It’s a New Year….

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Orange Beauty’, Oloron Sainte Marie, January 2024

I love a New Year. January may not be the most appealing month weather-wise but the sense of a new start is irresistible to me, and there are just a few things happening in the garden which feed the energy even when the light is low. I had always wanted to grow a Hamamelis, and thought that the Barn Garden could work for it. I bought a baby one, ‘Orange Beauty’, and planted it in. 10 months later and I knew the experiment had hit the rocks- the Barn Garden is far drier than I had thought through too much of the summer and into the autumn, so ‘Orange Beauty’ came out and has been in a pot in the shadier part of the courtyard where human watering does take place. A fair bit of sulking went on, but 2 years later, it is motoring, throwing out long whippy branches (which means a bigger pot) which hold great promise for flowering next Spring. And meantime, on last year’s growth, the orange peel flowers look magnificent.

Below is a little oddity. I was given a tiny bit of this last summer by Bernard Lacrouts of the wonderful nursery at Sanous near old house in 65. He showed me his pretty sizeable plant in his dry border, and suggested I try it as a good bomb-proof plant for tough conditions. I agree with him. This level of glossy green, upright foliage in January is fairly wonderful, and so I recommend Teucrium chamaedrys to you for a sunny, poor soil spot. So far, it is not wandering unlike Teucrium fruticans, which I love but it loves me too much.

Teucrium chaemadrys, Oloron Sainte Marie, January 2024

All 3 of my, believe it or not, nearly three year old seedlings of Senna artemisoides have come through a frosty period outside without a blemish. The biggest one, below, is now about 8 inches tall, and I live in hope.

Senna artemisoides, Oloron Sainte Marie, January 2024

Rosa ‘Perle d’Or’ had a difficult start in the garden, having been heavily sat upon by other bigger plants brought down in our July storms. And I wasn’t paying attention. But, in the nick of time, I rescued it and it went into a convalescent pot, from where it has thrown out new shoots and flowers with abandon. It will go back into the garden. I am going to take out the Mirabilis jalapa tubers, and replant them in the front garden next month, and this will make space for ‘Perle d’Or’, Rosa ‘Dainty Bess’, new to me but looks good, and a cutting taken from Rosa ‘La Belle Sultane’. I am trying out a lowish creeping (slowly I hope) Indigofera kirilowii as well around the roses. Always work in progress…

Rosa ‘Perle d’Or’, Oloron Sainte Marie, January 2024

And rethinking and reimagining brings a lot of energy and focus to the garden without even being in it much. So that’s how the New Year is shaping up.

Planting with a pick-axe: part two

View of our sloping, stony garden, early February 2021 with the first fence posts, Oloron Sainte Marie

I have grown to love stony, poor soil since leaving Scotland. Just as well, you might say, on looking at the front garden space. We are on the brow of a little hill, which creates the slope, and over the years, giant rocky pieces and massive river galets from drystone walls that have tumbled down have contributed to make our front area, just across a small lane from our gate, a not very inspiring start for a garden. But if you think ‘garrigue’, a mix of sub-shrubs, trees and grasses common in Provence and the Languedoc, it all begins to look very promising. These plants all need sharp drainage, poor soil, sun, and rock and stone to accompany them. This week, planting with a pick axe took on a whole new dimension of effort- more later.

On the other side of the stony slope, we have a woodland area with shade and more moisture in the soil as you can see in the photograph below. This is also where the dreaded bamboo incursion has taken place, wrecking the old stone wall and advancing towards us. But we are going to win, even if it takes us five years. We have the municipality on our side, who are planning to revive the old chemin (which the bamboo has crossed to get to us), and this will mean, cross fingers, that with their heavy gear, they will rip the bamboo out, probably finish off the remains of our wall but that’s ok, and restore the chemin. This will leave us to tackle the bamboo escaping in our direction, and to rebuild the wall if we can afford it, or fence.

View of the woodland side at the front, worker at rest, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

Reason why worker is resting, the Bamboo Battle, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

So, the front garden is a tale of two halves, but both are exciting, and exhausting. After 4 mornings of massive rock extraction and pick-axe planting, I have rediscovered arm muscles I had forgotten I had. But, aside from the flatter section at the bottom, the slope has been planted. These garrigue plants needed, I thought, very little around them other than the stones that exist naturally. So this is going to be a sort of bare planting, a path, sort of, naturally developing where we haven’t planted, and gravel pockets for each plant to preserve moisture. There are dandelions by the millions, some of which I have dug out, but the rest will stay, with us controlling them lightly with strimming. There is also some bramble, but not too much, so again, I will just keep yanking it out when I see it- a small amount of bindweed is also there and the same applies. A few years of vigilance will do the trick. Of course, just removing rocks and digging plants in will have shaken the undesirable populations into action, but we will be on it.

Meanwhile, on the sunny, stony side, pick-axe planting includes Cornus mas, Teucrium fruticans, Phlomis termessii, Cistus monspeliensis, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

And a grouping of Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue Arrow‘ and Phillyrea angustifolia, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

A view up the slope, showing Juniperus scopulorum ‘Blue Arrow’ with a ribbon of Dianella caerulea ‘Cassa Blue‘ above them, and an Agave brought from Tostat, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

In the photograph above, you can also see the fencing we have put up and the small gate that Tony made for us.

And in another view, the Stipa tenuissima shines in the sun, as does a favourite Eryngium eburneum, and from Beth Chatto’s nursery years ago, a delicate little Euphorbia seguieriana, in the foreground, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

And from last year, a photograph I took of Eryngium eburneum flowerheads, rising to 1.3 metres above the plant this time last year. The planted ones will take a while to get going, but I am looking forward to it.

Eryngium eburneum, the fabulous flowerheads, March 2019, Tostat

The delicate Euphorbia seguieriana just planted, March 2021, Oloron Sainte Marie

The one plant that I didn’t take a cutting of, was Rosa chinensis ‘Mutabilis’. I should have, as my huge specimen went in a bonfire in Tostat most likely. But I have just bought a good looking one to plant out- and this afternoon, right at the back of all the plants that I brought with me, I found a rose cutting that I had forgotten about. So, there is a good chance that I have a ‘Mutabilis’ cutting, it’s lost it’s label, so I need to wait and see- but that would be a good end to that story, wouldn’t it?

Rosa chinensis Mutabilis, August 2015, Tostat