The Iris are really getting into their stride now. The Lilliputs in the scree garden were first and were mostly over by the end of the first week of April. Pink Music and purple Spree were first

closely followed by Gingerbread

Joyful Love appeared next on the outcrop above the pond

Next came Fingertips and Real Coquette

last of all Cat’s Eye and Bombay Sapphire

Meantime the wild dark blue Iris on the bank by the gate have faded to be replaced by yellow and white Intermediates, Tact and Jersey Cream amongst them.

The tall wild, or wild to me, someone else may have planted them before we came, pale blues are also out now

but they don’t really need planting, this bunch came from some rhizomes which I left here when I was thinning out the overgrown clumps on the edge of the bank above the lower cave.

More surprisingly the Grande Iris, the tall bearded, which I never expect to see until May have started. First among them in the Mediterranean Garden, but as I write now 3 weeks into April, flowers are beginning to appear in the bed above the fosse and in the Stone Circle.

Many more to look forward to, provided they survive the now plentiful rain, most welcome after 4 dry weeks.

Week 5 of lockdown, and another 3 to go, at least. The pool is open, and closed over again, after a little problem with the roller, only 17 degrees but Peter has been swimming, I’m waiting until it hits 19, at least! we have discovered Zoom and virtual aperos, and the weeding continues.

Everywhere is green now. The pollarded plane trees in the market place have gone from bare to full leaf in a week, the May blossom is out, plants are shooting up on the prairie, although only the Nepeta is in flower

and Wisteria is flowering all over town, although not ours, after the hard pruning from Gilles earlier in the year.

The hoopoes are feeding on the lawn, now that it has been trimmed.

The Cistus are covered in blossom

as are the Phlomis in the Mediterranean Garden.

The few survivors on the Beach are also flowering

along with last year’s planting in the scree bed by the pond

and finally, after 4 or 5 years, there is a surviving Zantedeschia to keep Mr Frog company.

Hard to know whether they have flowered before when we have not been here. Must get in and weed the pot to encourage them!

Caught the Ashphodel in flower as well

and the Bergenia in the Gravel Garden, gorgeous colour but only 2 flower spikes, not sure what to do to encourage it.

Iris are abundant too, but to be saved for another Post, since the welcome rain has now stopped and the garden calls.

Well we are still locked down,4 weeks now, and set to continue I think. But the weather is kind, so different from our first Easter here 10 years ago, when there were hard frosts in the mornings, and, as we had no heating but the wood burner, we shivered our way to bed at night. Now it is almost too warm in the afternoons, clear blue skies, with neither cloud nor vapour trail, but plentiful bird song and a scattering of butterflies.

Purples and pinks still predominate in the garden. The Judas Tree is in full bloom

the lilacs are coming out as is the Tamarix. Dark purple iris still appearing, but the first of the pale blues are breaking bud now as well.

The first of the dwarf iris are out too, in the scree bed by the pond

and there are wild orchids in the meadow

The tulips will be over soon. I’m not sure how I managed to plant orange and purple side by side in the border below Walnut Terrace

and I must remember to plant some more pinks in the bed below the Hornbeam, they are beginning to look rather sparse, but have persisted for I guess nine years now, despite the depredations from the deer.

The Lithospermum are doing well too, in the old rockery which Dan dug out last year, I had doubted they would survive the drought last summer.

and there are survivors too among the alpines which I planted on the cliff face when I cleared it in the autumn, unfortunately the weeds down here are also doing quite well!

Not many flowers in the prairie as best, but there is plentiful growth, as there is in the Gravel Garden where the Miscanthus look taller every day.

The dark blue rosemary here is still flowering

along with an unidentified shrub, the first of the white flowers for Easter, although the cherry blossom is not far behind.

We came back in the middle of March. Coronavirus had been around in China, probably since December, and had been a major problem in Italy for several weeks. By Friday 13th, Spain had locked down and Belgium closed its restaurants and cafes. We were worried about our flights, with an overnight stay in Rotterdam, and indeed airports and the hotel were eerily quiet, but we had not expected things to move so fast. Less than 24 hours after we landed in Bergerac, France locked down.

To say we are stranded would imply a complaint. We are rather compelled to remain in a socially isolated house, with ample outdoor space to exercise, plenty of weeds to dig out and grass to cut. For so many years I have seen the seasonal evolution of the garden as snapshots separated in time as we come and go. This year circumstances have given me a opportunity to document the evolving spring in continuity.

Now, in late March, there is little growth in the Prairie or the Gravel Garden, apart from the weeds! The daffodils are largely over, but there are still a few clumps of wild primrose in flower.

The beds by the gate, however are at their spring best

The Lenten roses are not yet over, the Robinia a pleasing spring red, and the dark blue iris, always the earliest, are in full flower. They are welcome colour at this season, although they need regular thinning as they grow and spread prolifically, threatening to strangle their cultivated cousins.

