Just About The Garden
Over a month ago I thought I was just about done with the garden, apart from maintenance. It’s the «just about» that keeps me busy. My attempt to front the long boxes on the balcony with Lobelia failed miserably so I have now replaced them with some climbing nasturtiums I grew from seed. They can climb up the railings on the balcony or drop down from them. Either way they won’t affect the limited space for guests on the balcony. There’s room for two guests and two chairs. Sit on the left for long and you are liable to be crawled over by clematis or honeysuckle; sit on the right and scrambling geraniums will do the same. It’s your choice.
The photos below are of the view from my bedroom window, the front of the house, the Pilgrim rose in the back garden and the balcony
There’s honeysuckle in bloom to the right and left of the balcony so the scent in the evening is great. The one to the right seems to bloom twice a year unless I’ve got one of them in the pots beside the porch below. One I know I stuffed years ago into a hole in concrete that covers one of the spring sources that runs in font of my house. I don’t think there’s another in a pot but honestly can’t remember what I’ve got in the pots now and they are too crowded to see properly, although I do know that there are at least two clematis in them. It’s probably why I am known as the mad English gardener. French pots would have plants metrically spaced and lined up in rows for inspection. Anyway, it uses the lilac tree beside the porch to get up to the vine that grows over the balcony and climbs all over that.
The honeysuckle on the left goes up to my bedroom window and seems to be trying to climb in (see photo). It has flowers that start as red buds whereas the other is pure white/yellow so must be a different variety. It had started to climb along with the jasmine all over the TV dish above it until I got Carl to risk live and limb pulling it down last year. If you haven’t got much horizontal space but vertical space up to the sky what do you do?
I’ve now got bunches of sage and winter savory drying in the sun on the table on the balcony. I find winter savory («sarriette» here) an intriguing herb since I never encountered it in England and it grows profusely in my herb patch and has even self-seeded on the roadside. I’m sure it must be around in England since it is perennial here to temperatures way below those that England experiences. It seems to be used here mainly with goat cheeses but has potential for stews and casseroles. The scent/flavour is somewhere between oregano and thyme.
The pots of seedlings that were on the balcony are now planted. The climbing nasturtiums as I have said and the morning glory in the pot on the balcony that conatins the jasmine and the rest over the road in the pot against the wash-house. Both are intended to produce flowers later in the year after August has fried nearly everything. Morning glory don’t like being moved, the ground here is not conducive to seeds and I have had limited success with them in the past so I’ve put some more seeds as an insurance in a pot on my kitchen windowsill alongside the two chilli plants, pot of chives and a dahlia tuber starting to sprout. The last is another «just about»…………..
