2026/34 - Creepy Crawlies are my motivators

It's no secret I adore flowers. I garden because of it. But ever since I became aware that we are rapidly destroying our environment, and not just over here in the Dutch Delta, I came to realise that I needed to help insects in the only, small way that I am able to. So I try to provide a good habitat for the creepy crawlies that have made Hunky Dory their home, by planting lots of nectar plants and by leaving alone the wild flowers that appear. And by the way, I don't think the crawlies are creepy at all. Now a Rattlesnake, that's a creep.

Renée, you idiot, I hear you say. That spider on your Phlomis eats insects, so what the, etc.

Well, actually, yes, this Philodromus spec., or  Turf Running spider, what we call a common 'renspin' in Dutch (ren = to run, spin = spider) eats insects, but I still qualify it as essential for the circle of life in my garden. It is harmless to humans, unlike its cousin Philodromus dispar, the zwartrugrenspin (black back spider). Last year I was bitten by an unknown beastie whilst weeding, and I now suspect it was by this P. dispar. I got a nasty allergic reaction which made my entire hand swell up to baseball glove proportions.

Some more spiders, well...'some'...This nest is in my Daphne in my balcony garden. Due to living at the back of a harbour, I suspect this is the Garden spider, or Cross Spider (yes, we call it kruisspin). Araneus diadematus is considered a pest by my neighbours, who hire men with poison to eradicate them, as we have masses of them every year. But they are very useful in eating the mosquitoes that also frequent the harbour!! So they are welcome to live on my balcony.

One of my beautiful Desdemona roses with another Turf Running spider, hiding itself well.

What is that on my Monarda? Hm...it looks like a cross between Spilostetus saxatilis and Lygaeus equestris... Pretty sure it is from the Lygaeidae family, who are very prolific in Hunky Dory. They all love the Monarda.

I hope I have correctly identified this as a Miner Bee, one of the bees that fly up to my 4th level appartement to visit my yellow Wallflower. Isn't it gorgeous? When my Daphne was still in bloom a month ago, it also attracted some bees, Miner as well as Bumblebees. And from the state of the leaves of my Clematis last year, I was also visited by leafcutter bees. I think them very brave to fly up to this height.

Definitely one of the bees that visit my garden most often, here buzzing away on the Echinaecea. They also frequent the Artichokes, and sleep in the flowers.

Hahahahaha, crowded in there.

Could this be a Halictidae? Or a Syrphus ribesii, which to my inexperienced eye looks exactly the same? I suspect the latter. But both are equally welcome.

No, this is NOT the Lesser Spotted Potato. Looks like a Ladybird, or Coccinellidae, sort of. The Asian, invasive kind. As it eats our native Ladybirds, I frown (a bit) on its presence in my garden.

Here is another one, Asian. In fact I hardly see native ones any longer...

There be dragons...

These dragonflies are pretty rare in my garden, so I am always very happy to spot one.

Two post-coital striped Pentatomidae, or Graphosoma italicum, or what we call pyama bugs on the Wild Carrot. So pretty.

I hope you have enjoyed my insect tour of my garden. Have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/32 - August already...time flies.

 My allotment garden, suffering from the 4th heatwave of this year and the subsequent lack of water, is giving off autumn vibes already... My allotment neighbour's plums are suffering from mildew and are rotting on the trees, such a shame. But the other neighbour's figs are doing great!

Mind you, the birds think so too! Who would have thought that it would ever be possible to grow edible figs in our climate? I used to rave over them when visiting Greece, once upon a time. And now they are growing in the Dutch Delta.

My quietly suffering Hydrangeas. They can live out their life there, but I will certainly not buy new ones. Much more sensible to get plants which are suited to drought.

I took a turn around the allotments, and saw the same thing everywhere: dried out soil and struggling crops. The only plants which are holding on are the Mediterranean ones, like these sunflowers.

These Nasturtiums are looking perky, but I suspect they are being watered.

When I got to Hunky Dory at 07.00 a.m., I noticed this Bumble Bee still asleep in one of the last Lathyrus flowers. But I can see new shoots coming up, so...

Both my other neighbour (my plot is surrounded, I have 4) Hans and me plant flowers especially for the insects, and this year he has lovely Cosmea.

You cannot see where his flowers stop, and mine begin, which is just the way I like it.

This type of Hydrangea I like much better than the mopheads, and they are more interesting for the bees as well. At least with these there's pollen for them to collect.

I cut off all the tops of my tomatoes; they will produce tomatoes still, but these will take too much energy from the many others already there, and besides will never ripen themselves.

Obviously this was taken on my balcony. The Canna is enjoying the hot, dry weather. But I water her daily, otherwise she would not look so happy.

Right. I'll leave you with another happy photo, this time of my friend Li Ping and myself enjoying a lovely Japanese meal in the Markthal in Rotterdam yesterday. Trust us to choose the hottest day of the month (so far...) to visit Fenix and then walk... My body is still in shock today, what did you do?!

If you find yourself in Rotterdam, do visit Fenix, won't you? It's a museum telling the tale of migration, both to and from Rotterdam. It is WONDERFUL! Fenix Museum

Li Ping originates from Malaysia, so she knows about leaving your country to live on the other side of the world, and tends to drag me to Asian restaurants (which I don't mind at all, as I really like the Asian quisine).

Do visit my author website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft and have a great week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/30 - A Drop in Temperature...hurray!