Across the drive, the Mahonia , which Dominique gave me last year, and I planted without much hope, in a dry summer, has survived

The apricot Chaenomeles is also covered in blossom along with a shrub which I think must be related to “bridal spray” although its name escapes me

Also surviving, despite the drought of last summer, in the bed below Walnut Terrace,

Anisodatea elegans princess. This is the third site in the garden that I have tried for this particular plant which, although sad in summer, is worth having for the spring blossom. It has been here 3 years now, so 3rd time lucky, I hope.

Although turning cold now, it is an early spring. The tree peony in the Mediterranean Garden is also in full flower

I remember it was flowering when Liz was painting the trompe l’oeil in 2014, and that was in mid to late April. It was a mild winter, happily wet after the long drought last summer, and indeed bees and even butterflies are out, fortunately the rosemary by the kitchen door is covered in flower, since there is not, as yet, much sustenance for them elsewhere.

The trees across the valley are greening up quickly now, all was brown when we arrived 2 weeks ago. Snow in Limoges yesterday, but the warm weather cannot now be far off. Time to return to those weeds!

The Iris season starts early at Les Terrasses, with a dark blue, the name of which I do not know, but which grows in abundance in local gardens and by the roadside. Later in the month a taller pale blue takes over. Both of these we inherited with the house, and I have been thinning them out ever since, a challenge as Iris grow so well here, an incentive to add some variety.

Yellows and oranges belong in the “hot bed” over the fosse.  Varieties include Pirate’s Quest and Amplified

Tut’s Gold, Feu Follet, Tabac Blond, Rustic Cedar, Miami Beach and Hermes

In the Stone Circle, built to discourage visiting workmen from driving their lorries over the geothermie piping, went Secret Rites, grey-yellow standards and gold green falls, Brasero, with cream standards and burgundy red falls, and Dude Ranch, golden standards and brown falls tinged with violet

All three have done well, and all the planting in this bed has filled out in the past year, even the Viburnum Kiliminjaro seems to have established

The Iris in the pond are doing well too

Our visit in May was brief. Enough to trim some box and spray against the dreaded box moth which I hear is now spreading devastation in England as well as France, at least the box it got last year before I sprayed is beginning to recover. Some weeding too, never enough, but the flowers in the prairie are holding their own, salvia and phlomis, both yellow and purple, dominate at this time of year

but it was good to see some flowers on the poppies as well, as these have been slower to establish.

 

There was still a gap in the heart of the prairie where the bonfire had been, so unsurprising that, visiting St Emillion with John & Liz in September, my eye was caught by a splendid larger than life size bronze of a wild boar. Exploring the gallery I discovered that the price was splendid too! I left with a rather smaller sculpture of a frog, and the suggestion from the sculptor that he would be happy to take on a commission.

Back in the UK, between trips to Broadstairs and then South Africa, I explored websites, not wanting to commit without considering the options, and came across Hamish Mackie and his roe deer. His incomplete set of a doe and 2 fawns seemed right for the space, and he generously offered to sort the delivery, allaying my anxieties about grumpy French lorry drivers and crumpled mailboxes. It took a few months, but they arrived safely in March, not yet sure what the incumbent buck and doe will make of them!

The frog, meanwhile, has also found a home in the pond.

The bowl he sits on is planted with zantedeschia, which I read will grow in such conditions.

Our resident frog came out to take a look. He doesn’t often show himself, just announces his presence by croaking as soon as the cascade goes on, whether in appreciation or protest it is hard to know, but he does seem to have grown well since last seen in the summer.

After 18 months, uncounted phone calls, and a couple of false starts, ETR finally showed up to re-lay the drive, which does look a lot better.

Phillipe repaired the crumbling steps by the pool and beyond, and cleared the rock faces above the lower cave and at the bottom of the drive, unfortunately removing our summer fruiting fig tree in the process.

After some discussion about the stretch of dry stone wall which the deer have successfully crumbled

he agreed to Peter’s suggestion that we should build them a staircase,

I can only hope they take to it!

Winter weather was kind, and by late February the winter chopping was complete, and in March I managed to weed the gravel garden, and tried to ignore the weeds in the prairie!

March was warm, by early April Tamarix, lilac and wisteria were all in full flower and the scent was fantastic.

 

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.

The creaking, and gradually sinking, floor in the sitting room came up at the end of September, allowing us to discover just how close to the underlying rock the house had been built.

John and Liz visited in October and had to make do with plywood floor covering and limited furniture as we waited for the concrete to dry. The new parquet was installed in November.

