Mid April

Early morning watering

A prolonged dry spell coupled with new plantings means we have to start using our watering system again.  Christina had the fun job of checking each small spray and sprinkler to remove any miniature snails that had taken up residence and blocked the outlets!

I've already planted out some Geum and Verbena rigida which I grew from seed last autumn and they seem to have established themselves in the warm soil.  We also have a few tomatoes in containers, soon to be joined by some Italian bell peppers which came up recently.  Other than that we have no plans - or space - for veg this year.

Other seeds which are hardening off now include Rudbeckia hirta, Cosmos sulphureus, Phlomis tuberosa, Nicotiana alata and a Penstemon with dark foliage... looking at all the greenery, I realise we're in need of much more foliage contrast.

Cotinus coggygria coming into leaf

One of the best shrubs for this purpose is the smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) which can grow to about 3m if left to its own devices.  Ours is part of a border along the neighbouring driveway so we keep it firmly in check otherwise it would turn into a tree in no time.

It's currently producing wonderful wine-coloured foliage, which complements our neighbour's roses in his potager. It benefits from being sited in an open position so you can enjoy sunlight coming through its leaves at the start or the end of the day.

For colour that vibrates in the sun you can't beat a combination of purple iris and the giant Euphorbia characias with its sulphur yellow flowers.  (I photographed these in our friend Ruth's garden earlier this week.)

Whilst on a bike ride locally, we passed another 'purple patch' of dark iris outside a distillery which produces our local spirit known as "Pineau".  It comes in white or red - the drink that is - and is rather on the sweet side but delicious when drunk as a chilled aperitif.

A Charentais alambic

Much as we love those ubiquitous French iris, it's a plant which really needs to have its own dedicated bed in full sun, preferably with poor soil, otherwise it calls for much labour-intensive weeding and regular division to ensure that the rhizomes flower well.  (In our experience, the richer and damper your soil, the more snails will come and visit!)

This advice refers to the classic "bearded" type of iris and not necessarily to other varieties which may flower earlier or later in the year.

Shrub of the Month

Viburnum opulus

I think this accolade must go to our old friend Viburnum opulus or 'Boule de neige' - the snowball tree - whose blooms are so perfectly white and spherical that one can overlook their lack of scent.  

The fresh shoots are, however, a magnet for blackfly and I was hoping our resident great tits would clean them off whilst collecting food for hatchlings.  But I so dislike the look of these black shoots, crawling with equally voracious ants, that I eventually reached for the secateurs and gave them a snip.

Aphids generally infest only part of a shrub - particularly roses - and I sometimes just rub them out with my fingers, but it does no great damage to cut off the offending tips and give them an early prune.

Eleagnus ebbingei

Back in October I nominated our newly-planted Eleagnus hedge as Shrub of the Month because it provided such wonderful scent late in the year.  I couldn't get a decent photo at the time but it has since provided us with a profusion of egg-shaped orange fruits, as well as clusters of young silvery leaves - which make for a very attractive hedge, ideal for our windy seaside location.

Whilst thinking of popular shrubs to recommend each month, I've also become aware that some people manage to live in blissful ignorance of which plants are to be considered 'weeds', to be be pulled up at the first opportunity... so here begins a new section for Weed of the Week.

Cleavers (Galium aparine) 

Called Goosegrass or 'Cleavers' because of its habit of sticking to everything, this is often found growing through hedges and poking out untidily at the top.  You can easily pull a piece off in passing but of course it will just carry on growing unless you can wrench out its horrible yellow root - and dispose of it carefully, not in your compost bin where it might just re-grow!

Pulmonaria officinalis

There's sometimes a fine line between weeds and wild flowers, a few of which might be worth having in your garden if you are looking for a more naturalistic planting.  Pulmonaria or 'lungwort' is definitely one of these and this is a photo taken on our woodland walk recently.  You can get more interesting cultivars like 'Sissinghurst', with white flowers, if you want it as a front-of-border plant.

