The fruits of my labour in the garden are an incentive whether they are a vase of flowers or new potatoes from the potager. They also maintain a connection with the changing seasons.
Today I noticed I was down to my last eight persimmons. These amazing fruits ripen as winter is coming on and in our area of the Charente Maritime there are huge trees in gardens that look as if they are decorated with red Christmas baubles. Many local people are completely unaware that they are edible and are highly suspicious of these beautiful red fruits.
I had a good crop that I took in before Christmas –still largely unripe- and kept in my unheated utility room. They had the convenient ability to ripen at different speeds and could be sorted, the ripe ones being eaten and the others left for later. My fruit has lasted until February, as long as my Golden Delicious apples – but that is another story.
In addition to the crop of delicious fruit in the winter my kaki tree decorates the front garden giving us shade in the summer.The leaves change into varying hues of red and soft orange in the autumn as can be seen from the picture taken at the end of October.
By 1 November the fruits are yellow and will take another month to turn red attracting the attention of the local birds.
a french garden 