I had spent a good bit of September, armed with Jan’s original planting plan, occasionally at variance with the final execution, trying to work out which plants in the prairie had not survived. A reminder of my trainee days in radiology where one of the lessons was how difficult it is to “see” something which is not there! The replacement plants arrived in November, in hundreds rather than thousands this time. I went out alone to re-plant, and open the house for the carpenters. This put my schedule somewhat behind, as I had hoped, beginning to realise the scale of the task I had set myself, to start the winter clearing of the perennials that month.

November also brought the wine tasters and a long awaited trip to dinner at the Troisgros restaurant in Roanne. After which the male members of the party, with Peter supervising, were set to clear the old bonfire, an eyesore in the middle of the prairie,

and then constructed a splendid walk in wooden composter which I had managed to source on Amazon and which turned up, flatpacked, and in instalments, over several days.

The rest of the winter was quiet. We saw a bit of our neighbours, Francoise and Phillipe, who had finally succeeded in selling their business in Cannes and retiring to “rural” tranquillity.

By February, with some greatly welcome help from Vicky and Fabien, all the grasses and perennials in the gravel garden and prairie were cut to the ground and we had a new, but better sited, bonfire. The reward was a few days skiing in Bequeira Beret, plentiful fresh snow, zero visibility, and the discovery of the pinxhos bar in Arties, which remains a great incentive to return.

My “white bed” intended to left the gloom by the gate, was flowering by March

along with the genista, slow to establish but now more in need of vigorous pruning than cosseting.

 

 

Although the prairie was absorbing that summer, the rest of the garden was not neglected.

Rick came for a week in May, and more than earned his keep, strimming, a task he seemed to enjoy more than Peter does, cleaning the pool lid, and clearing out two large and grossly overgrown iris clumps on the lower terrace.

Walnut terrace was beginning to look more like a flowerbed, at least on the north side,

and I continued with clearing the narrow border on the south side with a view to planting bulbs in the autumn.

Jan’s team also completed their work on the water feature, and we homed the ducks imported from Argyll.

The flaw only became apparent in later in the year when we hosted a party to celebrate John’s 50th birthday. I switched on the, until then barely used, cascade, to celebrate the event, and wandered off to work elsewhere in the garden. When I returned a few hours later the pond was all but empty. Clearly the water being pumped up to feed the cascade was not returning to refill it. Fabien nobly returned several times over the subsequent months, plugging all possible gaps with cement, and by autumn the problem seemed more or less resolved, although we still top the pond up when running the cascade for more than short bursts of time.

The flowerbed adjacent to the pond has also proved a challenge, south facing and dry, with limited soil cover, it remains a work in progress as I try various plants, a few succeed, but many fail.

Despite these problems, the water lilies bloomed in their first season.

The Iris were beginning to do well

and some at least of the roses were surviving the depredations of the deer.

Other tasks that summer included a gravel design to conceal the ugly stone basin around the base of the angellos,

and a start on clearing the loose rocks around the mouth of the lower cave, which proved to be slow work.

In September the amaryllis finally flowered and were worth waiting for

That month I planted bulbs and ever more iris, and decided not to replace the large clump which Rick had cleared in May, but to create a new flowerbed instead

I also tried out a few alpines on the bank below, some of which have survived.

Growth in the prairie was now holding its own against the weeds, evidenced in the “aerial” photos Fabien took at the end of the month.

 

Spring of 2015 was hot and dry, not the best conditions for our new plants, and the early weeks were a race to weed and then get the mulch down before the weeds started again. The mulch, however, has proved a worthwhile investment, making it possible to work on the beds even in wet weather without sinking into the clay soil which adheres so well to our boots. The bunnies took their toll as well, digging more than nibbling, asserting their ancestral rights to the area we had chosen to turn into a garden. Peter invested in ultrasonic scarers, but they didn’t seem bothered!

The verbascum flowered first, in early May.

By June it was beginning to look like a garden.

Helenium and salvia nemerosa provided brilliant colour

and gaura and hemerocallis came into flower.

Achillea, asters and perovskia were flowering in July, along with a blaze of purple salvias,

by August we had monarda, echinacea and helianthus,

and the grasses were coming into their own.

By September the helianthus which had been an inch or so high in April were towering above my head and the asters were a blaze of colour. Hard to believe in so much growth in so short a time!

Not everything made it, of course. Bunnies apart, some of the plants we had chosen were probably not best suited to the conditions. The phlox barely grew, and although coreopsis has done well in some places has not survived in others. Most of the grasses did well, save the molinia, moor grass may do better on moors! In September I took an inventory of the gaps with a view to re-planting later in the year.

One concern however was resolved when our neighbour appeared bearing a pot of honey from his beehives. My anxieties about disrupting the local eco-system to the detriment of his bees were clearly groundless, they had profited from the experience, as we doubtless had from their efforts at pollination.