Lithospermum purpurocaeruleum

Another member of the borage family which we found in the wild is the clunky-sounding Purple Gromwell, which has flourished in a shady woodland area along with a silver-striped deadnettle.  Its blue-pink flowers are not dissimilar to those of the Pulmonaria and it spreads itself slowly by means of creeping shoots, without becoming invasive.

Herb container

Sunnier days mean we can start picking fresh herbs again and chives are growing particularly well after being chopped down six weeks ago when they were looking very pallid.  Tarragon is also coming back to life and we keep cutting off large plumes of fennel which is romping away in a flower bed, threatening to take over an entire corner.

Lastly, a swallowtail is the latest butterfly to visit, attracted by the bright flowers of Knautia macedonia - a type of scabious.  

It's a great pleasure just to sit and observe the interaction between plants and wildlife at this busy time of year... as well as trying to photograph it of course!

The former potager re-designed for plants and herbs

April's Promise

Our valley and the Gironde Estuary

In spite of a mild winter, many birds were slow to arrive in March and we had to wait until April to hear the first cuckoo and admire the first swallows swooping over our valley.  Since then, it's been a constant procession of new arrivals: the exotic hoopoes with their three-note calls; the rather irritating wryneck (a small woodpecker) and most recently the incomparable nightingales, who fill the air with their liquid song but are almost impossible to see now that trees are in leaf.

La rainette (Hyla arborea)

Meanwhile in our garden the tree frogs are in full voice, croaking loudly to one another when not basking in the sunshine.

They seem to enjoy gardens and human company... several times I've found one gently sleeping inside a rose or an iris, looking rather jewel-like with their strange golden eyes.

It's noticeable how many of the flowers in bloom right now are either white or blue/mauve, with aubretia and honesty being particularly attractive to butterflies.

Large White

We allow the honesty to seed itself quite freely where it fills in some of those awkward shady areas under trees and hedges. 

They produce mauve flowers which are particularly intense in colour and eventually you get disc-shaped seedheads which help to scatter the plant in winter.

Lunaria annua

Orange Tip butterfly on aubretia

Another early visitor which flutters around the garden regularly is the Orange Tip butterfly, which is prettily marked in white and orange with a totally different camouflage pattern on its underwing.

Other butterflies visible now are the Wall and Speckled Wood - both brown with spots and fond of sunbathing.  (Who can blame them??)

Early morning light

Although it's still a bit cool to eat breakfast outside, we like to be up in time to enjoy that wonderful golden light which floods our back garden as the sun comes up over the hill.  

Flowers are illuminated against dark shadows, adding drama to photos and saturating colours to a point where they almost look unreal.  A magical moment.

Wallflowers are especially bright and I'd recommend growing a Persian Carpet mix from seed in late summer, so you can plant them out whilst it's still warm and let them bulk up over winter.

Cheiranthus 'Persian Carpet'

We also left a few in containers so that we can move them around our seating areas to provide some instant colour.  Their velvety flowers are complemented by a rich scent and although the colours are vivid they never seem to clash.

A Walk on the Wild Side

As soon as our weather started warming up about a week ago we took an evening stroll through nearby woodland and were surprised by the variety of wildflowers scattered across the sandy soil and leaf-litter.

Stichwort (Stellaria holostea)

Starry flowers of Greater Stichwort are reminscent of British woods and verges, as are clumps of Solomon's Seal, Bugle, Herb Robert, Speedwell, Sweet Violet and Celandine.

Apart from firs, these woods are home to broadleaved trees such as hornbeam, oak and cherry, providing a rich humus for small perennials.

An English carpet of Scilla non-scripta

We even came across a clearing of bluebells which is quite unusual this far south.  They were akin to the delicate English variety rather than those butch Spaniards, Scilla campanulata, which can be found in gardens around here.
Alas there weren't enough to produce that intense blue haze associated with British woods!

On the other side of the road from this attractive woodland is an even sandier area full of mysterious and eye-catching asphodels.

