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.

 

My rose garden

Although Sunday is a day of rest, perhaps read a book, or go for a walk, I try to spent it in the garden as often as possible. It was bright and sunny today, with blue skies and fluffy white clouds. The sort of sky you often see in 17th century landscape paintings by Dutch masters, like Van Ruysdael.

How I love my garden, despite the amount of work it takes to keep the weeds under control. I cut back the hedges on the left and right side of the garden (24 metres in total), a job my husband always used to do. I felt incredibly proud afterwards. The hedge wasn't as straight as I hoped it would be, but practice makes perfect. Next time it will look much better.

Have to tell you though that I cut the electrical cord as well........ Ha, ha, glad I enjoyed being proud for more than an hour! :-) 

Oh and the roses.....the roses :-) They are all so very pretty! I made some bouquets and cut some flowers, to show you a few of the roses I have.

Hope we will be able to spend lots of time in the garden this week. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Wishing you a good time!

Love,

Madelief x

On foot to Hidcote

On a wet Friday morning, my friends and I set off on foot for Hidcote manor garden. It wasn't that far from our cottage, but the drizzle and soaked fields, made it feel longer than it actually was. The fact that I made photo's every few meters, did not help either!

We arrived at Hidcote early in the afternoon, covered in mud. It was my second visit to the garden, but it looked completely different from last time. We visited in August, now two years ago. It felt strange being there. The garden was filled with memories of Happy times with my husband and the girls. At the same time, new memories, new images and views where added to the existing ones.

Walking through the garden is like walking through a dream. The colours......! The garden is wild, it's formal, it has meadows with wild flowers, far reaching views of the surrounding countryside, a vegetable garden, an enchanting cottage and a stately manor..........To me Hidcote has everything a garden needs. There is so much to take in...!

Let me show you around! If you would like to see photo's of my former visit. Please have a look at this blogpost and see how different it looks.

Wishing you a Happy week ahead!

Love,

Madelief x