A typical French Autumn

Autumn leaf and flower colour from Rhus and Miscanthus in our garden this morning.

Every day this week has been different to the last. Today it is mild and drizzling on and off, while yesterday it was dry, with just a few clouds passing by. The day before was a most glorious warm, sunny day but it began with a hint of frost. Sunday it poured down while Saturday it kept mostly dry – a bonus for guests who I took to see the grape harvest coming in at local vineyards. In short, a typical autumn week in central France.

In the town, around the market and in the supermarket, all the talk is about mushrooms, or the lack of them. We have been mushroom hunting on our daily walks with the dog and while we bring back a handful most days, there are very few about. The weather is looking encouraging however, after many months without any serious rain, so we are hoping for great things by the end of this or the following week.

Chantal is making her annual autumn jelly from fruit collected on our walks: pears, apples and grapes left behind by the picking machine. To this she has added currents and other soft fruit preserved after picking this summer and a few herbs and spices for luck. We will be bottling soon and look forward to trying it out on friends who regularly offer us examples of their own culinary efforts to try. Last week the Marquis dropped around with a sample of his Two Salmons Rillettes and our lady plumber turned up one evening with freshly hunted venison. Food is important to the people of this community and recipes are commonly argued over in the market place.

Japanese Anemones continue to provide colour

Out in the garden I am pleased to have the ground wetted as I have been waiting to start cultivating the soil for our new lawn. The lawn will be sown as soon as I can so that it will germinate and establish itself before the winter. We are trying to rehabilitate a section of the garden ruined when the swimming pool went in and to link it with an area currently the site of a very poor quality lawn. I can manage about 50 sq.m. a day fighting with the rotavator, after which I need a couple of days of rest – one more push should see the hard work done though. The next task will be the raking off of old grass, weeds and stone, and creating rough levels using new lawn edging secured along the existing beds. The ground will then be trodden down firmly, levelled again to a nice tilth and finally sown with grass seed. A last gentle rake over and we leave it to Nature to work its wonders.

Many of the bedding and herbaceous plants are having a second lease of life in this damp and temperate season: the Begonias have never looked so good, Pot Marigold (Calendula) are in full flower and throughout the garden there are splashes of colour here and there. It looks as if the Salvia Golden Delicious will flower this year: each shoot is carrying a flower bud and one is just starting to show red. We continue to pick tomatoes and our lettuce crop is the best we have had all year.

Summer bedding has never looked so good!

In the park the rain has resulted in a huge rise in the level of the river Cher, but not enough to put off 60 or more swans who took up residence earlier in the week. The gardeners are busily removing summer bedding and replacing it with a mixture of winter and spring flowering plants. I managed to beg a few of last season’s plants from them for our own garden: bedding Dahlias and purple grasses, no longer. I have finished taking cuttings of tender plants for the year but have tried some Holly again, a particularly attractive form which grows by the town campsite.

On Friday I am taking clients to Bourgueil to look at vineyards and taste some wine, while on Saturday or Sunday we’ll all take a trip to the Courson Plant Fair, so it’s a busy week all ’round. We are watching the weather.

Early autumn in the Loire Valley

It seems just yesterday, and is actually not much more than two weeks ago, that I was swimming in the warm waters of the Mediterranean and eating breakfast on the sun-terrace overlooking the harbour on the presqu’île de Giens. Today in the centre of France it is feeling very autumnal: damp and cool, with the sun struggling to burst out of the clouds and a temperature hovering around 20° C. I know; I expect no sympathy from the English!

Grapes ready for the harvest at the vineyard of Chenenceau chateau

Actually I like autumn or, to be more precise, I love the seasonal changes throughout the year and autumn is no exception. In the vineyards of the Touraine it is harvest time and every village you drive through smells of grape juice and wine. I have visited quite a few recently and in spite of a difficult growing year, the excitement and optimism surrounding the “vendage” is palpable. Bernache, the partly fermented not-yet-wine, bubbling, cloudy and yeasty grape juice, is a wonderful seasonal treat here, sold in plastic water bottles – it would explode otherwise. It is drunk immediately it is drawn out of the vat, with roasted chestnuts and much good humour, despite having only 2% alcohol.

