Garden Dreaming at Châtillon
  • Home
    • Where we are
    • A walk in the garden
  • Links I love
  • Blogs: Gardening, cookery, history, music
    • Thoughts on a French garden
    • Vegetables on a slope
    • Exploring the vegetarian recipes of France
    • A slice of village history
    • Music and People
  • Plants for a Purpose
    • Heavy clay & cold winters

In a vase on Monday

11/10/2014

30 Comments

 
Picture
I was bound and determined that I was, once more, going to take part in 'Vase on Monday', hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. Although I tried last week, I really only stuffed some of my favourite roses into a pretty little pot. This week I tried to exercise a little more care with my arrangement. And now I understand the challenge - not just creating a satisfying flower arrangement, but also finding the right light for the photography.
I'm not displeased with the result, but I think that next time I'll try to use fewer different sorts of flowers so that the whole hangs together better. I'm also more aware than ever of the shortage of vases/containers in my house!
This vase has been everywhere in my house and garden (in the rain!) in an attempt to find the right light levels to show off the colours well.
Picture
It sat briefly on the kitchen table - which I failed to declutter first - and was flashed too much for its own good.
Picture
Then it moved down to the Iris Garden. I loved it there, since the colours were most true to the borage and the verbena and the effect they all create together in the garden. And it enjoyed some gentle autumn rain before ...
Picture
... it was nibbled by my favourite garden pest!
Picture
Finally it came to rest in the Vine Garden where I thought the light and surroundings showed off the colours I was using to best advantage. The balance of red and blue was not really true enough in my other experiments. But yes, I did use flash here, so maybe not really true to life?
Picture
I used purple berberis, spent Sedum spectabile flowers, Verbena bonariensis, late-flowering Salvia sclarea, borage, Cerinthe major 'Atropurpurea', Pennisetum alopecuroides and Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'
Picture
I'm getting a lot of pleasure from my self-sown Cerinthe major 'Atropurpurea'. I had it from Hardy Plant Society seed and It seems to be enjoying the heavy soil here much more than it has the soil of my previous gardens. The habits of the borage have, however, become a bit threatening. My fault, because the lure of those blue flowers means I don't weed it out enough.
Picture
Normally I wouldn't pick the Pennisetum seed heads, but my original two plants are quite badly placed and due for a move in the spring, so I'd rather pay a bit of attention to them in their vase this week than miss out on them altogether ...
Picture
Picture
Salvia sclarea is another Hardy Plant Society seedlist addition, one that threatened my young roses last year. Perhaps when the roses are stronger and bigger, it could go back and keep them company, since they look so pretty together?
Apart from rising to the challenge of creating something lovely for the house, and learning a bit about photography/backgrounds, etc., what I really like about my vase is that I've managed to bring some of my favourite November garden colours indoors! (The kitchen table may not be great for photography, but it's a wonderful spot to enjoy my garden as I cook. Otherwise, at the moment, I'd have to negotiate many steps in the pouring rain to get a fix.)  So thanks on many counts, Cathy.
I intend to start posting regularly about the garden on Friday or Saturday night (Wednesday isn't working for me at the moment!) But I'm also hoping to get back to my old 'Wordless Wednesday' habit again this week - I love that one, easy and quick to do my own, leaving lots of time to enjoy the posts of others! Have a good week and hope to see you again over the weekend. 
30 Comments
 

Special, every one ...

11/3/2014

19 Comments

 
Picture
This post is my attempt to chip in with Cathy's weekly 'In a Vase on Monday' at Rambling in the Garden. I've looked at it for a long time, but never joined in. Do go and enjoy her own garden and the links to other people's 'vases on Monday'.  Perhaps you could contribute yourself? You can use flowers from the garden or the surrounding countryside.

On Saturday I noticed that many of my roses were producing what are probably their last blooms for the year - and probably their best year so far in my garden. I adore roses. I could drown in them and their catalogues without even caring, and it's been a shock that I've struggled with them for the first couple of years here. But now I think maybe we are coming out the other side. And I have learnt so much!

I've searched the internet to find a rose bowl like my grandfather used to have sitting in the middle of the dining room table for his Hybrid Teas when I was young. It had special glass holes to take the rose stems. Eventually I realised (silly me) that I could use any low container and a little bit of chicken wire to keep the roses upright. I did once ask for oasis in a florist's shop here, but was met with a blank stare - maybe my French?

