Air traffic control, SNCF, and the weather, all managed to inconvenience our visitors in 2016. Not only in France, Dominique and Jean-Marie had their trip to Scotland disrupted by both French air traffic control and Scotrail.

First to suffer were Rae & Ben, who had a circuitous trip from Barcelona to Lalinde at the end of March

They were at least lucky with the weather.

The radiologists enjoyed some sunshine in May

but also a very wet day at Oradour sur Glane, perhaps in keeping with the history of the site.

By June the rain had set in, and my Dad abandoned his walking trip in the Massif Central for the relative shelter of the Dordogne, but there was flooding, notably at Beynac, where the riverside restaurants were under water.

All change by July, cannicule and virtually no rain all summer. The prairie needed watering even in its second season.

It did well though, with the more established plants, those that had survived, flowering well in their second season.

Stars of June were the phlomis, which had not done particularly well in their first year

 

and by July it was again a blaze of colour

and Phillipe’s hedge was growing well(!), he did cut it down, despite the heat, later in the year.

The tree paeony in the Mediterranean garden can look scruffy much of the year, but earns its keep in April.

The Gravel Garden recovers quickly from winter pruning and was back in full flower by June,

 

while closer to the house the Cercis and Cistus were also in a delight in May.

The bulbs and perennials I had planted in Walnut Terrace the previous September added a welcome splash of spring colour,

as did the shrubs by the gate

and the zantedeschia in my new bed on the lowest terrace survived the winter.

The salvias I had planted above the lower cave the previous April flowered all summer.

A year of consolidation, plenty of weeding, and some re-planting, rather than any new departures. Time, in September, as the trees began to turn

and the morning mists gathered over the river

to plan the next phase.