Wild Cyclamen carpet the ground in a local garden

There are plenty of summer flowers hanging on although the town has lifted most of its 20,000 bedding plants to prepare the ground for winter and spring flowering plants. I managed to take a few late cuttings before they did so but I do not expect a high rooting percentage at this stage in the season – plants are closing down for the year rather than rooting.

Autumn can be a colourful season, with leaf colour adding to the display both in the towns and the countryside. Under the trees in many gardens and parks the Cyclamen and Colchicum are in full flower.

Autumn is also one of the most important times of the year for planting hardy subjects and I am looking forward to the great buying opportunities at the famous Courson plant fair in a couple of weeks. At the local garden centre I spotted of fine batch of discounted Hydrangea paniculata Sundae Fraise, a compact variety growing to only 1m and with flowers which mature from white to deep pink. I bought a plant to get me in the planting mood.

Courson plant festival (autumn 2011) – JOURNEES DES PLANTES DE COURSON – the results

If you don’t know about Courson you really have not been concentrating; it has been featured many times in this blog and is far and away my favourite plant fair. Held twice a year at the chateau Domaine de Courson , south of Paris, the festival is recognised for its quality and authority and awards for stands or individual plants are coveted.

Although life got in the way of my annual pilgrimage to the festival, I was sent the press release and can therefore reveal the award winning plants at this autumn’s show:

Trees

x Gordlinia grandiflora

Quercus palustris ‘Pringreen’ (GREEN PILLAR®)

Acer capillipes ‘Antoine’

x Gordlinia grandiflora

Acer pentaphyllum

Shrubs

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Invincibelle’

Hedera helix ‘Silver Butterfly’

Conifers

Taxodium ascendens ‘Nutans’

Sequoia sempervirens ‘Henderson Blue’

Picea abies ‘Frohburg’

Herbacious plants

Stokesia laevis ‘Purple Parasols’

Saxifraga fortunei var. incisilobata ‘Momosekisui’

Ajuga reptans ‘Metallica Crispa’

Ajuga reptans ‘Metallica Crispa’

Boehmeria sylvatica

Mertensia maritima

Grasses

Molinia ‘Les Ponts de Cé’

Stipa calamagrostis

Eragrostis trichodes

Saccharum brevibarbe var. contortum (Syn. Saccharum contortum ; Erianthus
contortus)

Ferns

Selaginella uliginosa

There are many interesting plants in this list, deserving a place in our gardens. If you have experience of any of them perhaps you’ll let me know?

Iris, Hemerocallis, Poppies and Peonies

Peony (Pivoine) Marie Crousse

After Courson, our last flower show visit, we followed up the discovery of a local grower to visit them at their nursery. Bourdillon specialise in Iris, Hemerocallis, Poppies and Peonies and their beautifully illustrated catalogue mentioned an open weekend on 21^st and 22^nd May.

We dutifully turned up on the Sunday with a gardening friend only to discover, with a season three weeks in advance of normal, they had held it early this year. There was still plenty to see however and we happy roamed the fields for several hours before returning to the office to buy a few things. Their web site (http://www.bourdillon.com) shows their full range of plants but here are a few photos from my visit……..

Iris ensata Kishuu-Wakanami

We finally succumbed to temptation and bought one of the Itoh peonies I described having seen at a show earlier this year – Bertzella – while our friend chose a potted Iris ensata Kishuu-Wakanami which she later divided and shared with us. The Japanese Water Iris is native not only to Japan but is very widespread in China, Korea, India & eastern Russia and needs boggy conditions in the spring. We have planted it in a shady spot in a new bed which contains many recent purchases, but plan to move it in the autumn to a spot next to a Japanese water basin to which I add water often, the overspill moistening the ground for the nearby Hostas and other plants.

