garden 17.12.2012

It has been a while; much has happened and we were very busy. We had a death in the family (I will post later about that), organized an early christmas dinner and had a wedding to prepare for (as guests, that is). Last weekend I finally had some time to do some work in our garden again. I planted lots of bulbs! Just in time; they were already starting to grow while they were waiting in the shed.. It felt so good doing work in the garden again! This is the first autumn/winter I collected all the leaves that have fallen from the trees and left them in our garden, under the shrubs and trees. It's supposed to be good for the garden, the soil, the animals. So what's not to like? Last weekend I noticed that under all these leaves lots of stuff is happening. Plants/bulbs are growing but it's not visible yet because it's hidden under the leaves. Birds like to forage under the leaves as well. I guess my dear friends (not) the snails enjoy the warmth in the chilly winter there as well... I put up some extra food for the birds in the trees. I also put up christmas lights in the chinese (or is it japanese) cherry blossom tree. This tree is in bloom right now with lovely pink flowers and it looks so delicate and wonderful. I like the fact that we have a tree and some plants that are blooming in winter. I also added some wreaths with berries that the birds pick constantly. I don't mind. I have not taken many photos lately (so busy..) but will try and do so again. Here are some I made last months.

From late summer sun ....

To autumn rain and hail....

To winter!

And to last weekend...

Have a nice week!

garden 10.10.2012

Today I was reminded that I have seriously neglected the "garden picture of the month" or "garden at first sight" for most months.... :-(  It seemed like such a good idea at the time, but due to all the works at home I have not been able to do much in the garden expect for trying to keep up with mowing the grass (in which I have failed as well) and do some regular work needed. It has been busy. I would love to spend time in the garden today. It is cold (12 degrees) but the watery sun has just come through the clouds!

So, temperatures are dropping fast and summer was over very quickly this year. It took us by surprise. Last year we had a wonderful indian summer, but not this year. I like autumn very much too though. I am an autumn lover; I was born in October. I love the beautiful warm colors of the leaves and the smells of the trees. The autumn sun for me is much more beautiful than the summer sun. The autumn sun has a soft golden glow, magical. 

Plants have been moved, removed and new plants have been planted. Some succeeded, others didn't. I had to cut the branches of the lilac tree because it was impossible to walk on our garden path without hitting your head on the branches. The tree is old and is growing to one side, which becomes heavy. Due to some storms the tree has fallen down about 40 cm and consequently its branches are much lower now, such they had to be cut. We have also planted some evergreen helix hedera near our walls, that we would like to see much greener. I love hedera.

I still need to find a place for some new plants, that I bought or were given to me by neighbours and friends. These plants are on our terrace at the moment. I haven't found the time or decided on the place to plant them yet. Maybe today!

One of the surprises this year was a climber that grew from behind the wall and fences that we share with our neighbours. I am not 100% sure but I think it is Parthenocissus (Wilde wingerd). It's a really fast grower that I must keep in check, but I love how it covers our wall like waves of leaves and how its leaves are colouring yellow, red and purple right now. It is said to be family of the Vitaceae, and the wine leaves certainly look similar.

One of my wishes for my autumn garden is the Physalis alkekengi (lampionplant). Another magical autumn plant. I know it is a fast grower as well, but I just can't resist its lovely orange bells. Keep you posted!

working harder...

The ceiling is done! More than 2 months after starting the project. It took a lot of time, mostly because there was no time to continue the work frequently. And in between we had a much needed holiday too - during which we decided not to work on our house. But now the whole ceiling in our living room has been painted white and it looks delicious. Like a white marshmallow. Even the "ugly" part of the ceiling (one part is much better looking than the other) looks great. I am very happy. I was so happy that I started painting the ceiling in the hallway too. The hallway still needs a lot of work, after we removed the lowered ceiling and the layers of paint and wallpaper on the walls. That ceiling has been damaged very badly through the years. So I started renovating it last winter. And I continued only now, with painting it. It still needs a lot of work. But it will be great, I am sure!
Next big project will be painting the walls in our living room with a nice color! :-)

painting the ceiling

Lately I've been busy painting our ceiling white. It was much needed. Maybe before us, some heavy smokers lived in our house. Compared to the white paint, the old color almost seems black, or dark brown and yellow at its best. It's quite a job, but very rewarding. I started with the most beautiful part of our ceiling, the part on the street side. I love the beautiful authentic ornaments, with flowers, leaves, horns and laces. The part on the garden side also still has its ornaments, but in a rather bad condition. But I reckon anyway painting it white will make it look much better.

started with the fireplace

before and after the white paint

incredible ornament in the middle where the gaslight used to hang

I love the beautiful details

fireplace looks pretty fresh as well

the corners

the result

For those who think we will be living in an all-white house... no such thing. After completing the work on the ceiling - which will still take some time - , we will continue with a nice color on the walls.

