2025/41 - Rotterdam Veerhaven - a #1 Must See!

 From time to time I divert from my usual garden chatter. This time I'll take you to my favourite place in the town of my birth  Rotterdam. In particular: to Veerhaven.

This photo has many typical Rotterdam harbour elements: the River Nieuwe Maas, the Spido, the shiny Fenix Museum (designed by Chinese architect Ma Yansong), the pricey housing, but to me: the 'kinderkopjes' paving, the lantern and the 'moseiken' (Quercus cerris). Love it!

Is that all it has? No, of course not! I have to apologise for my photos, I use an ancient Samsung Galaxy, sorry. But what can you spot when you squint and look right to the distance in the middle of this pic? Right! The iconic bridge of Rotterdam: the Swan.

The yellow brick building in the middle distance is the old Royal Rowing and Sailing De Maas clubhouse. It is but one of the many 'rijksmonumenten' (important historical buildings), which were spared total destruction during the bombardment of Rotterdam in 1940. Walk around the Veerhaven and you will get an inkling of what this city looked like before WWII.

As a 2nd generation survivor of that war (my Mum never got over the trauma of the bombardment and passed it on), I love to walk around the Scheepvaartkwartier and admire the classy buildings.

De Maas

Not only did the river lend its name to the sailing club, but also to one of the most striking buildings around the Veerhaven. This Jugendstil (a style which I adore) building, again in yellow brick, is also called De Maas. Designed by Barend Hooijkaas jr. and Michiel Brinkman in 1908, it dominates the quay.

Not in yellow brick, but in sandstone another Jugendstil building along that same quay. The green-white-green flag is the Rotterdam flag. Ah...they knew how to build in those days!

And here we are: the one photo every visitor wants to take. Our beautiful Swan, and part of the skyline of 'de Kop van Zuid', the Southern shore of the Nieuwe Maas, seen from the Northern shore Veerhaven.

The river appears empty from traffic, but don't be fooled, it is an extremely busy river.

Veerhaven

The name means 'ferry harbour', and that is what it used to be: the place to take the ferry to Katendrecht on the other shore. There are documents proving it already existed in the 15th century. My Mum used to talk about taking the ferry from 'Noord' where she lived to her auntie in 'Zuid'. She could have crossed the Willemsbrug (from 1878), but preferred the ferry.

Ferry Offices

This floating office building is another interesting building. It used to be the station of the river police from 1895, how cool is that?! Nowadays it houses the Harbour Master. Yes, you can berth in this harbour, as long as your vessel is not deeper than 4.5 m. But beware, the tides in the Nieuwe Maas can differ 2.5 m and more.

Quite a few vessels are moored here (semi-)permanently. This querky one seems to be protected from financial misery.

I believe old Queen Beatrix's yacht 'De Groene Draeck' (a Frisian Lemsteraak) used to be moored here as well, but it has moved to Muiden. Those ships always remind me of the seafaring heritage of us Dutchies.

Not a great sailor myself, my blood heats up anyway when I take in views like this one. That sky also is much more realistic for our country than the freaky steel-blue skies we've been having this summer. 'Altijd een vessie mee' (always take your cardigan) my very Rotterdam grannie used to say.

Right. I do hope you have enjoyed my diversion from plants to Veerhaven. Since there is much less worth mentioning about my gardens during the winter months, I tend to divert.

Do follow if you like my blog, and do visit my website for more blogs, click click! Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good weekend, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2025/40 - Ups and downs of Hunky Dory

 We had another freaky hot day yesterday, 27°C☆. So this morning I rushed to Hunky Dory to see if my potplants had survived, and to water them. ☆ By now you will have sussed out I write my blog a week before publishing, right? So don't feel cheated: "what? That hot? It was not hot at all yesterday", that kind of thing, hahahaha.

I was there at 8 a.m., and the sky was cloudy, which gave an unearthly light to my Pampus grasses.

No filters used!

I love to be in the garden in the early morning. Just me and the birds.

So. What was my gardening week like? Well, a mix of 'yay' and 'damn it!'

Let's get the last one out of the way. For the last 3 years I have done my utmost to get climbers climbing the nook where my chair lives. There is no shade in my garden, so I try to create it by using climbers. And yet again the climbers (Lonicera this time round) have not survived the summer - 4th batch. So frustrating!!!

My friend, who lives behind this door in Brielle vesting, has a shady city garden, very green. She has exactly one patch of sunlight (which sits two chairs) during the day. Would you believe I sometimes envy her?

Still, she cannot grow Echinaecea, and I can. So I should not grumble. It has been a very good summer for Echinaecea. This falls into the 'yay' category.

And so do the three Gaura I have. They have been very pleasant. This white Gaura Butterfly had a slow start, but it caught up.

Another 'yay' for the roses this summer. They were in their element and have a bloomed three times already. Adore them!