Oriental Poppy Lambada

The weather here continues to be warm and dry; temperatures in the twenties, usually 10°C higher than the UK and no rain to speak of since February. Water restrictions have started in many regions of France and agriculture is in trouble, although there are a few regions of the country where they have had plenty of rain.

At the recent Comice Agricole at St. Aignan, a country show also involving the 16 villages surrounding the town, the talk was of little else. We hoped to try comparing the white wine from each of the communes (for educational purposes and of course, in moderation) but it was so warm we could not summon the energy for more than a brief visit before leaving to sit in the shade of a Willow by the River Cher and cool off. A TV crew spent some time filming our standard poodle as she said “Hello” to the competition goats, the first in the family to achieve fame in this country.

Hemerocallis Edge of Darkness

Courson: Europe’s greatest plant fair

A view of a small part of the plant fair at Domaine de Courson Spring 2011

On Friday we took up our invitation to the spring plant fair at the Domaine de Courson, surely Europe’s and perhaps the world’s greatest plant fair. It is held twice a year in the grounds of the chateau, south of Paris. When working in the UK we were unable to justify the time for both Courson and Chelsea and only visited for the autumn fair. These days we live just two hours from the Domaine and are delighted to make the pilgrimage in the spring as well. We are already looking forward to October 14th, our next opportunity to indulge our passion for plants.

There are three problems with Courson, where many of Europe’s best nurserymen show their wares: firstly we do not have a large enough garden to accommodate all the plants we would like to own; secondly, we could not afford to buy them all. Still, at each show we spend beyond our allocation, selecting our favourites, changing our minds and agonizing over which plants to leave for another trip. More than once over the years, I have stopped in the middle of the show after several hours of plant hunting, physically and emotionally drained by the experience. The trick is to remember to eat at lunchtime and to drink plenty of water: Courson is hard work!

The third issue is that with so much wonderful plant material on display it is inevitable, even after five hours or more of hunting, you have missed much more than you have seen and not given nearly enough attention to so many fine stands. I have never found the time for one of the many lectures and conferences they organise over the three days, a pity given the quality of speaker they are able to attract. I am beginning to think that a two-day visit is called for and we have already selected a B&B required for the night.

Cornus Venus at Courson 2011

“What did we buy?” I hear you say. The plant of the show as far as we were concerned, was Cornus Venus. Those of you who do not know the Flowering Dogwoods are missing something very special and this new variety, a cross between Asiatic Cornus kousa chinensis and American Cornus nuttallii is amazing. The “flowers” of these Cornus are actually bracts, modified leaves which look like petals, creamy white, 10cm or more across and produced in quantities which almost smother the plant. It was bred by Dr. Elwin Orton of Rutgers University New Jersey, who was responsible for a breeding and excellent range of new hollies, also mixing Asiatic and American genes. This Cornus will now grace a prime position against the log cabin classroom where it should grow to a plant of around 4m high and broad. It is said to have spectacular autumn leaf colour in addition to red fruits and we are very excited to have such a plant in the garden.

Equally exciting was a purchase we have been putting off for many years, lacking a suitable place to grow it: a yellow flowering Magnolia. Having waited patiently many new varieties have appeared and Pepinieres Botanica, who show a huge selection of Magnolias and other choice trees and shrubs, were offering several. We took advice and eventually selected Daphne, one of the best of these, bred in 2000 by Philippe de Spoelbergh. The parents are said to be M. acuminata ssp. subcordata ‘Miss Honeybee’ x M. ‘Gold Crown’. It has now been planted in a new bed we are creating close to the old washing basin and pump on the east side of the garden.

Magnolia Daphne

We have a problem with the front wall of the section of the building that we rent out as a holiday apartment. It is a large wall, facing north and the little garden surrounding lacks colour on that side. Our answer was a plant of Schizophragma hydrangeoides ‘Rose Sensation’ a new variety looking similar to the common climbing Hydrangea, but with more attractive shoots and pink flowers in the summer. This came from Les Hortensias du Haut bois, a specialist who grows a staggering 750 varieties of Hydrangea.

