More Wildflowers

 When we visited the friends with the fritillaria meadow they told us about a village with lots of wild daffodils. As we got up this morning to sub zero temperatures I suggested that we should go in search of the daffodils before they were over.

Although confident that we could find the village, we couldn't, and were forced to enlist the help of our useless GPS.Well perhaps it is the operators that are useless. As we drove along we commented that even if we did not find the daffodils we were enjoying exploring a different part of the Lot. Having arrived in the village eventually, which was actually a hamlet in the middle of nowhere, where were the fabled flowers? Arbitrarily we turned right and after about a kilometre John happened to notice some daffodils in a wood. We parked up and followed the track through the woods and the sheer number of wild daffodils and other Spring flowers was amazing.

As we climbed the hill we were waxing lyrical about the solitude with only the bird song for company. Before returning to the car these "old people" thought it prudent to answer the call of nature. Lost in my own world the next thing I knew was that my bum was being sniffed by a very bouncy happy dog and as I glanced up the path his owners appeared over the ridge. It was pretty obvious from their faces that they had taken in the situation but as they say in these parts "tant pis" and all parties carried on regardless. Nothing phases us at our age.  When you've got to go you've got to go!

A Real Wildflower Meadow

 Some "gardening friends" invited us over this morning for coffee whilst the snakeshead fritillaries in their fields were in bloom. Although it was dull and misty en route we couldn't help being up lifted by the thousands of cowslips lining our route. However this abundance did not prepare us for the sight of their fields full of Spring wildflowers. The endless rains we had in January caused the river which borders their property, an old mill, to flood the worst that they had seen in the 17 years which they have lived there. So much so that the river had deposited heaps of river sand in the fields. However these true "water meadow" conditions evidently suit the resident flora.

There were snakeshead fritillaries everywhere. I grew a few in the UK but they were half the size of these. We didn't know where to put our feet for fear of treading on cowslips, violets, pulmonaria and countless other species.

They even had lots of tooth wort (Lathraea clandestina) which is a parasitic plant that grows on the roots of trees growing in moist conditions. About 10 years ago we found a small clump growing by the river in our village but we have never seen them since. Caroline told us that normally they are far more numerous along their river bank but this year the force of the water must have washed them away.

As you can tell we thoroughly enjoyed exploring this morning although it was a little disheartening for those trying to develop a prairie artificially. Still no sign of those 3600 alliums we planted in 2019 or the seeds John sowed last year. Hope springs eternal!!

Activity in the Garden

 The weather has been Spring like over the last week and it has stimulated both the gardeners and the wildlife. We were so pleased to hear the Barn Owl who lives in the top of our pigeonnier calling for a mate. We feared that he no longer lived with us as we had not seen or heard him for months. We do hope he finds a "wife" so that we can listen to the hungry cries of baby owlets later in the year. In contrast the daylight hours are full of the cries of pairing buzzards and we have seen a couple of kestrels in the trees in the alley. We can only assume that it is the pair that have nested in our wall for the last few years. However not all nature is full of new beginnings. As we planted the eucalyptus trees a Sparrow Hawk flew past at incredible speed and plucked a tit from the adjacent thicket. He needs to eat as well.

 I continue to attempt to establish a lavender hedge in the old iris walk. I tried a new supplier this time to replace the losses which seemed to regularly occur, fingers crossed third time lucky. In addition to the lavender plants the hostas for the "trunkery " arrived. I have chosen different varieties but they all have leaves that have a mixture of yellow and green. We were delighted with the quality of the bare root plants but of course it is now a waiting game. Hopefully wonderful pictures of the feature will appear later in the year .... hopefully!!

This winter the very vigorous bamboo which we planted in a pot when we set up the Japanese Garden told us that he was fed up with living in this pot and had no intention of staying there. Initially we thought it was the frost that had affected the pot but as the cracks got bigger and the pot fell apart we realised that it was the bamboo trying to escape. The intrepid bargain hunters found a new pot in a sale when we bought the pots for the trees. There were 2 pots in the sale but we only wanted one......until we got home and decided that we could use two. Somehow the second was cheaper!! Today we repotted the bamboo. It took all morning as much sawing was required. I now feel that we need an appropriate rock or ornament adjacent to them to set them off. Watch this space.

 

 

Having got into the swing of things we subsequently moved two large hydrangeas. No mean feat as the woodland bed, their new home is just a bank of rocks with a light covering of soil. Needless to say the UG managed eventually to excavate deep enough holes.

Meanwhile the daffodils are blooming their heads off.

Garden Design

 For the past year I have been looking at the Sundial/stachys bed in the courtyard and reflecting that whilst it is practical it is bare. I want it to have a simple formal look but how do I achieve it. From time to time I have stood conifers in amongst the stachys but it never looked right and anyway John never showed any enthusiasm for my musings. Eventually in my head I decided that olive trees would be the answer as their foliage would tone with the stachys. I was assured that they would tolerate -12 C, but as we had lower temperatures than that this year I began to reconsider. Still no enthusiasm from the UG......although I think it was his bank balance that influenced this lack of enthusiasm. 

Recently however, Bunny Guiness (Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winning garden designer) achieved what I had failed to do. After watching one of her videos he suddenly became enthusiastic about the idea of adding some trees, but which ones. Eventually we decide that 4 apple trees would provide spring blossom and Autumn fruit. We found some 3 year old trees on line but were concerned what size they would be when they arrived, so we decided to search the local garden centres before ordering.

Whilst I was investigating the apple trees John went off to look at the " half dead corner" as we always do. He soon found me to enquire what I thought about having 4 eucolyptus trees. I knew nothing about these trees but as he was so enthusiastic I thought I better go and have a look. I should correct that as I think it was his bank account that was enthusiastic as they were 9 euros each instead of 28!! 

They were definitely in need of some TLC but we decided that as we had very little to lose we would give them a go.

How we managed to get 4 trees, 4 wooden pots, a weeks shopping, another bargain pot and us in our little Clio is a miracle, the UG has his uses! Even though they were now home there was much reflecting/moving on where in the Sundial garden they should be positioned. 

Now released from their prison (I have never seen anything so pot bound) with new soil and lashings of fertilizer (fish poo) it is over to them. We concede that they do look a bit spaggy but hope springs eternal and after all they were cheap!!

Meantime more plants have arrived.

Fear not ...

 ... But Spring really is coming!

We'll be in shorts soon!!!

Soggy

 Like most of Europe, we are in the middle of wet weather!  As we have light, stony ground water doesn't take long to drain away, but at the moment, we are having so much rain that the valley is now full of water waiting to drain into the river Céou.

Our neighbours' trees are standing in water (but this often happens) but also on the field next to them ...

All of this water draining off the hills then flows in pipes under the 'main' road to the fields in the valley bottom and into the river.

Even our alley has standing water in it ...

but, almost overnight, thanks to this spell of milder temperatures (10 or 11 deg C overnight) Spring has started!