This Dahlia is my neighbour's, but I enjoy it as it's very near to the border between our gardens. He has left the tubers in the soil last winter, and it doesn't matter by the looks of it.

Buddha has surfaced...all summer long it was practically hidden. I found the head beside the garbage container, and it now lives very serenely amongst the Carex in the hot border (which has stopped being hot by now, I still have not managed to get the balance right).

It always amazes me what people throw out. I keep hoping for a totem pole. Seriously!

Walking around taking photos this morning, I made a mental list of all the things I need to tackle in the coming months. Lots.

The major thing will be completing the greenhouse.

I emptied it last autumn, put down anti-root cloth with French bark on top and then left it,  to save up for the next stage.

That next stage will be constructing  at least two raised beds out of scaffolding boards. My knee artrosis doesn't allow me to sit on my knees any longer, as I was accustomed to. I also want to paint the windows with chalk paint, because all my tender seedlings scorched to death this year. Definitely a 'damn it!' occasion.

One of the 'issues' of my gardening is that I cannot throw a pot of money at it, as some people can. I have to save up, and control the budget very carefully. Not an issue at all, really, it only takes a little more time to do things. 

My one and only cucumber from the balcony this summer. ONE. I mean...watered and sang to. Rotten luck.

The grass is still in a very sorry state. The rain keeps missing our area. But this is the delta, so I'm confident we'll get some water soon. And then it will probably rain for months on end...

Okay. I'll leave you with a panorama of the Rotterdam skyline. Took it because of that sky, a very Dutch sky!

Have a good weekend, and keep an eye out for the 3rd Open Garden Scheme blog, which will be coming up soon, and for my Special about Rotterdam Veerhaven.

Website Renée Grashoff Schrijft 

Do follow me if you like this blog. Bye😚

Renée Grashoff 

 

2025/ - Boerenwormkruid Nieuws: Deel 2 van de trilogie komt uit!

 De kogel is door de kerk!* In voorjaar 2026 volgt deel 2 uit de trilogie over Noor en Agnieken, en kan jij dus lezen hoe het verhaal over deze twee sterke dames in 1573 en 2023 verder gaat.

(* eerst schreef mijn autoscript 'de vogel is door de jerk', wat ik héél toepasselijk vind, want vogels, een 'jerk' èn de kerk spelen een grote rol in dit deel)

De aankondiging van een signeersessie

   Noor heeft niets met de kerk, maar wel met moord. Een beetje morbide misschien, maar zij weet dat ze zéker niet de enige is die smult van het oplossen van een goede whodunnit.

Ze vindt weer een dode man, dit keer voor haar tuinpoort. Het brengt haar opnieuw op het pad van inspecteur Jansen, die ze dus ook irritant voor zijn voeten loopt. Althans, hij vindt haar lastig, zij wil alleen maar helpen! Dit keer wordt onze bejaarde speurneus daarbij geholpen door drie jonge mensen die, net als Noor zelf, buitenbeentjes zijn. Inspecteur Jansen vraagt schamper 'of ze nu een detectiveclubje hebben', maar Noor blijft hem mooi steeds één stapje voor.

Agnieken wordt volledig opgeslokt door de nasleep van de bevrijding van Den Briel door de Watergeuzen. De Spanjaarden zijn de stad uit, maar de Nederlanden zijn nog lang niet onder controle van Willem van Oranje. De gepolariseerde bevolking van Den Briel moet zichzelf staande houden in een hele onzekere tijd. Aarzelend, hiertoe aangezet door haar beschermer Johannes, neemt ze haar werkzaamheden als vroedvrouw en heler voor de armen als zijn 'nicht' weer op. Helaas verblijft de Geus die geprobeerd heeft haar zusje Elsken te verkrachten ook nog (ongestraft!) in Den Briel.

Ik durf te beweren dat de mensen die Boerenwormkruid met plezier hebben gelezen, ook deel 2 grappig, spannend en herkenbaar zullen vinden.

Okay: klaar voor De Grote Onthulling?

Deel 2 heet: Zwaartekracht.

Uiteraard is het mogelijk om alvast in te tekenen voor dit boek. De makkelijkste manier is om mij via mijn website een bericht te sturen. Dan hou ik je op de hoogte.

Bezoek vooral mijn website en blijf up to date: Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Groetjes!

2025/39 - Heksenwaag Oudewater/ Gardens Kasteel de Haar

Once in a blue moon I manage to see something of my own country. And every time, I am struck by how lovely it still is, despite being clogged up by traffic and swallowed whole by building projects. Recently I visited Oudewater and nearby Kasteel de Haar.

This castle is something out of a fairytale!

But first I'll tell you about Oudewater.

Now, don't expect a guidebook text; I am not a travel writer. I simply natter on about my likes and dislikes. And about gardens, of course!

Oudewater is a quaint 17th century town in the province of Utrecht, with tiny bits of 16th century still intact. But it got its town rights in 1265, and hey-ho, that is an old town, right?!

