The dirty garden

Last Wednesday morning started in a strange way. Sitting at breakfast and looking out of the window – things looked different.

All I could think of was that someone had changed our window panes to yellow tinted glass while we were sleeping. They must have been very quiet but I could think of no reason for the change in hue. I had a quick look at BBC online as I thought there could have been a volcanic eruption somewhere but nothing was mentioned.

As the morning progressed the colour lifted and I had my second surprise when I started a bit of weeding in the front garden.

All my lovely Hellebores were diseased! It looked fungal to me.

Then to my horror I saw that all the other plant leaves had been attacked by the same disease. Here I started to get suspicious as I could not imagine the one fungus successfully attacking such a variety of plants. We are having a lot of tree pollen being blown around at this moment and the spots could be rubbed off like soft pollen but I did not think that was the answer.

Then I remembered the yellow light and searched on the French sites and found out that we had sand from the Sahara blown onto the garden. I had to wash my parsley well that day and it was strange to think that the sand from the Sahara was going down my sink.

Luckily our car was under shelter but there have been very dirty looking cars driving around and the car washes are busy! This is the first time I have encountered this phenomena but I believe it is not too unusual in the south of France.

Continuing on the strange theme, we saw this strange beast in our pond this week. Has anyone any idea what it is?

Just before noticing the beast, I thought a wall lizard had fallen in and drowned in the water, so I tried to scoop it out of the pond in case it might be still alive. The “lizard” swam off to hide in the pond weed! So, I have another question. Was the “lizard” a newt or do wall lizards swim?

This week the bulbs are filling the borders. The front garden is a mass of flowers. The late daffodils are mingling with the early tulips.

We have some Puschkinia bulbs in pots for the first time this year. They are not very showy, perhaps it is the way I have planted them. Perhaps they would be better to accompany another flower or would do better in the soil.

However, they attract the bees and provide us with bee entertainment when we are lucky enough to have the warmth to enjoy our coffee on the patio.

Even their leaves are smudged with dust and I could not find enough clean flowers in the garden to fill a vase for the house. So I had to content myself with a slightly soiled bunch of flowers.

In the top of the back garden there are three trees in flower. From left to right – the ornamental pear “Chanticleer”, the little pink cherry blossom “Accolade” and the Nashi.

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We planted Chanticleer in the autumn of 2019 and it is now showing clearly its distinctive tall form.

The little Prunus “Accolade” was a impulse purchase in spring 2020. It is not a purchase we regret as the little tree is smothered in a mass of flowers.

The Nashi “Kosui” was only planted in January of 2021 but perhaps it will give us some fruit this year as it has plenty of flowers.

So much happens in the garden at this time of year. Even the evenings can be colourful.

March 17 2022 at 20h20

Beginning of March 2022

There is a lot I could be attending to in the garden just now. New shoots of the sedum are pushing through and I still have not cut down the old stalks.

The daffodils are in flower behind the bee hives and all the bulb are pushing through and filling the borders.

The old plum tree has almost finished flowering now but its flowers have not been damaged by wind or frost. The bees have mounted their daily search for nectar and pollen making the tree buzz from a distance.

As the bees forage in the flowers the petals fall like confetti on the ground around it.

The smaller new plum tree provides easier access for me to creep up on the bees and is just as popular as the large tree but cannot compete noise wise.

The Osmanthus burkwoodii (bottom RHS of photo) is perfumed but does not attract the bees to the same extent as the plum trees.

The bees do go on the Osmanthus and the perfume is rich and distinctive

We do not have Mimosa in our garden but our neighbours do – to the benefit of our bees. Mimosa trees are popular in this area. The flowers can be cut and stay well in vases indoors but not everybody likes their perfume.

Kourosh took this photograph on the 23 February and I noticed a little male wild bee on the flowers. Then on the 26 of February…

We saw the first Osmia cornuta males flying around our bee boxes willing the females to hatch and come out.

Now is the time for our willow at the bottom of the garden to become the focus of attention for the bees. The tree is covered in golden pussy willow which provides a very valuable pollen for the bees.

The weather stays much greyer than usual for the spring and we have had very little real rain although there are light showers and drizzle.

I need some more sunny days to inspire me to get more active in the garden.

In the meantime Kourosh has found a large (about 10 cm.) Morille in the vegetable patch. I believe it is edible if well cooked. I have left it and if we get more next year then I will think about looking up recipes.