It’s dry, dry dry here, in spite of the fact that we’ve had more rain this summer than usual and the temperatures have only soared beyond 38 degrees centigrade on one day.
However, I nipped off this page to do a temperature double-check and found a frightening news item (posted a day ago), asking if it’s likely we’ll be reliving August 2003 from this Thursday onwards. Thank goodness I didn’t move to Provence, however beautiful it may be. I would never have survived a year!
I’m getting used to the summers (a little) after nine years in our corner of France, which is advertised by the nearest town as the ‘petite Provence de l’est’. And certainly the lack of canicule days this year has been a welcome relief. (Although I’ve still done more than my fair share of lurking around in the house.) In fact I think this will be the first August that I have ever posted on my blog, so things are looking up!
The only things that really look perfect in August are the ornamental grasses, dahlias …
… and Eryngium ‘Mrs. Wilmott’s Ghost’.
It’s a month when I get sick of it all, but I’m gradually learning to add more things like the Stipa gigantea in the lower Hornbeam Gardens that will stand the dry conditions and still look good.
However (and it’s a huge however!) the garden is looking amazingly tidy this year, thanks to the BV who is perpetually furloughed and (between beers) manages to find a new project every day.
The young espaliered fruits have been strimmed around to within an inch of their lives and will be enjoying the fact that he’s removed all the nettles that they were jostling with.
His latest project involves building steps down to our garden shed. You can see the area in the picture below, to the right.
A few years ago I slipped in the mud down there, so that should save my bottom and back a little in years to come.
Now, having seen the news item I mentioned earlier, I’m going to pull up my socks (a lot of that in this house), stop lurking and get down there early tomorrow morning to water my droopy Rose ‘Canary Bird’.
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 
Looking great – esp. my favorite dahlia ‘Cafe au Lait.’ ❤
That is one I can not figure out. It seems to be a different color in every different garden.
Bonjour Cathy trop paresseux pour ouvrir mon dictionnaire, je retiens quand méme qu’il se passe toujours qqch à Garden …
Je me demande quand même comment vous faites pour arroser une telle surface.
Je n’ai pas oublié ma promesse. J’attends le passage d’une entreprise, avt de vs faire signe.
A bientôt, Hugues
Le mar. 4 août 2020 à 18:15, Garden Dreaming at Châtillon a écrit :
> Cathy posted: “It’s dry, dry dry here, in spite of the fact that we’ve had > more rain this summer than usual and the temperatures have only soared > beyond 38 degrees centigrade on one day.However, I nipped off this page to > do a temperature double-check and found a frighte” >
Lovely dahlias!
Yes, the dahlias aee wonderful – you must so enjoy their splash of colour and be so thrilled with the BV’s presence and the resultant extra work that has been done! It’s certainly making an impact 😊
I’m also not a big fan of dry, dry summers since I hate to see things dry up and I also hate to see myself lugging a hose about. But the dahlias look fantastic (mine are not as happy with the heat) and the garden does look exceptionally well tended. I’m also amazed by how far you’ve come in such a short time.
Hope by now you have had some rain. It’s a huge garden not difficult to find a new task each day, looking great despite being dry. where does that Dahlia get it’s name from it’s nothing like milk!