The apartment itself we call Rose Cottage and at the moment a huge Rosa Paul’s Himalayan Musk is in flower on the fence and the wall. We thought we would add a bush rose of the modern/ old fashioned type for which David Austin is justly famous. We were underwhelmed by his stand however, and selected a specimen from a French grower instead. The beautiful pink, scented flowers of Elodie Gossuin are a winner and the plant will grace the apartment garden as soon as I dig a little bed to accommodate it. The variety is one of the Rosa Generosa series from Guillot, who have been rose growers for more than 180 years and specialise in old varieties.

We were looking for plants for the hot, dry and sunny bank in the front garden but failed to find interesting Lavenders or, my wife’s favourite, x Halimiocistus, the cross between a Cistus parent and a Halimium. In the past we grew Merrist Wood Cream, a hybrid of Cistus salviifolius and Halimium lasianthum ‘Formosum’ and were hoping for a replacement; we did buy a couple of Helianthemums, Fire Dragon and Supreme, which we have planted either side of a self-seeded Lizard Orchid. Also on this bank sits Echium russicum, a red flowered version of the Viper’s Bugloss native to the Steppes. I gather it is short-lived so I hope it will self-seed in what I trust is an ideal site.

We saw plenty of other wonderful plants, including Alstroemaria and Hippeastrum on the Pierre Turc stand, but eventually had to leave while we still had the energy; the day was exhausting, with 5 hours spent at the show and four hours of driving, but we came back content, richer in many ways, if a little poorer financially.

Lily of the Valley, Itoh peonies and another French plant fair

On the first of May here in France, it is traditional to give friends and loved-ones a bunch of Lily of the Valley: a gift of happiness. Legend tells that the plant first appeared where the blood of good Saint Leonard fell when he did battle with the evil dragon Temptation. Bunches of flower and foliage are sold by children at roadside stalls and on street corners for one or two Euros, but this year they are in short supply. The warm weather has advanced the season by at least two weeks and only in the driest, shadiest gardens are any to be found. We managed to find a couple of sprigs under an old Mahonia, to place in a tiny vase on the dining table; commercial sellers are looking to the north of Europe for supplies.

The plant fair at La Ferté St. Aubin

We have a house full of Academy landscape students at the moment and decided to award us all a ‘plant fair break’ as a reward for a week of hard work. The chateau at La Ferté St. Aubin holds its plant fair each year within the moated courtyard of the buildings which have been a private home for more than 350 years. The proceeds from this and the many other events held here are invested in the restoration of the structures, which are gradually being brought back to life after decades of neglect.

We were keen to buy a few more plants for the garden, nothing particularly rare, but fillers for the many new beds we have created recently. Given the shocking price of plants in France we did reasonably well with our purchases and an enjoyable day was had by all. One or two of the nurserymen exhibiting were what I like to call real growers: experts in their field and growing an interesting range of plants to a high standard. There were specialists in Day Lilies, old Roses and many other plant groups and several were exhibiting Peonies. On one stand were three yellow-flowered plants I was delighted to see and I eagerly sought out the lady in charge. She confirmed that they were an example of the rare intersectional Peonies, crosses between herbaceous and tree peonies. This variety was Bertzella, a vigorous plant with an abundance of semi-double to double lemon yellow blooms and small red flares that just glow in the afternoon sun. The large, well-formed blossoms carried high above the lush green foliage also make good cut flowers. It has a lemony fragrance and I have spent the hours since I last saw it regretting that fact that I did not spend 60 Euro to buy one.

Itoh peony Bertzella

Called “Itoh peonies” after the Japanese nurseryman Toichi Itoh, who in 1948 was the first to succeed at doing what many thought impossible, crossing yellow tree peonies with the common garden peony, P. lactiflora. These new cultivars offer gardeners the best of both worlds: compact peony plants with attractive, bushy, deciduous foliage and colourful, large, never-before-seen flowers. Hugely expensive when they first became available, they are still not cheap. I hope I will not have to pay too much more when I buy one at the next plant fair on my schedule: Courson on 13^th May.

