Happy Summer!

Hello,

Thank you all for your kind comments on my last blogpost. I enjoyed reading about your gardens very much! 

It's only a few more days before my two youngest daughters and I are off to the UK. Our favourite holiday destination. Those of you who read my blog regularly, probably know that by now :-)

This time it will be The Lakes and The Peaks. My middle daughter made a list of places to visit. Among them are the homes of important people from the art and literary world. We will be up to Hill Top, Dove Cottage and Brantwood. In The Peaks we will make a stopover at Lyme Park, and perhaps pay another visit to Haddon Hall, which we all loved so much during our last visit. We are open to suggestions though. If you know any places in the area I haven't mentioned yet and are worth a car ride. Please let me know!

My middle daughter and I have  been busy in the garden. I always try to leave it behind as tidy as possible, but this time I won't manage. The thing is, I am terribly behind, and there is only so much one can do.

A lot is happening in the greenhouse. All credit goes to my daughter. I believe her fingers are greener than mine. It must be all the love that goes into as well.....  My daughter grows several tomato varieties, like St. Pierre, Big Daddy, Tigerella and Pommodori. They are all doing splendidly. I am afraid that during our holiday we will have an explosion of ripe tomatoes. Lucky neighbours! We have a bumper crop of gherkins too this year. There are already three pots of gherkins in our cupboard to eat in winter, and that is only the beginning. The cucamelons (new this year) are doing fine as well. They are delicious in salads and quite pleasing to the eye. We tried eggplant again, but no, not much is happening. The peppers are a bit disappointing as well, but you never know what may happen the coming months. Summer has only just begun and autumn may bring some surprises.

With little time on my hands, I focus on the weeds and flowers in the garden. Although there is not much colour, there are always some beauties to pick and take home with me.

Wishing you all a Happy Summer! Have a good time.

Love,

Madelief x

All is pretty

One of the publicity posters for the first retrospective exhibition of  Andy Warhol's work in Sweden in 1968 read: 'All is pretty'. Although you can't compare mr Warhols work with my garden, I thought I would use his words anyway, because I think in June my garden looks it's best. 

It's the month when the leaves are still green and disease free, when the soil is moist, the plants haven't taken over yet, and there are roses everywhere. In combination with foxgloves, lupins, aliums and ladies mantle, they add romance to it all. I am so glad I chose the greenish grey colour for my little garden house all those years ago. It makes the colours of the flowers stand out. 

It's one or two weeks at the utmost that the roses in my garden are in flower all at once and look most alluring, but to me it's one of the highlights of the year. If you would like to see more, please have a look at my Instagram account. I posted a film of my garden on the 8th of June.

Is all pretty in your garden too, or has the warm weather of the past few weeks taken it's toll?

Wishing you a good time in the garden!

Love,

Madelief  X

Stop and smell the roses

If you like to find satisfaction in life, it is said that you have to acknowledge the value and meaning of simple things, like stopping on your garden path to smell the roses, and admire the beauty of the flowers, standing proudly or tumbling down the trees, like a waterfall of flowers. 

Perhaps I am a hopeless romantic, but I try to do just that, to take it all in as much as possible. It's only two weeks that the roses in my garden are at their best, and that's not long.

When I was in the garden today, the rambling roses (Veilchenblau & Paul's Himalayan Musk) are already losing their petals and delicious scent. Last weeks rain speeded things up considerably. They both gave an abundant display of flowers. Paul's Himalayan musk has taken over one of the trees in the middle part of my garden completely. It's breathtakingly beautiful.

The roses in front of my garden house: New Dawn, Rhapsody in Blue and Pink cloud, are still in flower. In the back a simple dog rose, I once took a cutting from when on a walk, and some roses I bought for a Euro in a dump store, look magnificent. 

In other parts of the garden, Belinda's dream, Constance Spry, Waltz Time, Heritage and Leonardo da Vinci make me smile. How elegant they look.  

My experience is that working in a garden does not only have physical benefits, it heals, clears the head, gives you the peace and quiet that you need, and makes you appreciate simple things more. Above all, it makes me a happier person. I can recommend it to you all.  

Stop and smell the roses.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Madelief x