Category: Flowers

Lilac Time – Vintage version

 AS I WAS ARRANGING THE WHITE LILAC I HAD CUT FROM THE GARDEN FOR YESTERDAYS’ POST, I KEPT THINKING OF MY GRANDMOTHER AND THE BEAUTIFUL GARDEN SHE HAD WHEN I WAS A CHILD. My grandparents’ house dated from the 1920’s, a solid suburban red brick and slightly tudoresque affair, blessed with a large plot to…

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Spring #3 – Lilac Time

EVER SINCE WE ARRIVED ON THE HILLSIDE 13 YEARS AGO I HAVE DREAMED OF MAKING A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN. In my imagination the lawns are mown into stripes and squares, flat and rich enough to welcome the most stringent player of bowls or croquet. The borders are full of exquisite flowering shrubs and unusual specimens arranged…

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Glorious Spring

The hillside has exploded in a riot of blossom and colour this week.    I know I’m in danger of repeating myself by offering up another post with blossom as its’ subject but when I went out onto the orchard this afternoon to the glorious sight of the fruit trees abuzz with the industry of…

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Spring # 2 – Fragile Blossom

In the courtyard on our French Hillside is an almond tree. It has never been exactly prolific in producing fruit but its’ show of magnificent pale white-pink blossom is always our first herald of the arrival of spring.  The tree itself is need of an expert prune as all the blossom is now bursting forth…

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SPRING – Tender Tulips

Signs of Spring are appearing everywhere on the hillside now – tiny blue forget-me-nots, wild violets, the first cowslips, the early daffodils, even some very precocious iris are in full bloom seeking the warmth of the sun.   Opportunities for photographs abound and I have a score of ideas for posts for the coming days.   I…

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Orchids – Strange exotic beauty

Someone gave me an orchid. I’ve never been quite sure whether I really like orchids or not. To one who loves the beautiful simplicity of daisies, they seem worryingly exotic, fleshy and organic, almost alien things.  It seems they have many symbolic connotations – strength, loyalty, luxury, virilty ( the name itself derives from the…

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Double Vision # 2 – Thankful

As the season of festivities has already begun with Thanksgiving in America, my blogging friend west517 had the excellent idea that we use the word ‘Thankful’ as our prompt for todays’ ‘Double Vision’ post.  There is no official Thansgiving holiday in England, but the traditional harvest festivals echo the same roots and customs.   In our frantic,…

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