2026/25Extra - Gardens of historical Brielle

 A feature of the gardens of my historical hometown is that most gardens are either walled gardens, or that they are completely enclosed by houses. Hence you don't get to see a lot of them, unless you are invited in. And on Sunday June 14th, we were.

This walled garden at the Raas is one of the oldest surviving in Brielle. The houses date from the early 17th century. The large Catharijne church dates from the 15th century (1417) but was never finished because they ran out of money in 1482. One of the naves and the spire were never built. It was supposed to become the largest church of the country...don't say our citizens weren't ambitious!

As a rose lover, I particularly like that rose scrambling up the tree in the same garden.

There are some modern houses within the ramparts, and this garden is situated in Van Sleenstraat, overlooking the ramparts. A potter/painter couple have created a charming garden here.

This is another corner of the same garden. Gorgeous rose!

Not every garden was to my liking (plastic lawn? No thanks!); but this lovely rose caught my eye in an otherwise utterly uninspiring garden.

Being hemmed in by houses make a lot of the gardens shadow gardens. This one had Feverfew in one of the only sunny spots.

Another corner of the same shadow garden.

The sunny corner of yet another shady garden; this one was surrounded by wooden fencing.

This looks like a jungle, but there were narrow paths from the house.

This is in the same garden, but looking towards the other side.

A good example of the many centuries old walls surrounding the gardens.

Some of the gardens were amazingly large, for a town garden. When you walk the narrow 15th century streets of Brielle, you have no idea that behind the houses are large gardens. And it is wonderful to see that those gardens are loved, and maintained as a garden, whilst there is a huge lack of parking space in Brielle. Sure, some get tarmaced, but many fortunately are not.

Another thing that struck my eye, is that many of the 10 gardens I had the time to visit had the same plants in them. That tells me that those plants are trusted to do well in our soil. The tendency to plant exotics has passed by Brielle so far, all those plants I saw were perhaps not proper natives (roses, Acanthus et such do come from warmer parts of Europe), but they are known to do well here. Especially when they are protected from that ever blowing sea wind over here. But not a palm tree, or citrus tree or huge aloe in sight.

I hope you've enjoyed a little peek at the gardens. Do share my blog address if you have.

Have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/25 - El Niño? El Mwah over here!

 After the sudden arrival of Summer during May, with the first heatwave of the year, right now we are having very unstable, too cold weather for this season. I have not been out of my sweaters for a fortnight, and that bloody wind! It tears along my balcony and makes my plants hang on for dear life.

By the way, this week I have an extra blog for you, about the Open Garden Day of historical Brielle. Enjoy it at 2006/25Extra.

Eventhough we've had a lot of rain, I had to water my balcony garden, as that wind had dried out my plants.

This morning the dark grey clouds chased the fluffy white ones so speedily I had to put on my coat just as fast as I had taken it off! But the Lathyrus, tied to the obelisk faithfully by yours truly, is hanging on and producing masses of flowers.

My Victoria rose is looking good, don't you think? She has been moping for years, but finally has started to accept her corner.

My Schneewitchen and Masquerade unfortunately, both having bloomed very well, suddenly developed black spot. I cut them back hard this morning...we'll see if it works.

My lovely garden centre is in the habit of giving away free pot roses, nameless, but I happily receive them and plant them in my gardens. Isn't this one gorgeous? By the looks of it, it is a climber! So I hastily provided it with a frame. It is a bit dwarfed by the Gaura in front of it, but I am sure it will rise above it😊

Another free rose on the right. They come in 3" pots, so repotting is always the first thing I do. In Autumn I will give it a permanent place in one of the large planters, they are full up now. 

Luckily that Clematis and Pandorea are in the lee of the balcony!

The Schneewitchen on the balcony has been blooming for a month now, and is turning from pure white to blush pink in places. This has been whipped by the wind, but it has done her best to hang on.

My veg in the greenhouse is okay. I harvested three large cucumbers, some broccoli, and the tomatoes have some green ones in between all those leaves. I finally pulled out Monster, as it had spent itself. I saved some seed though, as I thought it deserved a place in Hunky Dory next year.

And will you look at that! HAPPY!!! My Cycas is looking good, but I will absolutely take it indoors come October! Monty Don can say a lot, but my baby will get a warm, comfy Winter!

I started out with some pale pink Cranesbill Geraniums 4 years ago, and by now I have three different kinds of pink and for the first time a pure white one. This photo makes it look pinkish, but believe me, it is white. All self-seeded! This is so much fun! I love plants to do their thing, although I did pull out some massive Thistles this morning, who had moved themselves from the neglected plot next door to spots that were rather awkward in my plot. It pained me, Thistles are great for pollinators, but they pricked everyone who walked past my greenhouse.

Back from the grey rain clouds to the fluffy white ones sailing past at great speed.

They promise us proper summery temperatures for the end of this week. Can't wait!

Look up my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft and have a great week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/24 - Intrigued by an Iris?

 May/June are the months my Irises show themselves. They are unassuming, hiding themselves in between the other plants, until suddenly...there they are! I love them, they are so gorgeous, one of the flashiest, most elegant flowers we have.

This is my tallest one, Iris germanica Grape Adventure. I planted three two years ago, and two of them carry flowers now, the third is still thinking about it.

