Time Out

"Deep Summer is when laziness finds respectability"

- Sam Keen

Fishing on the Gironde

Now it's August and many crops have been harvested: bales and stooks and rolls of hay laid out prettily across the fields; heavy heads of sunflowers turning to seed and dense stretches of maize obscuring our coastal views - annoyingly!

Sunflower graffiti artist

Walks tend to be taken first thing or late in the afternoon when the breeze has got up. Ripening crops mean the landscape is constantly changing and paths which were familiar in winter have become narrow and over-shadowed, robbed of their usual perspective.

So, too, does the garden feel more enclosed and private.

Shrub of the month...?

Bamboo filtering evening light

A previous neighbour had put in a window overlooking our garden  (without permission) so early on we planted bamboo in a plastic trough to grow up alongside our dividing wall. It's done a great job of obscuring their view of us -    and, just as importantly, our view of their rather boring window!

I'm not entirely sure which bamboo we used but think it was probably a type of Phyllostachys which, after some three years, reached about four meters in height and spread itself across the length of the trough. We watered it profusely to begin with and still keep an eye out to make sure it doesn't get too dry.

Old canes can be cut down
and used as stakes in the garden

The stems start out green and turn yellow on maturity, staying slim and elegant with leaves that are not too broad either. Our plant has now been shooting happily for at least seven years.

Grown in a shady corner, it doesn't get much direct sun except in the evening when it positively dances with light, and the rustling foliage helps to give an impression of coolness. 

In the absence of a water-feature, it's certainly a good idea to have plants or trees which 'rustle'... one of the best for this purpose is a poplar, but our garden is just too small for one of these giants.

Crocosmia in a shady corner

Gardening with a partner can lead to the odd disagreement over what to plant where... actually, you're doing well if this is the only source of horticultural friction!

Christina obtained some hybrid crocosmia corms from her cousin in England and planted them next to a dark-leaved Cimicifuga, Actaea simplex, which is in the shade of a high barn wall.

Crocosmia (Emily McKenzie?)

There's no doubt that it looks dramatic alongside those purple leaves, especially when the evening sun illuminates its orange petals, but I wonder whether this crocosmia wouldn't be better off in a sunnier position. Time will tell..!

It's sometimes the case that a plant which likes semi-shade in England will tolerate what we might think of as a 'dark corner' in this climate.  A couple of hours of very bright sun in early morning or evening is probably the equivalent of four hours of comparatively weak light in parts of the UK.

Similarly this Nicotiana alata appears to have thrived where I stuck it, desperate to find a space, in the dry soil underneath a spreading viburnum. 

You'd hardly notice it during the day but in late afternoon the white flowers are backlit by sun and really leap out of the shade. 

Nicotiana is extremely useful for dark areas and this one was a rogue seedling out of the batch of 'Lime Green' which I grew in spring. All those plants have been flowering for several weeks now, some in shade and a couple in a sunny container together with purple petunias.

Echinacea purpurea 'Green Jewel'
 with heleniums and cosmos

And green flowers are a perfect foil for all those red, orange and bronze hues of late summer!

This aptly-named 'Green Jewel' was one of the earliest echinaceas to bloom and it's a joy to behold as the spiky central cone gradually increases in size, showcasing its golden yellow stamens.

This effect is echoed by the other daisy-like flowers of Helenium (Sahin's Early) and Cosmos sulphureus.

Our damp summer has continued to water the garden with occasional thunderstorms and overnight rain, which inevitably bring out a host of snails to feast on anything young and inviting. 

The tiny ones in this picture remind me of how a group of environmentalists in Newbury managed to divert work on the bypass because a rare but miniscule snail happened to be breeding in its path. Such a protest would surely be unheard of in France where people descend on our road verges with buckets to collect the cagouilles that have congregated after rain!

Guarding forbidden fruits

Summer fruits are also ripening fast and all that dampness has helped to swell the blackberries. 

In a single week, we've already managed to pick about ten bags of berries for the freezer and there are still many more to come - if others don't get there first.

At one of our favourite spots on the edge of a vineyard, Christina came across this snake lurking in the hedge, watching her with its beady eye and not at all inclined to move away! 

Newly-trimmed lavender helps restore structure

So many plants have reached a state of ebullience now that they run the risk of merging into one another. That's part of the charm of an English cottage garden for sure, but where herbs like lavender and helichrysum have produced flower spikes which tend to flop, it's probably best to chop them right back and round-off the bushes to give them a neat shape. 

Maintenance may be never-ending in the garden, but for many of us adults it really can be just an extended form of play...!