A Merrie Month

The long-awaited season of plant fairs!

However much we try to anticipate our planting needs by growing new things from seed, there is always the irresistible lure of a good plant fair, even if it means driving south of Bordeaux to an area notable for 'Graves' wine.  Luckily it was a fine and sunny day, so we packed a picnic and primed the Satnav accordingly.

Here in France it's usual to have at least three bank holidays in May and this year they all happen to be on Thursdays, which means many people escape for a long weekend and descend on the countryside.  So, no surprise to find the fair at Saucats was jam-packed with browsers when we turned up at about 11am, and it was difficult to move around the stands, let alone attract the attention of a vendor when we wanted to make a purchase.

Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga'

Shrub of the Month

Nevertheless, it didn't take us long to pick out a few hardy geraniums - based on the principle that you can never have too many - and we also fell for a rather handsome shrub which hadn't been on our wish-list but will probably find itself a space in our back border.

As soon as I saw its lacecap blooms, I remembered admiring this viburnum in a Bressingham's catalogue some 25 years ago when I was planting up a garden in Hampshire and knew next to nothing about shrubs.  I had so many plants on my list that I simply couldn't afford an extra specimen piece, but its name has stayed with me all this time and, luckily, Christina was similarly entranced.

In addition to the attractive florets, its leaves are an unusual shape and can be maroon when they emerge, turning green as they mature and then going red once again in autumn.

As it's in a pot, we've temporarily placed it next to our newly-painted wall which seems to complement the colouring.  (For any decorators out there, this shade is known as "Terre d'Egypte" on Farrow & Ball's colour card!)

 Paint it Black

Lavender border

Judicious use of colour can have a dramatic effect in the garden, lengthening perspectives and helping plants to stand out.  Christina's just finished adding a mulch of oyster shells to our new lavender border which is, in effect, a raised bed on the gravel driveway.  The existing border was a bit too narrow but it had already been designed using concrete edging stones which are difficult to remove, so we just added a new strip of planting and offset it with a black-painted wooden edge which contrasts nicely with the white shells.  

It remains to be seen whether Couscous the cat will try digging his way through this oyster mulch...!!

Daisy grubber and wicked weed

Weed of the Week

Mulching is a good way to keep some weeds from seeding into bare soil, but there will always be those which creep up from below - like our little friend on the left which must be part of the strawberry family, although I've failed to find it in my wildflower book.

It can be very invasive and difficult to remove, so it's worth investing in a good 'daisy grubber' of stainless steel which can easily slip under the rooted runners, causing minimum disturbance to other plants.

Foxgloves under a deutzia

The shadier, woodland part of our garden is gradually coming to the fore now that it gets early morning and evening light.  The over-arching stems of a deutzia bush are starting to bloom and create a kind of bower over the romantic foxgloves.

Now here's a plant which, to me, looks wonderful in all stages of development... as long as snails and wind don't attack it. Most of ours, in various shades of pink and white, have seeded themselves in suitable spots and seem to be pretty self-reliant.  

Occasionally, I'll move a plant to a more open position while it's still small, so that we can observe its stately beauty from all angles - and sometimes this means that a tall specimen will need staking against the wind.  They do so well in our chalky soil that they often grow to more than two meters.

Orlaya grandiflora

Another flower which is equally suited to woodland or prairie-style planting is the gentle Orlaya grandiflora, also known as White Laceflower or French cow parsley. Like foxgloves, this is also quite slow to develop and can be admired en route to its final flush.

Here it is just starting to open up next to an evening primrose which is still in bud. These little umbellifers are easy to grow from seed and mingle happily with bolder plants such as blue geraniums, yellow oenothera, scabious and viper's bugloss, eventually giving the effect of a glorious Mediterranean meadow.

Aquilegias with Knautia macedonia

Other flowers which mix well and are worth picking to admire at close quarters are the nodding heads of aquilegia and the pincushion blooms of knautia, which is a form of scabious.  Whilst dead-heading the latter, I realised their furry  seedheads would look just as attractive as the flowers themselves and were worth adding to the vase.

We've already been cutting roses to bring indoors and in places the hedgerows are festooned with delicate dog roses.  This is the flower known as eglantine in French - a word which somehow conveys its effortless elegance!

Rosa canina

A recent walk along the shore whilst collecting oyster shells, revealed that clumps of yellow horned poppy have seeded themselves along the recently re-made coastal path that often gets washed away in violent storms.

Glaucium flavum

We first saw this poppy growing wild in Crete and you have to admire its resilience in braving cold winds and salt spray.  I'm delighted to have found a local colony and its glaucous foliage looks very much at home amongst a natural garden composed of sea holly, kale and oyster shells.

The shores of the Gironde estuary have been well-managed on the whole and care is taken to preserve much of its natural flora which is constantly at risk from tidal erosion and inevitable tourist incursions. 

A good deal has been spent on providing proper paths for walkers and cyclists so that there's less incentive to stray off the beaten track.

A carefully-managed honeysuckle climbs up the Egyptian wall...!