My vase is not really a grand flower arrangement, but I wanted to record a few of my friends before they go, as well as their happy friendship with Verbena bonariensis this summer. So it's a 2014 'goodbye' posie. My little stars are ...
Picture
Abraham Darby, one of the newest in the garden. The purchase was inspired by Holley at 'Roses & Other Gardening Joys' (see blog links to the right, can't do a link on a photo caption!). A David Austin rose, named for the man who built the first iron bridge in the world, in England, close to the Austin nurseries. Still a bit shy with me in his first year.
Picture
Abraham Darby again, to the right. He was my 2013 love affair, keeping me awake at night.
Picture
Rosy white 'Madame Alfred Carrière', a Bourbonne climber (with deeper pink 'Heritage' to the left) ... she looks a bit mysterious, but actually she's frighteningly vigorous!
Picture
'Ghislaine de Feligonde', a pretty little multiflora rambler. She's quite small in stature and our walls here are quite low, comparatively speaking, so I thought she'd suit. So far she's just quarrelling with me and wants to grow out, not back, no matter how much I tie her in!
Picture
David Austin's 'Heritage'. Another new rose for this year. Doing well here, even in spite of the wet August and her reputation for 'shattering' in rain. She's very pretty, now that I look at her properly, but we haven't really bonded yet, because she's been hidden behind some nicotiana for much of the summer
Picture
This is a real love affair now. Climbing Bourbon 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. When she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad she was ... horrid!
Picture
Couldn't resist another picture of Souvenir, with supporting cast
Picture
This is where it gets difficult. I knew when I was picking them I'd be confused! I think that the largest rose to the right is David Austin's 'Munstead Wood' and the two smaller flowers to the left are his rose 'William Shakespeare'. But could be wrong. 'William Shakespeare' is new here, so 2015 will allow me to differentiate (I hope). Both are a difficult colour to photograph!
Picture
Sitting on their heads in orangey pink is David Austin's Benjamin Britten. This is a lovely rose, although this particular flower is a bit 'balled' by all the rain we've had. Tall growing and pretty healthy.
I said goodbye to the Albas and the only two Damasks in my garden ('Fantin-Latour' and 'Madame Hardy') a long time ago. Bourbonne rose 'Mme Isaac Pereire' has buds at the moment, but so late they are in danger of 'balling'. I'm already looking forward to next year's roses. I just need to try and keep my hands off the catalogues this winter ...
Picture
And I can understand why those old Dutch masters (and 19th century French painter, Fantin-Latour) just couldn't stop ...
19 Comments
 
    Picture

    I learned to love plants many years ago when I gardened in London, but I started to learn how to garden properly when we came to this steep, south-facing slope in rainy north-east France in 2011.


    Follow on Bloglovin

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Follow our progress

    By entering your email address or clicking on the  'Follow this blog' link (courtesy of Bloglovin).
    Picture
    Picture

    Archive

    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Categories

    All
    Annuals
    Box Blight
    End Of Year & Month Memes
    European Chafer
    Flooding & Tolerant Plants
    Foliage Follow-up
    Fruit
    Garden Visits
    Grape Vine
    Hardwood Cuttings
    Hedges
    In A Vase On Monday
    Roses
    Tender Plants
    Trees
    Tulips
    Water Voles
    Wide Shot
    Winter Garden
    Wordless Wednesday

    RSS Feed


    Blogs I Enjoy

    Veddw House Garden

    Jean's Garden
    Roses & Other Gardening Joys
    Sierra Foothill Garden
    Dig the Outside
    The Scottish Country Garden
    Balcony in Berlin
    The Gardening Shoe
    This Grandmother's Garden
    Annette's Garden
    The Patient Gardener
    My Hesperides Garden
    Lead up the Garden Path
    Austin Agrodolce
    Rusty Duck
    Garden's Eye View
    Organic Garden Dreams
    Plantaliscious
    pbmGarden
    Rambling in the Garden




    ______________________________________
    Need some help editing, proofreading or writing? Go to Publish that Book!
    _______________________________________


























Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.