Mulberry tree
I have not paid attention, first after I have found small fallen berries on the ground, that our old mulberry tree produces, very sweet and tasty berries. It is a really beautiful product of mother nature, both the trees and the berries.....
Our lovely garden
You need a piece of land and a good gardener. I am lucky that my husband loves gardening and he sees it also as a necessary exercise. I do not share his enthusiasm in this matter but he doesn't asked for it either. He is happy that I am dealing with cooking and with the house so we complement each other very well. However, I enjoy the garden with all my senses, it relaxes my mind, soothes my soul and give me daily inspiration ......
Our Garden
After so much rain our Provence got a tropical look. Our garden is so green, the roses have been damaged from the heavy rain but the lavender bushes are just coming with theirs blue color. Imagine also the song of the birds who are happy after having survived the dry season and you are almost in paradise....
Lovely Petunias
Some weeks ago we planted a few petunias in old pots. They did not look remarkable, but now they have really developed into a tremendous beauty. They look like snowmen during the day and in the night they iluminate the darkness. For many years we have tried with more expensive and noble beauties but never succeed and now this little ordinary flower has really proved its future in our garden........
Gardening
Today we are working in the garden. The rain during the night and the sun during the day bring the plants to hurry. Sylvain, the local men, is helping us with some power but also expertise. Today he cut the olive trees to such a shape that I almost started cry. But he replied that the olive tree needs to be cut in that way so the birds can fly through the tree crown. Ok....but I still like it more as it was before.
Pepiniere Appy
Today it was time to visit our local garden-nursery to buy some new plants. There are busy times for the family Appy who runs the largest nursery in our valley. They have supplied and planted plants in our garden from very beginning and we are frequent visitors by them.
Summer memories
Today I came across some pictures from Summer 2008. This was the first time we could fully enjoy our garden. The plants started to give a shadow, the fruit trees produced peaches and apricots and the lavender bushes created the blue decoration. It took some heavy years to build our home in Provence but the result is more than were our expectations.....I hope that these pictures warm up your hearts as well.
Scenes from our November garden
After having been out for 1 week in the North I am paying more attention to the small lives in our garden. The beauty serves as a balm for the frozen soul.
The olives are ripe now and are in need to be picked. Our neighbor, who has many olive trees, has not started the picking yet so we probably wait until he does it and then we add our small harvest into his large one. Last year I tried to preserve the olives but it failed as we couldn't get rid of the bitter taste. This year we will try to join the neighbor and in best case we get a bottle of our own olive oil.There is still so many rose buds in spite of the late season and the cold weather. The tiny blue flowers of rosemary bushes are another beautiful and fragile evidence of life....
October in our garden.....
....this is the month of quit days, of mellow afternoons in the garden, of wood-fires and comfort food in the chilly evenings. Our garden is still green and the roses in full blossom although some signs of golden coloring appear. The sun is still so hot that we need to use sun protection when being outside. It is a perfect time for hiking and for visiting the nearby villages, for inviting friends for a supper. Yesterday we planted two grape wines which will hopefully give us a pergola shadow during the hot summer days. Autumn is my favorite season but somehow already now I am longing for the careless hot summer days on our terraces.
