Terrace floors chosen and ordered
The choice was surprisingly easy. We wanted something that more-or-less matched the facade of the house, so it had to be grey-brown, and this was the only one that came close.
The wisteria is flowering again, and growing like crazy. Everything, in fact, is growing like crazy. My cherry tomato plant is 3 metres tall with so many little fruits the branches are drooping. I’m not sure what to do because it’s reached the ceiling height of the greenhouse. I bought the plant the second week of March, and it was just 5 inches tall. Amazing.
The medlar (loquat) tree is also dripping with fruit. I’m experimenting with recipes. A very kind Australian woman told me I can use it to make medlar paste, which is a more interesting flavoured version of quince paste. Last night I used it to make a salsa, like mango salsa, but with medlar, as a sauce for salmon. It worked really well. I sprinkled them with sugar to cut a bit of the sharpness. Mike was amused to discover what a Medlar tree looks like because there’s one mentioned in Romeo & Juliet.
This morning I got a Clematis Bagatelle (also known as Dorothy Walton.) Now I’m going to circle the garden trying to find a place to plant it. I also had a wonderful garden surprise that I’d forgotten to mention. About a month ago I spent the day walking around the garden looking for jasmine. It seemed unfathomable to me that someone who had such similar taste to my own in plants wouldn’t have jasmine; but I didn’t find any. So I went out and bought two little plants. Last week, on the wall behind the house, hidden between roses and ivy, these little white flowers started blooming- a huge jasmine! And with it the wonderful scent which perfumes the kitchen when I open the door. Just lovely.
Tomorrow morning we’re going to look at another building. Only three apartments, but larger apartments than we’ve been considering. Mike would be happier if I took on a mid-size project rather than an all consuming one, at least for now. I’m staying open-minded. I love the presbytery, but it’ll probably still be on the market next year once work on our house is finished and I’ve got more free time.
And here are the dogs posing by the hydrangea:
My Mazamet 
And will you be surrounding your own terrace with such lovely AstroTurf too?
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Nooooooooooooooo. The lawn specialist is going to be levelling the earth and laying turf in September 😛
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Happy dogs.
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Given the photograph of the dogs had you not ‘inherited’ hydrangeas you would have been obliged to buy and plant some as an appropriate background.
What are those yellow spikes in the background?
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I can’t tell you from memory, but I’ll look it up tomorrow. I know there’s the botanical name in one of the garden notebooks left behind. They’re green at first, then turn yellow. I believe they were an addition by the third Mme. Stanton to live in the house. The one who transformed the garden from French formal to a l’Anglaise.
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Found it! Euphorbia characias ‘Wulfenii’ also known as Euphorbe des Vallons
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Many thanks!
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Your delight in the house and garden is more obvious with every post, so much so that it started me thinking about the property as an entity in its own right. I don’t believe in ghosts, but maybe houses can get lonely too, and if they can then perhaps they can become joyful when they are loved…
I know what you’re thinking, but I named my car and I talk to my roses so what can you expect? -grin-
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It Is an Entity!!! Fortunately, so is the last one. I hear the 10 pages of instructions I left behind were taken seriously. They’ve got a full-time gardener working on the 40 metre hydrangea row I had been working on myself (under the pines.) It makes my heart flutter to think someone is going to make that dream I had all those years ago come true. I was only half way done last year.
I can only hope what I do here, now, lives up to the hopes and dreams of the people who made it so special in the first place.
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I think your house is lucky to have you. 🙂
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Just a heads up, with animals in mind, in case you weren’t aware. I read that hydrangeas are poisonous.
(to humans too)
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Half of the garden is poisonous 🙂 Rhododendron, oleander, hydrangea, iris, azalea; interestingly enough, the dogs learn quickly what to avoid. Rescue dogs especially have an amazing survival mechanism.
The bigger danger is for urban dogs who haven’t learnt how to operate in the countryside or puppies who’ll just chew on anything. We always watch them carefully during the first few days on a new walk or in a new place, and by then they’ve basically learnt for themselves.
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Fair enough. You’re more on top of it than me.
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Euphorbia is sort of poisonous, in that the milky sap in the stems can cause a very nasty irritation. The plant you need to watch out for is Aconitum, (also known as Monkshood or Wolfsbane) which is highly toxic, especially to dogs. It resembles delphiniums, so if you have anything like that, take care. It’s my favourite plant, but I treat it with respect & even my young grandson knows he must avoid going near it.
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Your dogs are so beautiful, they even make your ya…garden pale in comparison 🙂
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Have you ever considered a cumquat tree? My yard is very tiny, and I planted one right in the middle. Though it’s barely three and a half feet tall, it’s tiny white flowers smell lovely, and the fruits come ripe around December or January, just when you might be pining for fresh citrus from your own garden.
Also, I thought you two had three dogs. Is one missing? The other two are beautiful. Good health and good love do that to an animal — humans included.
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The third (rather, she was the first of the three) is a very traumatised rescue dog. If she sees me pull out a camera she runs. If the doorbell rings she hides. During her first few months with us we couldn’t approach her without her panicking. Nowadays she’ll even get on the bed or sit next to us on a sofa, but unusual noises still make her run.
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Poor baby. Well, if she allows, please give her a hug for me.
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