According to Greek mythology, this was a meadow lily of the underworld and people used to plant them beside graves so that the aromatic roots would nourish the dead as their souls departed.  No wonder it looks rather ghostly and other-worldly at dusk... 

Asphodelus albus in a forest clearing

Out of Hibernation

Couscous having a Spring Clean

Finally, almost 10 days of sunshine and blue skies - enough for a bit of lazing in the garden, as well as lots of cleaning up and preparation for a new season of holidaymakers.  Pressure-washing the front terrace isn't something we do every year, thank goodness, but it certainly repays a few hours of robotic swiping dressed in wellies and old jeans... the result is positively blinding!

All these tasks are made easier by some fine weather and the chance of a tan while you work.  Our cat has taken to going out a lot more often and has reached an age where he's quite content to loll in the sun, taking just a passing interest in life around the birdtable.

Unfortunately he's still no better when it comes to not scratching up areas of bare earth for his toilet...  whereas some people suffer from slugs and snails, we have Couscous to contend with!

The spaces between our new lavender plants were undeniably tempting so we've used two barrier methods which were to hand: firstly, some driftwood twigs (vaguely artistic) and then the rusty remains of shelves from the greenhouse staging.  Neither of these is too unsightly and they'll soon have served their purpose.

Chionodoxa sardensis

When it comes to early bulbs to light up dark corners, I find snowdrops are hard to establish in our garden; perhaps our soil lacks sufficient humus, or maybe the climate is too hot...?

In any event, I planted these little bulbs called Chionodoxa a few years ago and have grown quite fond of their mauve, slightly crystalline, flowers which show up well against the dark earth.  And they're tough enough to withstand some of the hailstorms we've had recently.

Primula veris

Talking of weather (just for a change) all that winter rain has helped to nurture some beautiful banks of cowslips.  We took a bike ride recently and had to keep stopping to admire the profusion of flowers.

Until I took this close-up photo I hadn't appreciated how their trumpets are so like miniature daffodils, with a hint of orange inside.

After a few days of sun, the lawns are full of daisies and our neighbour Robert called me over to admire his spectacular specimen and photograph it for posterity!

Mutant daisy - not Photoshopped! 

I'd just finished resizing the pictures for this blog when we were both struck down by a nasty dose of Asian flu... it came from Thailand and was impervious to the flu vaccine we'd had in the autumn, laying us out for the best part of three weeks.  So I'm now resuming this March blog in the second week of April, having just about caught up with life in the garden.

"Things come and go so quickly here..."

I can't remember where this quote originated but we often repeat it to ourselves in wonder at those times when our landscape seems to change on a daily basis.  (Yes, it's Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz"!)

Viburnum burkwoodii

The Viburnum I photographed last month has completely gone over and our hillsides are now studded with the creamy flowers of its cousin, the Guelder rose.

Pretty though it is, I decided to nominate another plant as Shrub of the Month..

Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape)

This Mahonia was something we

 planted as part of a 'green-gold' hedgerow under our tall ash tree.  Like the yellow leaved Euonymous japonicus

planted beside it, Mahonia is evergreen and its glossy leaves help to enliven a shady corner, especially with the occasional red tints which appear in late winter.

Its yellow flowers are quite long-lasting and provide a honey-scented attraction to early bees.  It grows well on chalk and a light prune will keep it in shape - I also like to snip off the bunches of blue "grapes" which appear after flowering.

Before being attacked by the dreaded flu virus, we helped our friend Ruth prepare her raised beds for sowing potatoes and peas.

She gardens on a steep slope and also likes to grow tomatoes but found it difficult to water them properly... hence the terrace of raised-beds and an irrigation system set up by Christina.

Our water is metered in France and, now that coastal properties are all on mains drainage, we find our bills have soared.  Many people with access to wells have fitted pumps so that they can draw free water for their gardens.  Hot summers mean that fruit and veg all need regular watering and the easiest way to do that is by using a hose system with small sprays, turned on in early morning or evening.

Horses enjoying the March sunshine