The enduring happiness of a garden

Last weekend I visited the International specialist nursery days at Bingerden in Angerlo. For a garden lover it's one of the highlights of the gardening season. Nurseries from all over Europe are present, having their finest plants on display. 

My friends and I were early, so that we would have plenty of time to take it all in. As we are all keen on roses and we already saw ladies walking past us with some very fine examples, we hurried to the rose stalls. I chose a Henri Matisse, a fragrant French Delbard rose, with swirling colours of raspberry, pink and white. I am really pleased with it. (It's not that I don't have enough roses already :-). If you would like to see, how the rose looks like, you can see it in my previous blogpost on the sixth photo.

We talked a lot, had tea and scones, enjoyed the beautiful plants on display and we even met a kind lady who recognised me from the photo's on my blog. That's how it must feel when you are a celebrity, ha, ha ;-) I bought far too much! When there are so many beautiful plants around you, it's difficult to resist them. Nevertheless, I managed to find an empty spot in my garden for all of them. Which is quite a miracle!

Before wishing you a happy Sunday, I would like to thank you for your kind comments on my last few blogpost. It's always a joy to read them!

Love,

Madelief x

I came upon these words by Gertrude Jekyll, an influential British horticulturalist and garden designer, at one of the stalls.

The lesson I have thoroughly learnt,
and wish to pass on to others,
is to know the enduring happiness
that the love of a garden gives.

 

Along the towpath

The day before I left for England, my friends Fleur, whom you may know from the blog In de Polder, and Anita, invited me to a day out. I arrived early, so that Fleur could show me her garden, which is absolutely beautiful. I have seen the garden several times now, but it never seizes to amaze me. It's what I dream of. To have chickens, far reaching views, fruit trees and lots and lots of flowers. It really is perfection! What makes it extra special, is that Fleur doesn't live too far from Rotterdam, but it feels as if your miles away from town. I haven't posted many photo's this time, but if you would like to see more, please visit Fleur's blog or have a look at an earlier post I did on the garden.

After a cup of coffee and a slice of home made cake, we stepped on our bicycles and cycled along the old towpath to Schipluiden, where we visited a quirky vintage store. Which was paradise to a vintage girl like me :-). You can even have tea in the garden occasionally. At the end of our ride whe had lunch at Op den Hodenpijl, a lovely restaurant with a beautiful orchard to sit in. The food is all home made and home grown, so really good! I can recommend it to you.

Anita and Fleur, thank you once again for a lovely day. I enjoyed every minute of it!

Happy week ahead!

Love,

Madelief x

Blog meeting in Amsterdam

 

In full view of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, which was built for the 1928 summer Olympics, forty crafty ladies met for create 'n date.  The weather was glorious, with blue skies and a gentle breeze. It was fun meeting fellow bloggers and 'see the face behind'. Some even came all the way from Sweden and Germany, especially for this event. 

We had crochet workshops in flower and bracelet making, followed by a delicious lunch. We were even given a home made goodie bag by Maaike from Creation, with yarn, a crochet hook and some other lovely things inside. It was a truly inspirational morning.

At home I couldn't resist picking up my crochet hook once more, to make some extra flowers to put on the little goodie bag I was given.

Dear Maaike, Annemarie, Claire and Saskia thank you for a lovely morning!

Love,

Madelief x