 This border alongside my greenhouse is a mass of four kinds of scented daffodils in March/April, and then it turns into a mass of very sloppy leaves. I leave them on, because they need to get the goodness into the bulbs again, but oh my, they are messy. To guide your eye away from the mess, I planted the Iris and also Lilies and Hemerocalis.

This plant is around the corner, just coming into flower. I thought it was an Iris when I bought it (just spiky leaves at that stage), but it actually is a Sisyrinchium striatum. 

It is pretty though, don't you think?

Iris siberica Shirley Pope, next to the frog pond. They are very elegant, but looks deceive, they get the full brunt of the SouthWesterly winds we have here, but they are sturdy!

The standard Iris siberica which is used very often by florists. 

Yet another Iris germanica. You may suspect I only like the purple variety, but that's not true, I'd love another colour...but I tend to buy my plants in sales, and there you'll make do with what's on offer.

The bog standard Yellow Iris siberica that you'll find all over my town. It grows in the waterways and we call it Gele Lis. The pretty flowers only bloom for one day, but the plant makes up for it by producing loads at the same time.

So how do you make sure your Irises have a nice life in your garden? Well, they like sun, so situate them where they'll get the sun for 6 hrs each day. They do not mind heavy clay, but I made certain I watered them in the first year after planting. And the books say they like their rhizomes near the surface of the soil.  The yellow kind (above) want to be in or very near the water.

The white Iris Siberica in my garden.

Good luck with your Irises!

Look up my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft for more blogs, and have a great weekend, wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

 

2026/23a - Extra photos last week of May '26.

 All photos are taken by myself and are my creative property.

We start in Hunky Dory:

Communal butterfly garden, Brielle

My balcony garden

To the right (black pot) my poor frozen Cycas, which I had almost given up...But! It is alive! And producing new fronds, six of them, and I am almost delirious with happiness about that. I love that plant, it has been my faithful companion for 8 years, until it simply got too large to be able to keep indoors. So I put it outside...my English go-to garden programme Gardeners World said I could. And it promptly froze in February. So next winter, it is going to live indoors again!!!

Right. I hope you've enjoyed this post. Follow this link Renée Grashoff Schrijft to my website when you'd like to read more about my books and me.

2026/23 - Japanese Garden in Stellendam and Hunky Dory

I'll end this post with a story about a Beaver we met, but first I'll tell you about a garden I visited.

We have a garden lover's society in my country, which organises open garden days in both Spring and Autumn. Last September I visited the Japanese garden in Stellendam, and this year I decided to see what it looks like in Spring.

The gardener is an enthousiast, but no professional. Still, the garden is lovely and approaches the Japanese vibe in a pleasing way.

Being no professional myself, I understand what he is trying to do. And mostly it works!

His three ponds in particular got me very enthousiastic. I love a good pond! He's put in a huge effort to create three levels, and although the water flows from one to the other, they all have their own atmosphere. The one above is the middle one, and is home to a mass of fish. No Koi, but (to me) the equally lovely Golden Orfe. We call them Goudwinde, and I used to keep them in my own pond years ago. Like Koi they become quite tame, and recognise the person that feeds them.

The same pond, but from the top. The lower one is situated behind that Yew ball and the upper is behind me. Both are much smaller than the middle pond, which is probably the reason they are choked by vegetation.

The Japanese are masters at the concept of 'Ma', meaning the negative space between two objects, which they think is just as important. This garden is rather crowded, so the 'Ma', to me, is rather 'mwah'. 

But, again, it is a very pleasing garden. We are Dutchies, after all.

This Bulgarian Allium was showing off next to the path.

The overview from the terrace. Well worth a visit.

On the subject of Japanese-like trees, we have our own type of Acer in the delta. The leaves are not as pretty, but the way of the tree to propagate itself is the same. It is an Acer campestre, or Spaanse Aak, and the wind blows in thousands of those pretty helicopters to my Hunky Dory. I spend a lot of my time pulling the saplings out of my beds, and if I overlook one, it has grown into a sturdy sapling of 60 cm high within one year.

Another plant which obviously has the capacity to explode into growth is this Hedera hibernica. I could not believe my eyes this week! It has tripled its size within those two weeks of constant rain we've had, I am not fibbing! It is very welcome to do so, as I planted it especially to eventually hide that ugly water butt, but mostly to provide a nesting spot for the Blackbird, or any other bird that likes to take up residence.

Okay, I'll finish with our adventure of this week. The weather had turned from too cold and very wet to heatwave overnight, (and back again to very muggy and wet) so we walk even earlier in the mornings as usual. This is Puck on our way to the meadows next to the river at 5.30 a.m. She's on high alert, because we sometimes meet the Roe buck here. Puck still dreams of catching it (she is always on leash though, I take no chances).

But: guess who we met instead?

The Beaver!!!

Not the greatest photo ever, sorry. It was munching on a nice branch, and refused to turn around for the shot. What amazed me, was that both animals totally ignored eachother. Puck just stood and stared, and Mr or Mrs Beaver simply munched on, eventhough there was only a metre between us. It made my day!

Look me up on Renée Grashoff Schrijft to keep up to date with my books. I'll again post some extra photos in post 23a. Have a lovely week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff