clouds?

When you go back to your office, your grey office, where even the ficus is depressed?

I jumped into my car, towards the gardening center. Tada!

I don't know if the ficus feels better, but I do!
I found this ficus in a bin, when we moved from our former building to the one we are in now, I think it was 15 years ago. It had no leaves, just tiny dots of green to tell it was not dead, yet. While staying in the same building, I've been moving from room to room, and it has always followed, with more or less luck, depending on the amount of light available. It is a fighter.

How is your office? can you decorate it?

Garden tour continued

I know you liked the tour of last week. This rose tree has never had so many roses yet. The picture was taken last Satturday.

 

Wildlife is still thriving:

Have a nice week all!

Garden tour

This is what was in my garden this weekend:
blooming yuccas

Blooming roses

and some wild life

Day lillies

They are in full bloom in my garden. Although I am a day lilly serial killer: if something bad is going to happen to a plant here (too much weeding, broken stem, always by me), the victim is always a day lilly... And this is has been going on for several years, in fact since I planted my first day lilly. I don't know why, but this is a fact. I'm lucky they are so forgiving!

This one is not a day lilly, but an amaryllis. I put them outside for the summer and they like it.

Have a nice weekend all!

News from the garden

It is vacation time, for about 10 days, yeah! This is Eddy Mitchell's first rose:

And another rose by David Austin, but I can't remember the name right now.

While my assistant is sleeping, I'm trimming a hedge of pyracantha, and chopping the branches as i cut them. That will keep me busy for a couple of years, I think...

The rest of the time, I'm making skirts for my daughter Amandine. She is working near London right now, and they have a dressing code there. I'll bring her two skirts when I go on June 5th. I have not been in London since 1976, I can't wait to go...

I wish you a nice weekend!

Garden update

Hi to all of you! Thank you for the comments on the sewing images live. I was very pleased to read your comments, even if I did not answer them...
The week at the office has been busy, busy and I caught a nasty cold that took all my energy. But I'm much better now!
Those are pictures taken last weekend in the garden. The peonies are here!


Graham Thomas is ready too:

I don't remember who this one is but he is a good performer ...

This is a long weekend, and instead to be in my office, I'm home, watching this. The yellow roses are Graham Thomas, the one at the top. Quite a change in just one week.

I know the garden needs some weeding, but for the moment I'm just enjoying the blooms.

And I have a big priority for this weekend: sewing a dress for belly dance... so the weeds won't be in trouble right now...

After the rain... comments

The same irises, from my bedroom.

Yes Nikki, the irises do smell, kind of vanilla I would say.

Startare, it is because I'm nearer to Etang de Berre. Believe it or not, those 15 miles make quite a difference.

Solange, les lilas étaient en fleur il y a une ou deux semaines (Lilacs have been blooming one or two weeks before).

Wanda, those are the very first roses in my garden.

Rosemary, thank you. Those irises are a gift from my sister, many years ago. At that time, there were more colors. I don't know if they turned back to their original color, or whether some died and the other had babies. Anyway, they are mainly white or blue now. There was a salmon one, but the snails have eaten it last Sunday. There are one or two yellow somewhere too.

Lisa, your garden is fun too. I'm jealous of your ferns, it is too hot here.

Guzzisue, be patients, the flowers will be with you soon! In a couple of weeks, all the flowers will be dormant here, because of the heat...

Have a nice evening!

After the rain

comes the sun and the flowers:
An Alium that did not do well last year. It does far better this year: The first roses:

and the irises. They did not like the pouring rain yesterday.

Have a nice week!

For Kerri

Kerri, you are right, spring is already here. Here are some evidences:
This peonies come from my grand-father's garden. It has been transplanted several times, last time was last year. It is going to bloom this year, I'm quite glad.

I love iris for the way bloom in a couple of days. One day, there is nothing, you turn your back and look again, and here is the bud.

This container is beside my front door. So that I can see it when I come home.

My pet muscaris, the feathered one.

I don't remember planting them, but they are welcome!

The lilac tree was bare two weeks ago...

I hope you enjoyed the tour :-)

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday



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OK, I've been a bit lazy regarding GTS lately, but I did not have much to show. August has been very hot, turning the garden into some dry land.

If you click the following two pictures, you cas see some Helianthus tuberosus L. The wind has been a bit hard on them, but I like their flowers.

Visit Lisa's blog to see beautiful ones! Mine stay under control, at least until now. It is the first time I planted them in full sun, and they liked it. When planted in shade, they remained very short and did not flower. In the sun, they are about 2 m high and brought a nice touch of green all summer long.
Their French names is Topinambour. For the older people, they bring back sour memories: during WWII, they have been a subsitute for potatoes. Many people would avoid eating them for that reason. I don't find them easily in vegetables stands. As for gardening, they belong to the old and rare category, although the new chefs are bringing them in fashion.