Plants we did buy are gradually being found a home. By the front gate is a bed, a bank which used to support the roots of a huge Copper Beech, since removed. The soil is dry and starved, the situation hot and the most notable features are currently the tree stump and a telegraph pole. Already it contains a purple Fennel and some Mesembryanthemum (Lampranthus) transplanted from the back garden and a wild orchid which arrived spontaneously. An Artemesia grown from cuttings is waiting to be transplanted, together with seedlings of our Salvia argentea, while a Convolvulus cneorum bought at the show is also earmarked for this area. We have added to this Lavandula stoechas pedunculata and Genista lydia, a great improvement to the entrance to the property to which we will add many more plants over time. The Fremontodendron also needs placing and we are considering hiding the telegraph pole behind it. One of my favourite tall plants for a sunny wall, the bright yellow flowers are produced over a very long period. Given the poverty of the soil in this area, it should be very happy.

Salvia argentia

We are considering planting a Viburnum opulus Roseum close to the Rosa Paul’s Himalayan Musk and Clematis Alba Luxurians, giving a continuity of white/pale pink flowers over three months against a high boundary wall and the garden of our rental apartment.

I am determined to protect the base of our Mimosa from cold this winter and the Cytisus Lena could be planted close by to do this. It would be within sight of a yellow Cytisus in a hot spot against our new front wall, where the poor soil might suit it. On the other hand the Ceanothus Skylark could be used in the same way, being larger and truly evergreen (as opposed to green shoots on a deciduous bush).

Scented streets, plant fairs, food for free and hardy orchids

Robinia pseudoacacia flowering in our Chabris garden today

For weeks the streets have been perfumed by the heady scent of Lilac and Wisteria, here in the centre of rural France: a delightful change from the smell of combustion engines we left behind in the towns and cities of the UK. These flowers are still going strong but for Easter weekend accompanied by the first, sweet-smelling roses and fragrance of the bee-friendly Robinia trees. When I plant a garden I always try to position scented shrubs near doorways, windows or frequently used pathways to make use of this extra, olfactory dimension to planting design. Our white Lilac is close to the kitchen window and we have a couple of fine Daphnes, D. odora Aureomarginata by the classroom and D. tangutica close to the house. Robinias are in flower here too, far too close to the ancient building: a weed in our area but a beautiful one.

The woods will be alive with bees in a few days as hives are brought back to their clearings in the forest, bee-keepers keen to capitalise on the harvest of Robinia blossoms, the source of fine local Acacia honey. During a recent walk in the woods by the River Cher we were pleased to stumble across a handful of Morels, an excellent edible wild mushroom which we devoured the same day with a steak of locally-raised beef and a good red wine.

Morchella mushrooms (Morels) from the local woods

Bletilla striata orchid in our woodland garden

Small purple Orchids are starting into flower in the woods and meadows too, with native, greeny-white Helleborines blooming alongside shocking-pink, Japanese Bletilla striata in our garden. A wide range of orchids thrive in these parts, Lizard Orchids seeding themselves freely in the countryside and in gardens. I miss English Bee Orchids, flowering in the field by our old Hertfordshire office and we always walked the dog over the Chilterns to orchid hunt in the summer, but here we are spoiled for choice.

Sadly, we missed the plant fair at chateau de la Bourdaisière on Saturday and the one at chateau de Bouges on Sunday; on Wednesday we have been invited to Giverney while on the 10^th May a coach trip to the chateau park at Azay le Ferron has been organised by the town’s tourist office. Which of these we can find time to support, we have yet to decide, but nothing could make me miss my annual pilgrimage to Courson on May 13^th.

