I've been working so hard in the garden that there never seems to be any time to write about it afterwards (and sometimes not much to say!). However, I couldn't let the flowering of our 18-month-old Rosa bansksiae 'Lutea' go without a mention. It is planted in a warm spot at the base of the old tower on our top terrace. Now that it's in flower, I feel I am welcoming an old friend back into my life. Below are pictures of my furry box (still unclipped due to box blight fears), with the rose in the background starting to feel at home on its wall.

The main gardening achievement of the last ten days has been finishing planting up the Long Border (and keeping it watered during our scorching April weather - 29 days now without decent rain!). To be honest it's more of a nursery bed than a finished, planned border. Everything that I've been propagating from Hardy Plant Society seed and from cuttings over the last three years has been dotted around it to cover as much soil as I can. There are numerous weigelas, philadelphus, buddleia and seed-raised Angelica sylvestris to cover the bank, as well as lilacs 'Charles Joly' (a water-vole survivor) and 'Madame Lemoine'. Many of the small shrubs from cuttings will go down to the bottom of the garden in time when they've bulked up sufficiently.

I can't get decent rigid seed trays here, and so I've started using polystyrene fish boxes from our friendly local supermarket. They are a good substitute and last several seasons. I planted out fish boxes full of Nepeta nervosa, Nepeta subsessilis, Salvia x superba, Asphodeline lutea, Stipa gigantea, Festuca amythestina, all from spring 2012 sowings.  Along the edge of what will be the wilder side of the winter garden, where I can keep my eye on them, I've planted a few cultivars that are more special and of which I could only afford to buy one small plant: Aster x frikartii 'Monch', Helenium autumnale 'Moerheim Beauty', Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum'. These, like the yellow Banksian rose, are all are old friends from previous gardens that I'm delighted to finally grow again. There was also a grass addition, new to me although I've always been fond of Miscanthus - M. sinensis 'Morning Light' looks to be a wonderfully soft, silvery addition.

Below are pictures of what the border looked like when I'd finished (not much different, to be honest, but it was wonderful to get the little souls out of their various pots and fish boxes!)

The Rose Walk tulips ('China Pink', 'Queen of the Night' and 'Sorbet') have been lovely with the bronze fennel - what a relief, as the fennel was one of the first things that the water voles devoured. I recently read that the voles are having a serious impact on the wild Narcissus poeticus population in the Massif Central, which are traditionally picked to provide material for the perfume industry in Grasse. Funny that, as I was advised that the beasties don't like narcissus at all and you can plant daffodils to 'ring fence' precious plants.

Here is a tulip that was planted as purple 'Attila' (the real 'Attila' is muscling in at the bottom of the photo) Not 'Attila' obviously, but it could be one of those colour breaks caused by Tulip Breaking Virus - probably in another cultivar whose bulbs were mixed up with my 'Attila' accidentally. They made Dutch speculators a lot of money in the 17th century, but I don't think mine (which also has two flowers on the stem) will win any prizes or gain me any extra cash. Still, it was quite a pretty surprise.

Long Border tulips
The Long Border is still bald, bald, bald. Either anything planted in it is too tiny to be visible to the naked eye - or else there's a bare patch. Anticipating this, I bought lily-flowered red (no cultivar name given) and Apeldoorn red tulips in the autumn and combined them with purple tulip 'Attila'. Not to everyone's taste, I'm sure, but it works for me (which is why I adore 'Couleur Cardinal' as well - both colours in the same flower).

Mirror Garden tulips
The beauty of tulips lies not just in the colour of their flowers, but also in the shape of the buds and their foliage. That's possibly why I prefer the lily-flowered types. The two little square beds on the Mirror Garden are just beginning to flaunt 'West Point' and 'White Triumphator'. This is almost their nicest stage.

I never quite got round to ordering the cheap yellow tulips for my two blue pots, but there's a positive to that. This week I finally installed (after thinking about it for nearly 18 months) two plants of Melianthus major. I'm looking for simple, architectural foliage with a bit of a 'wow' factor up there and I hope the Melianthus will supply it (plus they will be easy to bring indoors for our, supposedly, harsh winters).

Prunus 'Tai-haku'
Our four trees were planted in March last year and already they are beginning to thrill me with their promise of good things in the years to come.

The return of the wild side!
When we arrived in the garden I was at a loss to think why there were no wild flowers (except for too much creeping buttercup - I declared it the 'Buttercup War'). Right over the wall were lady's smock and sprinklings of various umbellifers in their season, but our land was all rough grasses (creeping and couch). I now think this may have been down to the previous management: it was burnt once a year and hardly ever cut, as far as I know. Since we began to cut and strim, the flowers are gradually leaping the wall.

Box cuttings
Having lost over 50 euros in box last year, due to the box blight, I vowed not to buy plants in for the new knot garden. I was taught to make small cuttings in August/September to overwinter in a cold frame. This year I resolved not to be as fussy or take such care over them. The other morning (best time of the day for cuttings, while the stems and foliage are still turgid) I went out and just did it fast. After reading the suggestions of an American gardener on the internet, I inserted them in little bunches in my cold frame. The little handfuls of young cuttings almost look like small box plants themselves. It makes sense - I've always noticed that cuttings root best in company or around the edge of the pot. It must be something to do with good drainage. As usual I didn't bother with hormone rooting powder or gel. They are covered with a little polythene tunnel (although I'm a bit concerned that will see a return of the blight!) and shaded from the hot sun. Hopefully my lack of care will pay dividends so that I can confirm that less really is more.

The irises are ubiquitous on the walls of Châtillon. I guess they are garden-escaped Iris germanica. In our garden they even have their own special area. Although admittedly I've lifted many of the wild sort and replaced them with good cultivars. I'll have to wait until next year to see them in flower. Meanwhile I can enjoy the wild ones, already budding up on the drop from the Mirror Garden.
I've added a new page to my blog all about my vegetable growing exploits. I'm keeping it separate because I suspect not everyone is interested, but also because it pleases my tidy mind. (My garden is often not a reflection of that tidiness!) So click here if you are interested in Vegetables on a slope.

I've also begun the lists of plants that I'm using for a purpose. Here you'll find a link to the plants that have survived our heavy clay and both a wet winter and a very cold one (with temperatures below -15 degrees centigrade in 2012/2013). 

Heather at Xericstyle, San Antonio, Texas, hosts one of those 'sharing' events among garden bloggers. You take a picture of your garden (in the long view) and post it on the first day of each month. I've wanted to add my tuppence worth for a long time, but never quite got up the steam. Here I finally am. What's really brilliant about this idea is that not only could it be of interest to other garden bloggers, it's also your own record of what your garden looks like from month to month. I'm planning to take four pictures each month. Three from our balcony and the final picture (left) from the bottom of the garden, through the orchard looking up to the house.
There are some amazing garden bloggers out there. How do they manage to do the garden, take the pictures, and find the time to sit down and write about it (as well as design the post)? Hats off! The beauty of Heather's idea (along the lines of 'Wordless Wednesday') is that you are still sharing your garden, but without having to write so many words (I'm lazy). Take a look at Heather's website, and you'll also find links to other garden bloggers' 'wide shots'.