 Like in my own old town, most of its surviving houses are 17th century, undoubtedly due to the original older wooden houses not surviving. (How am I doing so far?)

Our destination was specific: the old Heksenwaag, or Witches weigh house. 

During the horrific persecution of witches that swept Europe in the 15th to 18th century, Oudewater provided a very important document which could save your life. You could step on the scales and get weighed. Too light, and you were a witch. Heavy enough, and no strangulation, drowning or pyre for you.

Definitely not a witch!

The Heksenwaag is a museum about the history of this persecution, and well worth a visit! Especially because it draws parallels with our day and age.

Kasteel de Haar

This castle was built on the ruin of the old one in 1892, by a blatantly rich family, who hired designer and architect Pierre Cuypers. Now, style is very personal. This style was state of the art in 1892. Love it or hate it, it certainly is impressive. What I like about it, is the history and the for me very important fact that it sits in the middle of an English Landscape garden.

Yes, that garden was, to me, wonderfully lovelier than all the riches inside. But do take the tour if you get there! I'll give you one example, and then it's back to that garden.

Sorry, plants are my 'thing', hahaha.

 

This is the part with the Dahlia borders, on the side of the castle. And gosh, those Dahlias! Gorgeous!

There were many, many more! And all looking good, despite the bone-dry summer.

This must be the oldest weeping Beech tree I have ever seen. Very impressive!

I took many photos of the interior of the castle, but this is a garden blog...so...

We will have to return to see the Roman garden and the maze...there simply was not enough time. If you ever get to my country, do take time off to visit this castle. You will not be disappointed.

Okay, time to say bye bye. Do follow this blog if you like it, leave me a comment, or drop me a line on my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft

That beech! Trees are simply the best!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/38 - And suddenly Autumn is in the air!

 The summer of 2025 has been both lovely and a tad frustrating for the gardener in me. Lovely because we enjoyed a lot of sunny, hot days, great for the soul. Frustrating because the rainy days we've had since February (!) can be counted on less than ten fingers. And it shows!

The trees are dropping their leaves already, and at an alarming rate. When Puck and I do our daily rounds, they crackle beneath our feet. The bushes are drying out, so blackberries shrivel up before they can be eaten. So I worry. I worry about our lovely summer Oaks which line our streets. I worry about the hedgehogs. And I get frustrated with the desert that my garden has become by now.

This was my Yellow Raspberry on Sept.1st 2024. This year I picked the last fruit (which was scant but lovely) on August 2nd. And its leaves are yellow by now, eventhough I have watered it. The Redcurrant next to it has shrivelled up and died. Oh my giddy aunt! Where will this end?

This was at our 06.00 morning walkies, and you can see the leaf litter under the trees. Still. Puck enjoyed her sniff very much, thank you, and afterwards I hurried to Hunky Dory to water the pots.

Where I was welcomed by this sight. There are worse ways to die than on a flower in the night, I suppose. Its mates were busily zooming around visiting the other Scabious, no one paid it the slightest bit of notice. Poor thing. But it lives on in this blogpost.

Well. Will you look at that?! Sowing the seed in the greenhouse (2 packets!) watering it, singing to it, mollycoddling it, then rescuing the survivors from scorching by putting them in a pot, where they could at least try to survive outside. Because I watered it daily. Sigh. And what do you get? One flower. More to come, at least three more...out of 2 packets. Sometimes this gardening lark is an exercise in humility.

But at least my Hydrangeas were grateful for the water. They are going over now, but have been valiantly looking good.

Is it all sad then? Of course not! This wonderful Papyrus is looking great despite its feet now standing in almost dried out slush. And so is its family, which is colonising the north side of the frog pond. I honestly think it is one of the most attractive reeds there is, especially now that it is getting its autumn colour.

The Malus and Sedum are turning as well. I think this is Sedum 'Herbstfreude', but I am not quite sure as I got it from a gardener who wanted to get rid of it and the others that live in my garden now.

Naturalistic planting

This photo is a good example of how my naturalistic planting in the 'hot bed' is evolving. The hottest plants (blood red Crocosmia) have now turned to seed, the Yellow Achillea, which scorched, is not giving up, but the Carex grass is definitely trying to take over the entire bed. Let me tell you, it looks easy, and when you get it just right it looks bloody amazing, but it is not easy at all! That Carex was a mistake for starters.

But I'll leave you with the first Aster novi-belgii that has come out. I have many kinds in the garden, and they, believe it or not, are looking absolutely fine so far. So I am looking forward to a colourful month of September at least! 

Despite the terrible drought this has been a good summer. I will pickle the last courgette today, eat the last of my Yellow zebra tomatoes and have a few purple Plums. I hope you'll have a good weekend!

Do follow this blog if you like what I write, and there is a new blogpost on my website about a couple of meet-and-greets for when you happen to be in the area: Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Renée Grashoff