It’s been a long time since I’ve joined in with SoS – here we go …
There’s something vaguely celebratory about this post: in all honesty, the garden looks better than it has done since about 10 June.
What a funny season, though! I have French beans still flowering – and setting, although the courgette (only one plant this year – there’s a limit to how much I like them!) is flowering without producing fruit. I think I had two courgettes in early September!
I note this morning that the temperatures still haven’t dropped below 11 degrees centigrade on my supper terrace.
Here are my six:
One. Finally my tabby, Ella, can look out the window again – she adores it, but in the summer the pelargoniums in the window boxes block her view.
The pelargoniums were tucked up in the sunroom on 2 November, in spite of the fact that the temperatures are still high. In the past I used to put all the ‘tenders’ away at once. Now I find the rush too panicky and do them piecemeal, a few pots at a time.
Two. The wonderful ‘Muhly grass’ (Muhlenbergia capillaris) is flowering.
After seeing it on some of my favourite American blogs, I bought one to try in the ground and it did actually survive that winter. The temperatures were not low – I think its minimum is 10 degrees centigrade. But it refused to grow on the heavy, heavy clay and just turned up its toes. So, here we are, version 2 – probably will be put into the sunroom for protection, but I also made sure that I planted it with lots of gravelly drainage material in the compost.
Three. Echinacea ‘Rainbow Marcella’. Really enjoying this.
It was bought from Peter Nyssen and went out to it’s current position this spring. Has stood up better to the drought over the summer than the other echinacea. Vibrant colours are going swimmingly with the leaf colours that are becoming more pronounced with each day.
As I say boringly on this blog without pause – it’s really, really difficult to buy plants in my part of France. Forget going out for the day and picking up one plant that you really fancy. No, if you want new blood you’ve to buy mail order and spend a fortune to make it worthwhile. I’ve been impressed by Peter Nyssen’s herbaceous material (quality & price) and would strongly recommend to others in corners of Europe that might as well be plant deserts.
Four. Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Blackfield’. Last year – its first in the ground – it was a real picture, given all the unusual rain we had over the 2021 summer season. This year not so much, but still enjoying it.
Five. I finally got round to growing my chinese veg (mustard greens/chopsuey greens) in the greenhouse (along with some small spinach).
However they were sown much too late and are a bit too small. I suspect they won’t really come into their own until Feb/March next year, but that’s ok. (Although I note this morning that there’s something ‘munching’!)
There’s spinach in the frames too, which I’ll put some fleece over as it gets colder. Oh I do love my greens … normally I have kale as well but the heat caught me out before I was able to transplant my bonny little seedlings. Will have to start even earlier next year.
Six. The red oak has, sadly, dropped its last leaf this week …
… but the foliage on the Vine Terrace still looks lovely in the autumn sunshine.
Pop over Garden Ruminations, the blog of Jim Stephens who is now host to Six on Saturday. There you’ll find links to more fascinating ‘sixes’.
I’ve been finding my garden increasingly difficult (too much huffing and puffing up and down the steps!!), but am aiming to work at falling in love with it again.
My plan is simple – and stolen from another blogger – I’ll aim to do one ‘loving’ act for my garden each day …
Have a wonderful week!
Garden Dreaming at Châtillon 
Grrr! Now I’ve been and looked up Dahlia ‘Nicholas’, which is rather lovely, in case that was a Peter Nyssen plant, which it is, and I’ve seen all their other Dahlias. Hopefully I’ll have forgotten by spring and won’t have succumbed to checking their perennial list. Fat chance!
It is rather lovely – and it’s annoying to keep adding to one’s list. I like peachy colours and ‘Nicholas is also my husband’s name … so
Wonderful colours, do admire your hard work!
Thanks so much Beatrix
Lovely to see your garden again Cathy, some lovely autumn colour here and that Dahlia is such a beauty – shades of a fruit salad or a sunrise.
Thanks so much Jude – yes, it’s a beauty, even if not quite how I imagined. I have been enjoying the colours and the sunny autumn so much.
I do love seeing other gardens form around the world. Lovely dahlias and that flowering grass is pretty.
The grass is really a little beauty – thanks for commenting!
It’s not just in your part of France that it’s hard to find interesting plants … I too order a lot online to have different varieties. I found that your Echinacea is very pretty and this dahlia : wow!
Well – there you go. There do seem to be little pockets further south and west where it’s not as bad. I won’t move, however – I quite like the rain!
Your garden is looking lovely in its autumn guise. Echinacea ‘Rainbow Marcella’ is a beauty. I wish I had better luck growing them.
Thanks so much – yes, I’m surprisingly fond of it – I didn’t think I would be, but since they tolerate our drought I tend to go for any that are on sale!
Is red oak the same as Quercus rubra, or is it another species with a regional common name?
Yes it is Tony – sometimes I don’t add the Latin!
That is interesting. Is it popular there? I find it interesting that North American trees are as popular as they are in regions where trees that are more popular here grow wild.
No – it’s just me with my botanic garden background who loves and searches out interesting trees. Very popular in the UK though. France is not particularly interested in less usual hort subjects (which is strange, given the plant hunters that set off from our shores).
Yes, and the Orangery of the Palace of Versailles!
Ella is bella! 🙂 As are your dahlias. 🙂
She is indeed! In fact that’s what I say when I call her in .. either Ella Bella or Bella Ella! (Her name’s actually ‘Nigella’ – obviously named for one of our favourite flowers.
Ella would certainly love that viewpoint where she can survey everything from a height and I love the photo of your old steps. Sourcing plants can be difficult here too, and nurseries seem to have a lot of same old, same old. Your echinacea is a pretty colour. I haven’t been successful at growing one of any colour here.
She’s a little sweetie. That’s a shame about the echinacea and interesting to know you experience the same sourcing problems!
The oak is (was!) wonderful Cathy. It has been mild this autumn here too, but only just above freezing point some nights. I also planted Blackfield last year and the wet summer got it settled in nicely. It struggled in the heat and drought, but as soon as we got rain in September it came into its own! Lovely dahlia and gorgeous Echinacea. Hope it turns out to be one that comes back reliably. And good luck with the salad. I have found the slugs don’t eat lamb’s lettuce, but my other salad seedlings have all been devoured!
Lovely idea to set a goal of one thing per day to keep the garden up to snuff. I have thought a lot about this because a lot of people give up gardening because it is “too much work”. I always think: overplant, to keep the weeds down, and embrace no-dig. I cut a few things back if they are in my way in my combined veggie/native plant garden. Gives me more time to watch the insects and birds. Not much you can do about a path that includes steps, though. Very beautiful location!
Sadly – I already didn’t meet my goal today. (I could wash some labels I suppose!!!). It is a very lovely garden, but the complications are many … I’ve gardened (including professionally) for about 35 years now, so I think I’m just a little worn out, from time to time!
I’ve just tried Peter Nyssen for bulbs this year for the first time, so thanks for the recommendation for herbaceous too. We are not in a garden centre desert here, but they do tend to the kind who buy in what’s flowering rather than offering a good range, so mail order is my go to usually.
I really enjoy your posts so do hope you rediscover your love for your garden (if it has gone away)
Thanks so much for that! I am just feeling rather old at the moment, and because the garden’s on a steep slope, it wears me out faster. But I’m in the process of finding a new level!
Cathy, your dahlias and echinacea sre real stunners. I love that burnished orange colour. I have a mollis azalea whose blooms fade to that colour as it ages. I adore it. I wish you luck with your leafy greens. I hope they out compete the munchers.
Thanks so much – I am really hoping for some decent spinach this year!
Good luck!