Our guided trips to the gardens of the Loire Valley stop at several of these venues and I’m hoping to organise one for the national garden open weekend in early June, when more than 80 parks and gardens in our area are holding events. The delightful problem will be which to select for visits this year!

Mail order plants, autumn bulb planting and autumn colour

I’m not a fan of catalogue retailers of plants and bulbs. I have no problem with normal nurseries offering their wares mail order: it’s those glossy, strangely unnatural colours and the “two plants for the price of one / free gifts with every order / you have definitely won a small fortune in our free draw” companies I dislike.

Granny used to buy from one such company in England and I, forgive my innocence, have just tried one here in France. To encourage me with my first order, Willemse told me I was to be given a years supply of Strelitzia, free delivery and a big wet kiss from the van driver (I exaggerate for effect, as is my way, but not a lot). In addition, I had definitely won a great deal of money: how could I lose? I ordered loads of stuff. I also kept a copy of the order form and filed the catalogue safely away for future reference.

Fruits on our Arbutus, newlt planted against the walls of the Garden Design Academy log cabin classroom

When the bulbs and other plants I had ordered arrived several weeks later, we noticed some were missing: a pack which was supposed to have nine plants only had three. I emailed the help desk and was told that our order was fine: three plants as ordered. I explained in which respect it wasn’t fine but was told it was definitely fine: three plants as per my order. I sent them a copy of the order: “No, you ordered the one of each variety, super discount offer”. I sent them a photograph of the page in the catalogue which provided details of their offer to supply nine plants and was told it was not the case: what I had ordered was three plants. Just as I was considering driving over to impress on them my disappointment, they replied to a further email with the news that they would send me the six missing plants I had paid for and not charge me for them: in effect, I was told, they are free! And sure enough, the offending plants arrived a week later and are now out in the garden: three groups of three Hemerocallis.

 

Miscanthus sinensis Zebrinus - autumn leaf and flower

Is it me, or do people who order a number of plants expect to receive that number? I was, and still remain, unimpressed. Anyway, I am looking forward to the huge amount of money I have definitely won; when I do, it’s all ’round to Elliott’s place for a champagne party!

Fritillaria dreaming

This is not my first mail order gardening problem in France, but may well be my last. Attentive readers will remember my fight with Thompson and Morgan, a seed company with whom I have traded happily for years in the UK; unfortunately in France you have to deal with their French office, with inflated French prices and a French attitude to customer service. My wife, by the way and in the interests of balance, uses a number of mail order companies for clothes and other things and has had few problems. Perhaps it is just me.

The bulbs were OK as far as I could see. I planted dwarf Daffodils next to our new Mahonia nitens, tulips with pansies in the front garden, Crown Imperial Fritillaria amongst variegated Cistus and Euphorbia wulfenii. Drifts of Ixia and Ipheion have been inserted into patches of gravel below the washing lines while broad lines of Muscari wind around new planting near the log cabin. Japanese Iris went to the oriental garden next to a new clump of Arum Lilies bought at Courson. The Hemerocallis? Three creamy-white Vanilla Fluff were planted in the white border while the two other varieties, Double Royal Red and Congo Orange went to the other side of the garden. Three of each. Not one.

We have had three frosts so far, the last a week or so ago. These pulled the leaves from the grape vines giving us no autumn show at all. The forests and countryside however, have carried on as normal and are gradually gearing up for a fantastic display of autumn leaf colour (fall color, if you are from the other side of the Atlantic). Several plants in the garden are also putting on a show, with Euphorbia giffithii Fireglow perhaps the best. As the season moves on I shall be posting up photographs for all to admire. It’s a glorious season!

Euphorbia Fireglow, young plants showing autumn leaf colour in the garden at Chabris

Plant buying, plant theft and planting plans

The day of our annual pilgrimage to the Courson Festival of Plants last week coincided with a general strike. The good people of France are unhappy with a proposed retirement age of 62 and the political opposition demands that the law is halted in its progress through parliament. Just in case the government didn’t hear, the Socialists called this strike and several others both before and since, failing to highlight the fact that their own plans only offer six months less.