 After two weeks solid of over 30°C heat, the temperature has dropped more than 10 degrees overnight. It is a shock to the system, but my old system is geared for 21° in July, not 35°! In the South of my country, it reached 42° and especially the old folk suffered, and mortality rates were up by hundreds. If you are still denying climate change as a non-existent crisis, you have mud in your eye!

I had to water my garden daily, which is something I am not used to. Mind you, I only watered the veg and the Hydrangeas. The rest of Hunky Dory has to get its water from the water table...which has dropped worryingly low. In fact, we now have an official Water Shortage Crisis on our hands. Government is urging us not to water gardens, take showers of under 5 minutes and be extremely careful with open fire, unless we go the same route as Fontainebleau, France.

Having said this, I must say I am really pleased with how my frog pond is holding up. Despite the heat, I have not had to refill! Hurray!

But, as I said, I have watered my Hydrangeas. And even so, they greeted me with bedraggled heads every morning... The Solidago however, seem to love that heat, and thrive.

My Tomatoes and Cucumbers have overcome their slow start, and especially the Tomatoes are loaded with fruit. Unfortunately, their taste is a bit bland...I bought bio ones, nameless, and am disappointed. They taste no better than the supermarket ones, and I guess I am spoiled.

Loads of insects on the Fennel, great!

And the Bumble Bee Hotel is open for business!

Those Cardoons are humungeous! I sometimes hear passing cyclists commenting on them.

The Wild Carrot, which I hope will spread through that pink bed... My allotment neighbour Hans (88) has lots of spontaneous ones, I swear they are the ones I have sown!

These are his beans. He is very good with veg.

The Teasels in my garden (I let them do their thing) are getting ready to receive the bees.

This year I can greet my very first grapes. We'll see what colour they are, a complete surprise.

As are these Strawberries! Rather late in the season, but I don't mind 😀

Okay, this is it for this week. Enjoy your weekend, wherever you are, and do pass on my blog address if you've liked my posts.

Renée Grashoff 

2026/20 - Gardening in Uncertain Times

 Tending to leave politics out of this blog, I thought I'd make an exception for the 20th post of this year.

                  (Cytisus 'Apricot Gem')

My gardens, Hunky Dory (the allotment) and the balcony both, are my 'happy place'. I potter, I enjoy, I make mistakes, I rejoice in projects that work. 

War

But I would be telling lies if I said I am dancing through life at the moment. There are two terrible wars on in my distant backyard, effecting life in my country. Firstly it brings us/me anxiety and secondly prices of everything are shooting up. The price of petrol has gone through the roof, and this affects everything which has to be brought in by trucks. Thus it makes driving to my nursery more expensive, but it also makes everything I buy there more expensive as well, and prices in supermarkets are even higher than they already were. At home, energy prices (gas/electricity) have become ridiculous. And that's all without even mentioning the huge regret I feel when it comes to those poor, ordinary people in those countries at war. How does bombing civilians out of their homes, let alone killing them, weigh up against conflicts which clearly are just about money? Please save me from old, megalomaniac men!

Everything combined, it makes for a financially worrying Spring.

Allotmenteer

As an allotmenteer, the most logical step is to grow more of my own food, right? Easy-peasy. You'd think. And I will try. But the thing is, I am much more of a FLOWER grower, as the gate-crasher above illustrates. It takes up precious space in my planter, where I could grow at least 4 more broccoli plants. But do I rip it out? Nope. Not yet, at least, times must become even more desperate before I start doing things like that.

Still. I did chalk my greenhouse windows and I took a trip to the nursery to buy the tomato and cucumber plants I wanted.

Meanwhile the grass verges around Hunky Dory have erupted with rapeseed, so lovely. And the peaceful countryside around me makes up for the bombed out cities I see on the news every day. 

Eikenbladsla, or oak leaf lettuce I think it is in English. I put that gutter I discarded to good use, fingers crossed that it will work.

I bought two Cucumber and two Tomato plants, and have two more Cherry Tomatoes at home on the balcony. Hopefully that will save me getting the expensive veg from the shop. And they taste a whole lot better!

And I have Rettich, love it, and the Paksoi is doing well.

I have a glut of Rhubarb at the moment, I give away lots, but I will also look into making Rhubarb cordial. Don't you think the back of those leaves is beautiful?

Not too shabby for a flower grower, right? But flowers are my first love.

The Euphorbia does her best to repeat the colour of the Rapeseed and pull it into my garden.

The bronze leaves of the Physocarpus opufolius Little Angel make my heart swell every time I see them. They will turn much darker over time, to dark red.

And the Centaurea are everywhere. They self-seed, but I must admit I help them by throwing their seedheads in the beds at random. They satisfy my craving for cornflowers, which simply will not grow in my garden.

My Ukranian friends from the Taalcafé like them just as much as me.

The advantage of the giant Pampas Grass behind my struggling Fern is that it now keeps the Fern in shade or partial shade for most of the day, and it likes not being baked by the sun! Like me, in fact, simply cannot stand it. So every time I get a bit morose because of having no funds to go on holiday, I remind myself I can't 'do' faraway hot places anyway. So... unfortunately no Mexico or Singapore for me...I'll try to nurse their plants instead.

 

Hunky Dory is mostly green and yellow right now, but will turn to green and pink/lavender soon. The changing of the colours in my garden mean the changing of the season to me. First white, then yellow, then blue appears, then the multicoloured Tulips and after that whoosh! During May all of a sudden the pink/lavender bed will burst into flower.

Look me up at my website Renée Grashoff Schrijft when you want to read more of my writings, and have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff