2025/49 - Have you planted your Tulips yet?

 Being Dutch and disliking Tulips is a contradiction in terms. Or almost a sin. Take your pick!

Still, when I was young, I thought them stiff plants, boring. That was long before I started gardening myself. And also before I started getting the winter blues with the climbing of my years. Now, I use planting Tulips in November as a reminder that 'things' will get better again, that the grey winter sky will become blue again. 

So ever since Hunky Dory has become 'mine', I have made it a ritual to plant some new Tulips in November. This time I have gone for red ones: Tulipa Pallada, Tulipa Miranda, Tulipa Doll's Minuet, and Tulipa Pieter de Leur.  Hopefully they will do better than my pitiful summer bulbs! When I was planting them, the largest earthworm I have seen so far, wriggled up from the soil so fast that I nearly jumped. Hurray! As thick as my finger and 10 cm long! My hard work at improving my soil is paying off! Happy, happy😃

Besides that, I have only done some tidying this afternoon. I had planned to dig up the Solidago which has spread into the grass path, but when I was actually there I lacked the energy. I did thin out the planter in the greenhouse though, taking the excess endive/chicori/romain/chicory* to eat as a salad. We call it andijvie, and I love it both raw as well as cooked.

* English translations of this plant name vary wherever you live. Andijvie is translated by endive, but what is called endive, we Dutch call witlof! So: the official Latin name is Chichorium endivia var. latifolium. What's in a name, eh?

Outside there were some surprises for me, the weather being weird as ****

This Helleborus niger Mont Blanc is supposed to flower in March. But here it is.

The Rosa Masquerade I moved into the soil from its pot a few weeks ago, is so happy there that it produced one flower for me. Its flowers are no larger than a 2p piece, but it was covered in them in summer. I bought it in the sale, and truthfully its flowers look totally different from the ones on the label! Not quite as elegant, nor as large...A case of the wrong label, or simple fraud? Never mind, a rose is a rose is a rose, right?

The Pyracantha Teton is covered in berries this year. The Papyrus next to it keeps looking interesting, even when gone brown.

This grass is gorgeous! I like grasses anyway, and that is a good thing too, as my garden is swamped by the wild varieties*. This one I bought though, it is Carex Testacea Prairie Fire. It comes into its own now that the surrounding summer perennials have died down.

* some of those are really nice too. But most are just thugs that I have to pull out. The seed flies in on the wind from the fields next to the allotments, me being on the edge.

These Phlomis russeliana seed heads are much too lovely to cut off, don't you think? I planted it especially for the butterflies, but made the mistake of putting it too close to the Artichokes, so it gets a bit bullied. But looking at those Artichokes today, made me realise that they seem to have moved themselves a bit to the left for next year. Come to think of it, everything is a bit too close to the Artichokes...or they are simply getting too big each year. Still, the bumblebees and ladybirds adore them, so they can stay.

Another plant that refuses to go dormant is the Scabiosa. It has had a difficult time this summer because of the drought, and is now making the most of the rain we've had lately.

I have deadheaded religiously, which helps. Still, I should plant some fresh ones next Spring, as the clumps do dwindle after four years.

The entire garden is covered in young Nasturtiums...obviously they are much too late in the season , but some are flowering. So far no night frosts are predicted (weird in itself, in this part of the delta we should be having night frost from late October onwards), so they will live on until then. And then turn to snot.

The Artichoke which I cut down to the soil, as a storm had blown it completely flat to the ground, has grown up to hip-height already. The other two are still tiny, so this one must be on a rich water veign. 

Now that the trees in my neighbourhood have dropped most of their leaves, the little birds are moving into the gardens. So this afternoon I drove to my favourite nursery and bought a simple birdfeeder. I hung it on the balcony, in sight from my easy chair. The Jackdaws are already checking it out from the flat roof opposite, but they have nowhere to land, it is for the small birds only. I get visited by Blue Tits and Coal Tits during the winter months. I keep hoping for a Robin, but they think my 3rd floor balcony much too high. And I wink at the group of 15 Banded Parakeets that screech at me when they do their fly-by to swoop on the birdfood in a house perpendicular on my block of flats.

Okay, this is it; have a good weekend wherever* you are. (* I noticed some new readers in the USA and Sweden, welcome!) I'll leave you with a photo of my 'kerstcactus', Schlumberger, which refuses to wait for Christmas every year, and stubbornly flowers in November instead. I have repotted it 4 times to bigger pots in the 7 years since I was given it as a baby, and it has given me numerous new babies.

Do look me up on my website: Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Bye bye,

Renée Grashoff 

 

2025/ Boerenwormkruid Nieuws deel 3 - update november

 Voor diegenen onder jullie die met ingehouden adem (niet doen hoor! Hou gewoon je vingers gekruist, dat is beter voor je gezondheid) wachten op de publicatiedatum van deel 2 in de trilogie over Noor en haar vrienden, heb ik nieuws.

Ik kreeg dit screenshot door een vriendin toegestuurd. "Oh my giddy aunt", zou Noor roepen. "Wereldberoemd in Oekraïne!"

Eerlijk gezegd zijn dit de momenten waarop ik eerst van schrik mijn ogen toeknijp en mezelf afvraag of ik dit wel leuk vind, en in tweede instantie in lachen uitbarst. Als jij niet weet wat 'imposter syndrome' is, moet je het maar even opzoeken. Voor mij is het een dingetje, dat ik meestal probeer te negeren.

Feedback

Heel af en toe word ik 'herkend'. "Jij bent toch...?" (Vul maar in: die schrijfster, Grashoff, die van dat boek, dat mens dat over Brielle schrijft)

Gelukkig zijn 99% van dat soort reakties positief! En dus leuk. Tot die ene ochtend dat ik aangesproken werd (tussen twee schuifdeuren in, kon geen kant op) door een oude kerel. Hij vond het absoluut nodig mij te vertellen dat hij, "Het is echt geen kritiek hoor, maar feedback en daar moet jij maar tegen kunnen!", teleurgesteld was in mijn schrijfstijl. Vervolgens herhaalde hij zijn feedback nog vier keer, back-to-back. Ik schrijf te simpel. Het viel me nog mee dat hij niets feedbackte over mijn gebruik van Engelse woorden. Misschien vielen die wèl in de smaak, gezien zijn gebruik van het woord feedback?

Simple schrijfstijl

Dom, dom, dom, probeerde ik nog uit te leggen dat ik mijn simpele schrijfstijl volkomen bewust inzet, zodat ook mensen die nooit een boek lezen in elk geval mijn boek kùnnen lezen. Hierbij mijn eigen regel, nooit tussen schuifdeuren in discussie gaan met oude kerels, vergetend. Het werkte ook totáál niet, hij deed wat oude knarren zoals hij altijd doen, nl de mening van vrouwen volkomen negeren.

Publicatiedatum

Hallóó, hoor ik je nu roepen. Je nieuws?!

Sorry.

Ja, mijn grote nieuws. Trichis en ik zijn overeengekomen dat 'Zwaartekracht' wederom in februari uitkomt. Dat wil dus zeggen over pak-em-beet 3 maanden. De tekst is af, de aquarel voor op de cover ook. Je kunt Trichis al laten weten dat je niet kunt wachten het in je handen te hebben. Vinden ze leuk.

Een tipje van de sluier? De eerste april, maar ook de Tachtigjarige Oorlog, spelen weer een grote rol in het verhaal. Noor loopt Inspecteur Jansen voor de voeten, en Agnieken balanceert op het slappe koord van het leven in een door godsdienst gepolariseerd Den Briel. Kortom, er valt weer veel te genieten, te grinniken en na te denken. In een simple schrijfstijl. Hell yeah!

2025 /48 - My gardens are winding down... but birds visit!

 Whilst I am writing this, I am looking with half an eye at the Blue Tits that are investigating the bird peanut butter that I have put out for them. They have returned from their Summer residences, wherever they may be, to browse for insects amongst my balcony plants.

They will spend the winter in the bushes at the end of my street, but will come to visit my balconygarden. Then in April/ May they build a nest on my flat roof, raise their babies, come to visit the garden as soon as their offspring can fly, and then disappear until November.

I do my best to protect their food against the Jackdaws and Magpies, that also like that food, and fly up in very noisy, feisty pairs to investigate. Not that I begrudge them the food, but they are capable of gobbling up in 30 minutes all that the Tits take days to eat.

The large birds do very well around here anyway, as they are not above turning out the garbage cans along the footpaths, and I see them take snacks from the cat food bowls left out as well. As well as making the most of dog turds (ieuww!) and leftover fast food. Puck gets very upset when she sees them eating from the bowls by the way, as she is not allowed to. She thinks this very unfair.

This photo was before the latest storm, they have almost dropped all leaves by now. It always makes me a bit melancholy, that dropping of the leaves. It is beautifully sad, for it means we are in for months of grey skies and dripping tree branches. And working in the garden is a chilly, wet affair.

My neighbour's plot is looking ordered and well, as always.

Mine...hahahahaha. Oh well, I do my best!

Mind you, I managed to plant some self-seeded perennials, finally! It had been February I was able last to get a spade into to my soil! My Senecio Silvergleam had made dozens of babies in the neighbouring plot next door, which has been left a wasteland for the last year. So I dug up the largest ones and planted them along that drainpipe leading to my struggling leaky frog pond. That pipe is ugly as sin, so the Senecio will hopefully camouflage it a bit. The second benefit is that the bees love the yellow flowers. And the third pro is that I really like silvergrey foliage.

The Eucalyptus on that wreath is a good example. It lights up even the gloomiest day!

That photo is one of a series I am slowly accumulating, of doorways brightened up by plants. This one is in my hometown, where lots of people fortunately share my love of greenery. One day I'll be able to do an entire blog about those doorways.

Puck is a very reluctant model. It's hard to tell she was actually enjoying her walkies very much! 

Okay, time to call it a day. Do visit me at my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good week, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/47 - Hello November, how are you?

 Well and truly into the misty, grey, damp season we are now... I have put the huge towel into the hall again, for drying off Puck after walkies. She adores her spa moments. I don't mind rain or mist, but I'm not so fond of the combination of rain and wind! They, and my glasses, make for a situation where I cycle through town like a blind bat most of the time.

But rain makes the last of my flowers shimmer and shine.

The wet has made my garden perk up, in fact there are more flowers now, than last August. It helps that the nights are still relatively mild, around 12°C.

As soon as we start having night frost, quite a few of them will give up and wither.

The Ixia doesn't mind at all that it is wet. I was worried that the bulbs had died during the drought we've been having, but they simply delayed showing themselves. Phew, what a relief!

They are in amongst the Crocosmia, Rosemary, Aquilegia and the Carex which has spread itself all around this bed.

The same applies to my Cosmos. It is finally showing flowers, well, lovely, better late than never.

Prettily pink! 

The Malus is looking great as well. I planted this for my pleasure, but also for the birds, as I read somewhere that they enjoy the fruit. But so far they have never touched it.

Tiny flowers, but they have a gorgeous scent I can smell from metres away! And so can the bees. Even in the rain some of them were buzzing away. I hope the lot of them will manage to find a place to sleep over winter amongst my bee hotels or under the wood pile. I even have bees staying on my balcony. I know, because of the neatly cut away pieces of leaves in my planter, which they use to close their burrows.

The trees around Brielle are in full Autumn regalia.

I always have mixed feelings about November. On the one hand I am dreading the winter months (grey!!), on the other I quite enjoy the scent of the fallen leaves and all my plants going dormant. And I can actually get a spade in the ground to plant or reposition plants, there is that too.