Courson

Fuel is in short supply but throwing caution to the wind we drove the 200-odd km up to Courson anyway, trusting that we would be able to fill up somewhere on the way back. With the autumn planting season just around the corner we simply could not miss this opportunity to stock up with plants. The show was as usual wonderful and as usual we restricted our spending by bringing a limited amount of cash and refusing to consider credit cards for additional purchases. We still assembled an impressive selection of specimens for the new beds I am creating around our newly installed log cabin.

Courson 2010

Some of these plants are well known to us and are “must haves” on our mental check-list. Others, for one reason or another, I have never grown before and this is always exciting. Early purchases included Echinacea Meringue, with a delightful cream and white flower, selected to add more colour to our White Border, Echinacea Tomato Soup, an amazing red form on a tall plant and Hosta Great Expectations, all from Hostafolie, a nursery exhibiting from Belgium. The Hosta is a sport of H. Sieboldiana elegans with wide, irregular, blue-green margins surrounding an ever-changing centre; it starts out chartreuse in the spring, turns to yellow, then to creamy yellow, and finally to white. Random fern-green streaks are painted between the margin and centre of each leaf making each one unique. It carries masses of white flowers in the summer but some gardeners find it temperamental: I’ll have to tall to it about that! We are keen to have Hostas near the cabin and this is our second variety. Dryness is not something they appreciate but they are ideal in moist shade. Slugs and snails are a worry as they can badly damage the otherwise attractive foliage, but we have had few problems so far with our existing plants.

Plant judging with our very own Roy Lancaster

In our Hertfordshire garden one of our great pleasures was the scented Daphne odora Aureomarginata, an evergreen shrub from China. We grew it in a protected spot next to the conservatory door, so the perfume could waft in on the cool February air. We bought this and a couple of newish shrubs from another nurseryman: Magnolia Black Tulip, a Jury hybrid from New Zealand and Mahonia nitens Cabaret, which I raved about but failed to buy last year. From yet another stand we selected a second Daphne, this time D. tangutica, also Chinese, flowering on and off for much of the year, evergreen and deliciously scented. Often thought of as a choice and difficult plant, the RHS have awarded it an Award of Garden Merit, which suggests quite the opposite.

There were several UK nurserymen at the show and Trecanna’s bulb stand was buzzing with customers. Keen to support a Cornish boy far from home, we bought a few Arum Lilies and a Colchicum from him. The Arums are the hardy white sort – Zantedescia aethopica. Being a moisture lover we will plant it next to the Hostas but I have noticed that while the biggest plants grow in shady spots, if you want more flowers it needs more sun. A little care will be needed when we plant them next week. A traditional French song tells of Colchicums in the meadows signalling the end of summer and wild forms are a common site here in the early autumn. We choose the popular variety Waterlily, with double lavender-pink flowers. The bulb was in flower when we bought it and currently sits in a Chinese bowl on Chantal’s desk, a curious sight in the reception.

Heuchera specialist from the UK

From our “must have” list we choose a specimen of Arbutus unedo, an evergreen shrub with Lily of the Valley-shaped flowers and strawberry –like fruits. I have planted many in Hertfordshire for clients and missed seeing it in our own garden. Now that this has been rectified we need to choose a special spot to show it off. In the autumn it carries both last season’s fruit and new flowers and when larger the peeling red bark and gnarled stems are very attractive. Being a Mediterranean native a sunny position will be selected for it.

From a Loire Valley grower we chose a couple of climbers: evergreen Honeysuckle Lonicera henryi Copper Beauty and Clematis viticella alba luxurians. One of my favourites, C. ‘Alba Luxurians’ is covered in flowers from mid-summer to late autumn. Its white blooms are tinged with mauve and have a greenish tips. It is a member of the viticella group of clematis and as such it shows good resistance to the dreaded clematis wilt. As with all the late-flowering clematis, pruning is easy. You simply cut back the stems to a pair of strong buds 15-20cm above ground level before growth begins in early spring. This pruning technique makes late-flowering clematis useful for training into shrubs, trees and climbing roses as the clematis growth is removed each spring and so never becomes too much of a burden on its supporting plant. The other is an absolutely gorgeous evergreen Honeysuckle with large, shiny deep green foliage that is bronze when young. Copper Beauty produces sweetly scented copper-yellow flowers throughout summer followed by black fruits in autumn. It has been suggested it is good to plant with Clematis armandii and as we have one of these we will consider this as an option, but we also have spots for it in the front and against the walls of the log cabin.

Courson

One final plant to mention from the half dozen I have yet to tell you about; on our way out of the show, when we were overwhelmed, dazed and venerable, we came across the stand of Tropique Production, who specializes in hardy but exotic looking plants like Hedychium. The Ginger Lilies are among the most exotic looking herbaceous plants you can hope to grow in a British garden. Great thick, creeping, ginger smelling rhizomes send up ‘canes’ with bold, alternate leaves in two ranks, around the beginning of April.
No Hedychium is a straightforward hardy perennial right across the UK. On the other hand, none are out-and-out heated glasshouse subjects and this is a toughie. Pink V is delightfully scented hybrid from Tom Wood in Florida, with apricot coloured flower spikes and has already been planted next to our Dining Island where we can appreciate it as we eat. It will need feeding and plenty of water in the growing season and this first winter I shall protect the crown.

Tired, broke, but happy, we drove home down the motorway and had no difficulty filling up with fuel at a service station close to our junction. When we arrived we discovered someone had stolen the potted tree fern from our front garden. Serves us right for having too much fun, I suppose. Dicksonia antarctica is back on the wish list.

Autumn planting, autumn cooking, Courson and soot all over the lounge.

Friday starting very promisingly.

Chantal had been chatting to a local lady about girlie cooking stuff and as a result she came rushing around to help out with the making of the quince jelly and green tomato jam. The quinces arrived after a recent scavenging session: there are dozens of quince trees in the village but no-one but us seems to use them. Did I tell you about the quince pate de fruit? No? Just as well…..you’d only put on weight.

Clerodendron

Anyway, our friend arrived with a gift of Clerodendrum thomsoniae, although being bought in France it was not labeled. I was explaining to anyone who would listen that it was the same genus as the offshoot we were given a year or two back by a local gardener: C. trichotomum fargesii, the former African and the latter Chinese. This seemed to have interested few people and there was a suggestion, not articulated, that perhaps I should get out more. I did get out, and planted up a new bed in the sunniest part of the garden, added Cistus Callistemon and Lagerstroemia to the Hibiscus, Nepeta and Cytisus battandieri already there.

Then some jokers arrived to fit a new fire we ordered, covering the whole of the ground floor in soot, leaving electrics in a dangerous state and the chimney at risk of falling at the first puff of wind. Tradesmen wonder why everyone has it in for them: this is why. Having been the victim of such people in the past we know the drill and are writing our thoughts on the matter in two languages; copies to the company, our insurers and our notaire. This one could run and run, with new carpets and furniture ruined and the family coughing up soot most of the day. I’m amazed the TV and laptop haven’t blown up with all the mess which much be inside of them.

On Saturday we gave ourselves a break from the chaos and visited the Fete de St. Denis at nearby Lucay La Male. The dog liked the donkeys and the man herding geese; there was a great junk market, a family pressing their apples for juice the old way, an amusing potato competition, serious and not so serious art and pompom girls leaping about to the local brass band. On the way back we collected Chestnuts and mushrooms for dinner.

A man has just come and gone, rating our carpet unclean-able. Never mind, on Friday we are off to Courson, that great, biannual plant buying opportunity south of Paris, where we can sooth our woes on a shopping spree. Expect to see photos here very soon. This year we have not been asked to guide anyone around or give talks so we can just concentrate on indulging ourselves.