Below, you can see the two yuccas, that decided to flower at the same time. and for the second time this year. I love those bells.

And here we have a new lemon species, the feline one:
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Garden Fairy

Carol fo May Dreams Gardens has found out she has a garden fairy name.

I had to find out whether I had one. And yes, I have :
My fairy name is Juniper Elffly
She is a cheerful sprite.
She lives in clear-headed pine forests.
She is only seen at midday under a quiet, cloudless sky.
She wears purple juniper colours. She has delicate green wings like a cicada.
Get your free fairy name here!

Have a nice day all!

Green Thumb Sunday

Autumn is coming very slowly, we still have high temperatures in the day (24°C), although they drop in the evening and in the early morning. And not a single drop of rain...
The garden is still doing well: I don't remember the name of this rose. Like William Morris, it needed time to setlle in, but I think it is feeling well now. It has always made its best efforts to flower.

The canna bud I showed you last week turned into a beautiful flower.
The yucca buds are growing at high speed!
And this was the visitor I found yesterday morning. Clearly a mantis, but much smaller than those I met up to now. I suppose it is a male ?

Have a nice gardening Sunday all.

Green Tumb Sunday - October surprises

Green Thumb Sunday


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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Thursday was supposed to be a rainy day, it has been a sunny day, just as the day after and today...

I came back home early, and my first surprise was this rose, that seemed to wait for me so that I could admire her. It is William Morris by David Austeen. It had a hardtime to establish itself in my garden. Took at least three years. During those three years, it remained frail. I pruned it hard every year, it grew stronger each year but I was not sure it would make it, until now where it is a real rose bush with strong branches and a lot of roses. It is in the front garden, on the North.

Then I went to the South garden, and cut faded flowers on the canna, to discover it was blooming again. It is the third bloom of this year. I'm very proud of it. It is one of the plants that enjoyed clearly my regained motivation in gardening :-) It got larger leaves, and more flowers, as if it was saying "thank you".

I went on to the back of the garden, where I have two yuccas. And they too had some surprise for me: two stems with buds. I could not see them from front, but they were visible from the side. I like to watch them grow, and suddenly those white bells are here!

Green Thumb Sunday

Green Thumb Sunday


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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

This rose is the first plant I ever planted in that garden, some 23 years ago. I don't remember its real name, but it has become Emilie's rose, probably because Emilie had helped choose it. (Emilie is my eldest daughter, she is now 25.). This is a strong plant, it has survived two transplantations and is still happy to bloom. The flowers are large and the scent is very nice.

Welcome to GTS

If the morning glory has been a surprise, your welcome has been even a bigger one. I hadn't expected that, and I'm red with joy. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments.

GTS has played a major role in my decision to start a blog. I'd seen so lovely pictures, that I wanted to share some with you. It is motivating to see your pictures and think "What if ..."

And taking pictures, as well as looking at pictures, makes me discover details I have never noticed before.

Surely, morning glory can be considered as a weed. Mine was planted three years ago, and not at that place. But there is only one vine left, so I can manage that ;-). My personal weed is that:

This is not a beautiful picture, it is just to give you an idea. This is the largest patch, but there are many others throughout the garden. And the name of this weed is passion flower. This is the hardiest kind. Quite hardy and resisting to draught. Will even flower in the winter if a ray of sun touches it. It was a Mother's day gift, in a small container, years ago. Now it is all over the garden. I'm trying to control it, but it is very difficult. This wall will be cleaned up in a couples of weeks, when it is cooler (it has the advantage to make a curtain between my neighbours and me). I know people would be very happy to grow some, and I confess I like the plant. I think the flower itself is a real beauty. But I'd appreciate to have only a little bit of it.

Green Thumb Sunday

Green Thumb Sunday



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Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

My first post within the Green Tumb Sunday is a morning glory. This one deserves its name well as it caught me by surprise a couple of days ago as I was checking the garden before going to work. That kind of surprise makes the day brighter, doesn't it?

Plants Festival in Marseille

Today, I propose we go for a walk in Marseille. Right in the center of the town, there is a street where people try to do something special. I know they organize concerts, theathers, etc and the restaurants there are nice too. But what interests me is their plants festivals. They take place twice a year, in autumn and spring and last two days. This weekend was one of those.

The weather was ideal, warm, with a little wind. My daughter Emilie had arranged to spend the weekend at home. She is presently living in Normandy, where she misses the sun... She was more than delighted by our trip.

They have beautiful citrus trees, of all kinds:
This is used to distil lavender:


And they started the fountains just as we were leaving:
More photos at CoursJulien2007 .