wildflowers

Al mijn hele leven ben ik gefascineerd door onze wilde, inheemse, planten. Als kind bracht ik hele dagen door lopend in weilanden en langs sloten, op zoek naar plantjes. En die aantrekkingskracht heeft de natuur nog steeds op mij. Lunchpauzes breng ik als het even kan wandelend door, struinend langs perkjes en parkjes. Ook verlaten terreinen zijn interessant. Daar groeit en bloeit van alles. Het viel mij dit jaar op dat de bermen niet meer worden gemaaid. Dat zou door de crisis komen, vertelde iemand mij. Wat een geluk! Veel mensen schijnen "onkruid" rommelig te vinden, maar ik vind de bermen met al zijn bloeiende bloemen schitterend. Ik raak er eigenlijk niet op uitgekeken. Want telkens bloeien er weer nieuwe planten en ze zijn zo mooi. Hoog, laag, met rode bloemen, of gele of paarse. Allerlei vormen, kleuren, geuren. De natuur is schitterend en zo zou ik mijn tuin ook wel willen. Madeliefjes in mijn gras? Ja, ik wil! Maar ik weet niet of dat zomaar met alle planten zou kunnen. En ik realiseer me dat sommige plantjes er heel mooi uit zien, maar andere planten overwoekeren, zoals winde. Maar het kijken naar de wilde planten levert mij ook inspiratie voor mijn eigen tuin op. Want voor mij is de natuur de beste tuinontwerper. De natuur is voor mij van een zo onbeschrijflijke schoonheid. Ik droom dan ook van een zo natuurlijk mogelijke tuin.

Vandaag regent het. Ik vind onze tuin ook met regenbuien prachtig. Ik geniet van de merel die vrolijk door ons gras hipt, op zoek naar snackjes: regenwormen, rupsen en andere beestjes. "I'm only happy when it rains...", lijkt hij te denken. 

Wat ik ook zo mooi vind momenteel zijn alle stokrozen die bloeien. Bij ons in de stad zie je overal stokrozen verschijnen tegen de muren van de oude huizen. In allerlei kleuren. Wij hebben ze ook voor ons huis staan en ik heb ze ook in de tuin gezet. Stokrozen zijn ook zulke makkelijke planten. En de bloemen... zo teer. Het is net of ze van crepe-papier zijn gemaakt. 

garden 07.07

We had severe thunderstorms and hail on the night from thursday to friday and the garden looked a mess afterwards. Today was the day to inspect everything and to clean and take care of the garden. Some of the plants got damaged, but most of them survived and will do fine and the garden looks serene again. Here are some pictures I made today.

garden 04.07.2012

Today is a lovely day to spend in the garden! I started mowing the grass - it always smells great. The grass is doing OK, but starts to get yellow patches here and there.

I have decided to try the "garden at first sight" or "tuin op het eerste gezicht" from Anne Tanne's Tuin. The idea is to make a picture of your garden from the same angle, at different times, so you can see the changes in the garden. I like the idea. But since our garden is a compact city garden, it may not be easy to find a good angle to show it. Still, I'll try it and might combine different angles and parts of the garden. Here's a first try.

The garden needs some work again. Busy weekends made it impossible for me to do something substantial. Hopefully today I can get some done. There are still some plants waiting to be planted in the garden, like the lupine - a regular bee-magnet-, the spirea and some alcea that I've grown myself from seeds from our alcea in our street-garden (tegeltuintje), which is actually the front of our house in the street where roses and alcea grow. I have also put some plants in pots there.

Even though we don't have a lot of space, I also added a small bird bath in the garden, where the birds can bath, -obviously- and drink water. It is being used so much by all kinds of birds and of course gives us great pleasure to watch.

 I just had an accident with our passiflora. While cleaning up the mowed grass, I incidentally cut the passiflora off its roots! It just started growing nicely and will have to start all over again now. But it might be a good occasion to replant it somewhere else. The ferns that my neighbours gave me some weeks ago seemed to do really well in the semi-shadow, until last weekend. I suddenly noticed they are drying up! Help! I might need to put them somewhere else to see if I can still rescue them. But the garden truly looks wonderful in this season and the idea that with the years it will even look more beautiful is a great thing to look forward to.

The sad news is that our neighbours decided to cut the big maple tree in their garden. Although for our garden it will probably not make a lot of difference, cutting big trees make me very sad and I already feel so sorry for the birds that come and visit and nest in that tree regularly. They don't have a clue yet but one of these days that tree will be gone. :-(
I hope I won't be home when they cut it.

june garden

It's been a while since I posted. I have been busy. Among things, with gardening. I love our garden. We enjoy it so much. We spend every free day outside. And on workdays, the evenings. I have added many more plants to the garden, but also cut a few (trees). We rearranged and replanted some plants. Neighbours gave me some plants as a gift. (I can not think of a better present than plants for our garden!) Another try on sowing grass near our terrace seems to work out fine this time. The little grass seeds have grown very well in a week, thanks to lots of rain! Things keep changing in the garden, which is what makes it so fascinating. Birds and bees love visiting our garden too. And they give us a great show when they do!

This afternoon I cut the fig tree. It was almost growing into the neighbours house...

Petunias smell great. And we have uncountable roses that flower (and smell) in abundance. 

Funny, I am always also thinking about the garden in winter. How will it look without all these flowers? Interesting too, with a charming winter look, probably.