Actualité

Readers of these blogs will know that I am really an 'Autumn Man' which is not to say that Spring is not an exciting time in the garden. After a dry start in January we have had plenty of rain, and despite one very cold week, plenty of warmth so that everything is bursting into life. My impression is that that the blossom has never been so wonderful, especially a little earlier Blackthorn (sloes), then peach, pear, plum and cherry, but may be one thinks that every year.

Am I right in thinking that in Gascony Mahonias are under used? Perhaps people are put off by the prickly leaves but in fact since they are evergreen, they make an imposing shrub throughout the year. Then starting in the Autumn, but in some varieties going on into early Spring, come the cheerful yellow flowers often with fragrance. The most commonly available are M. media Charity and Winter Sun, and there is nothing wrong with either. Surprisingly difficult to find in France is M.japonica. It is far less upright then the two just mentioned making a big bush wider than high with more drooping yellow flowers that for me are the most fragrant.  With in theory rather beautuful glaucous leaves is M. freemontii, but I have never had much success with it. More recently there has come on the market M. eurybracteata with in particular 'Soft Caress' whose leaves are virtually free of prickles. It is one of what in a previous blog I have called 'Celebrity Plants' which for a year or two dominate a plant fair - Ceanothus Concha was one such plant - and then is often forgotten. Our M. 'Soft Caress' is still rather small and I have not yet fallen in love with it but maybe I will. It is incidentally autumn flowering.

What other plants are making a show? Our two  ornamental pears - Pyrus calleryanna Chanticleer and Redspire - were a mass of white flowers while our various peach trees, which we seem to grow chiefly for their blossom as we seem to end up with very little fruit - ditto apple trees! - were a mass of pink. One way or another we have good selection of Viburnums all of which have done well this Spring. It is true that the flowers of what I call the smelly ones - V. burkwoodii, carlesii, and perhaps my favourite Mohawk which is a mixture of the two - are rather too fleeting, but one of the great features of almost all viburnums is that they have good autumn colour so they really are useful shrubs. And this year our V. plicatum Lanarth has proved my worries about its ability to cope with our hot and often dry summers unfounded by flowering its heart out. That said I am not sure that a south facing bank with very little tree cover, the conditions with which many of us have to put up with, is ideal but tant pis!

I cannot say that our spring bulbs are hugely successful. Of the many hundreds of snowdrops originally planted none after ten years have survived. Our crocus, chiefly C.tommasinianus, have survived but have not greatly increased, I am very greatful to Narcissus February Gold - small, elegantly formed yellow flowers, and as the name suggests early flowering - which continue to look good. Best of all for our conditions are the Cyclamen coums, which amongst other things no animal seems to want to eat. We do incidentally have resident badgers, which unlike Robin Lane Fox's do not seem very interested in our bulbs, perhaps because their quality is on the poor side.

One of the glories of our garden at this time of year are the Ceanothus with their marvellous blue flowers and in many cases dark evergreen leaaves so that even out of flower they can make an impact. Moreover coming from California it likes are hot summers and can cope well with drought, less well with our wet winters so I advise planting them on a slope. We seem to have ended up with many varieties including of course the almost ubiquitous C. repens. To my shame I am not sure that I can any longer identify them. Recently I know that I bought a newish C. Victoria which some consider to be the hardiest of the evergreen Ceanothus, while in the past I have certainly acquired C. Concha, Italian Skies, Skylark and Yankee Point but which is which now defeats me. They are in fact very similar. The blue may vary but mostly they are on the dark side, and the leaves look much the same, but the advantage of having different ones is that their flowering period will vary slightly so that the season is prolonged, though all the ones that I have mentioned are Spring flowering. But for me the outstanding ceanothus for the intensity of its dark blue almost purple flowers is C. Puget Blue. For a period C. Concha appeared to have pushed it into the background so that it was difficult to find, but it seems to be making a comeback, rightly so for if you are in search of a 'Gosh Factor' it is the one to have.

As mentioned in previous blogs we do have a number of early flowering buddlejas, including B agathosoma and B officinalis. They did not particularly like our very cold week this winter, down to minus 7.C, but all have flowered reasonably well despite this. But the real star is undoubtedly B. x Bel Argent with its wonderful strong purple drooping flowers and good grey/silver foliage. It is certainly in my list of top ten sbrubs, and something that everybody should have in their garden.