Look!

Finally been able to move my Kiwi from the pot into full soil. Hopefully it will like its new position, and grow me a nice screen.

And the same applies to my three roses. Into the ground! That Sage on the right is doing great again, the rain has benefited it, and the two heavy storms we've had last week ( wind speeds up to 130 km/h !) have not done any damage to Hunky Dory.

I'll leave you with a photo of Puck enjoying herself licking the raindrops of the Pelargoniums on the balcony. She is a senior now, walkies sometimes are a very slow affair. Sniffing everything takes forever, and sometimes she seems to forget where she is and why we are where we are.

I then need to remind her. She tends to stare at familiar objects with a puzzled face; what IS that thing? It being the tree we pass at least twice a day, for example. But she still perks up when she spots a cat. Cats need to be reminded that Puck is Queen. All the cats of my neighbourhood know her, and most of them don't take a blind bit of notice of her. Oh yeah, that's that silly dog that jumps up and down, duh!

Still. I suspect that my doggie is in the first stages of dog dementia.

Look me up on my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good weekend wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/46 - Heemtuin Rucphen, for herbalists and greenies

 Some weeks ago, I promised you another visit to a garden. And here it is. It is just a taste of the wonderful things you can see in this garden, which is situated in Noord-Brabant.

Noord-Brabant is one of the three provinces of the Netherlands 'below the main rivers', meaning in the South. Compared to my part of the West (built-up industrial) it is green, wooded and quiet. It is also where for six Saturdays in October/November I take a herbalist course with a friend. We go to the Heemtuin (arboretum, but in this case a facility where trees, shrubs and herbs are cultivated for exhibition) Rucphen for this. This garden is built for plants and insects first, and humans second.

The course is very involved, and I don't get a lot of time to take photos, but these ones will give you an idea.

The Heemtuin gives day jobs to challenged people from Roosendaal and surroundings, and is open most days.

I have always been interested in herbal remedies, probably because my body reacts very unpredictably to pharmaceutical ones by giving me either massive headaches or nausea. Besides that, my granny was old enough to remember remedies like onion skins in a warm scarf around your throat, or green cabbage leaves to soothe swollen milk glands.

In the Heemtuin I learn about the use of herbs found in Dutch soil. And it is fascinating! Our teacher very cleverly not only 'sends', a lot, but also gives us a feel, a smell and a taste of the herbs. For instance today she made a soup of narrow leaved Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), and it was absolutely wonderful! To our surprise it tasted of mushrooms.

For homework, we are to make a tincture. I wanted to make a Rosemary one, but my Rosemary at home is not in bloom yet (the one in the Heemtuin is), so I switched to Ginkgo. It takes at least three weeks to get infused enough, but I'll let you know at a later stage if it passed muster.

On our visit to the herbal garden, I took some photos of the wood walls they use in the garden. This one is very bird and hedgehog friendly. But there are numerous walls for insects as well.

I loved this one.

And the heemtuin being in a wood, there are ferns everywhere. I really like ferns, they appeal to the Neanderthal part of me. We call this a Tongvaren (Asplenium scolopendrium), and it used to be rare. But now it spreads more and more, especially near water, on old walls, waterwells, locks, and underneath dripping pipes. And in woody, shady areas.

On top of that wall, I spotted this pretty flower, happily doing its thing.

And against a tree stump a family of toadstools were having a good time.

The trees were really turning now! As there are many Oaks, Beeches and Birches in that part of the country, it was gorgeous.

The Medlar was laden with fruit. To eat they are not so much to my taste, but some people love them. I do think it is a very attractive tree though.

And what do you think of this?! It is the rosette of a plant we call Gele Ratelaar (yellow rattler). The flowers were spent, but this is so cool!

Mistletoe! Very susceptible to air pollution. This looked very healthy though. Not a lover in sight...oh well.

So, you have an idea of the goodies this garden can offer you. I hope to visit it for much longer, and take many more photos, but that will have to wait for another time.

I'll leave you with a moody photo of one of the gates to my town. I am very lucky to live in a pretty part of the island, where all that reminds you of the heavy petrochemical industry just across the river, are the constant noise and sometimes the smell. But when I drive back from Noord-Brabant, the thought creeps up on me that I live in the wrong part of the country. Still, I am too old to move yet again.

Have a lovely weekend, wherever you are. Do look me up on my website: Renée Grashoff Schrijft *

* there is no point to leave me comments like 'nigeria' on my contact page. I only reply to serious questions. Requests for money are totally useless as well; I am permanently skint. If your English is not up to that word, it means I suffer from a permanent lack of funds. Nothing to get from this old lady, folks!

Bye,

Renée Grashoff 

2025/45 - Autumn leaves - pest or perfect?

 This morning I drove home from Hunky Dory, and spotted one of the men in my street trying to use a leafblower on his bit of pavement. This definitely was a case of 'keeping him entertained', as the leaves blew back as soon as he had removed them to the grass verge. In my mind's eye I see a son, thinking "oh hey, let's give the old man a leafblower for his 80th".

There are many very handy garden tools to gift your dad, but a leafblower is totally useless in my country, as it is always windy. Just saying. If you love yours, do so by all means!

Anyway, I happened to be 'busy with leaves' as well this morning. I coppice an apple tree, as it is much too close to my greenhouse, but I don't possess the strength to dig it up. The branches grow nice and sort of straight though, so every October I cut them and put them aside to use as poles for anything and everything.

This is my haul for this year. Whilst I was ripping the leaves off, I thought what a waste, really. Why not build a leaf container? I am always being told how wonderful composted leaf mold is to spread on your borders! 

It is very important that the air can circulate, so I used leftover netting (had no chicken wire). And you should keep the leaves moist, well, ha! It has finally turned sort of normal delta weather, so that means no shortage of moisture.

The lengths of branch I could not use, I put on my woodpile. I know for a fact there is a hedgehog patrolling my garden, and I fantasize that it lives underneath this pile. So every year I top it up. The toads appreciate it too.

My soil is still too rock hard to dig holes for the balcony plants that I have delegated to my garden. But it is slowly getting there! Perhaps in a few days time. On my balcony all planters are on the ground: storm Amy attacked my balcony with gusts up to 100km. Not funny!

They will remain floorbound until April at least! The advantage is twofold: I don't have to worry about storms and they quite like being so close to eachother.

There are more flowers now than at the height of summer! And oh golly, some of my summer bulbs are finally showing blooms! It must be because I moaned about them (not really, it is the fact they have had a week of rain).

Look! At last! The Ixia are all over the garden now, hurray.

And the white Asters are gorgeous.

So are these. It is Aster lateriflorus 'Horizontalis'; the name baffles me, as they are growing vertically. But they are very pretty. Tiny, but pretty.

See those tiny beetles? My one Artichoke which is already sending up fresh shoots, is infested by them.  And they are a mystery to me...Could they be young Aphidecta obliterata? Or young Coccinellidae?

If you know, do tell me.

Now this is an insect that I meet very regularly and know the name of: it is a Pentatomidae, what we call a pyjamaschildwants, or striped shield bug in English. I think the Dutch name much funnier. I have green, brown, red stripey and yellow stripey ones, and they all love my Fennel.

Better late than never...The Cosmos is blooming. The ones on the balcony are spent, but the ones in the garden have finally decided to give it one last go.

Okay, I'll leave you with a glut of Figs.

This drought of a summer has made the Fig Jungle next to my plot explode. Since they are left to rot and fall off, I have taken to picking the ones I can reach. And they taste absolutely lovely. Who would have thought? Ripe figs, in the delta!

If you enjoyed the blog about the Groei & Bloei gardens, you can rest assured: I will be visiting other gardens.

Look me up at Renée Grashoff Schrijft for my other blogs and books, and have a lovely weekend, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff