2025/26 - Extremes all over the place

 After a week of rain and low temperatures, Wednesday was an in-between day. It started rainy, chilly and extremely windy, and ended sunny, and then suddenly a massive rainshower and sunny again. Our weather is all over the place...Because today, Friday, it was 20°C at 05.33 (I know, 'cause Puck told me she needed walkies NOW), and it is expected to reach 32° by the afternoon. Followed by a massive thunderstorm, so I need to get my planters down from the railings of the balcony.

My neighbour took precautions and cut off all his Peonies, but had overlooked this one. It was hiding itself on my side of the plot.

Meanwhile that wind was strafing my plants. Okay, everything is now green instead of parched, but wind dries out plants too, so I still have to water the pots! I took Puck, never a good idea, she is not a natural gardener.

The dominant colour is green at the moment, as most plants are not at the flowering stage, and the spring blooms have finished. But my fern has survived, which is great.

The Cosmea is growing, almost hiding the Geranium from sight.

This Lily is still going strong.

And so is Schneewitchen. The other three roses have finished, but I know they will get a second blooming.

And suddenly the perennial Lathyrus has taken off. It is Lathyrus Latifolius 'Pink Pearl', and did nothing since I planted it two months ago. But now it is growing, yay! It has competition from the grape next to it. Not ideal, but I thought that grape had vanished.

 I think this photo illustrates the prairy feeling of the back of my garden, next to the compost heaps. There Salvias and Phlomis compete with tall grasses that have blown in from the verge on the other side of the ditch. I see the majority of insects in this part of the garden, so I leave the grasses and only weed if absolutely necessary.

Another plant I thought had perished: my yellow Digitalis grandiflora. It is there, hurray!

It is hard to believe that Pinus on the left was only 15cm high 4 years ago. It is taller than me now, more than 1.70cm. In a year or so it will have outgrown the Artichokes. They took a real battering this week, lots of their fronds have wind damage. 

Talking about that...half of my apples have blown down.

One of the many Ladybirds on the Artichokes. This is an exotic, and not many of our native ones are around I'm sad to say.

This morning I felt a burning pain in the cuticle of my ringfinger, so I thought 'thorn?'. But it turned out to be a Ladybird larvae. Man, they have jaws! It hung from my cuticle so I had to pull it off, and then the cuticle stung and bled as if a beastie much larger had bit me!

This is it. The Fourteen-spot Ladybird. In future I'll look differently on my Artichoke guests, I can tell you!

A sweet little Campanula.

Since not only thunder but also hail is predicted for tonight, I took a photo of my balcony garden for you, before it will be ruined.

Puck is pretending she hasn't spotted the three ripe Strawberries, but as soon as my back is turned, she will steal them.

Have a good weekend wherever you are!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/17 - Cold nights, hot days

 Our climate keeps me busy: where I walk the doggie walk at 6 am in wintercoat and with a woolly hat on, I carry watering cans in my t-shirt at 10 am to make certain my newly planted Lathyrus will not wither before they've had a chance to climb up the obelisks. Never a dull moment!

I had such trouble to dig plant holes! The soil is hard as a rock already. My spade did not get through, so in the end I used my hori-hori knife to make a hole

I planted two perennial  Latifolius 'Pink Pearl'. Fingers crossed they will survive! They'll look gorgeous against that black obelisk, and against the silver grey fronds of the Artichokes as well.

 

The Kiwi has established well and has grown. It has started winding itself around my frame. But I noticed the newly planted Iberia sempervivens next to the path is struggling...sigh.

In between my single orange tulips there is one double.

My apple trees are showing blossom. They have all taken their brutal pruning in their stride. I hope the apples will taste better as well.

I lived in orchard country as a child (all gone, sadly, and turned into greenhouses), and the sight of apple blossom instantly transports me back to childhood. Our neighbour had a miniature train track through his orchard to transport the boxes of apples to his warehouse, it fascinated me. But I wasn't allowed to play on it. Actually I wasn't allowed in the orchard at all, but I sneaked in anyway. I'm sure he knew, and turned a blind eye.

My fern is in its woolly mammoth fase. I adore ferns. In my part of the country they do not grow naturally, except the small ones that like to live in medieval walls. There are a few of those around Brielle. But the one in my garden is struggling in that heavy clay, so I treat it to water where the other plants have to do without extra watering.

Periwinkle and Geranium

   This is the time of year that my Periwinkle takes centre stage. In a few weeks it disappears beneath the pink Geranium. 

   That Geranium was one of the first plants I put in my garden in 2021, and it has taken the soil into its stride. Such a cheerful, easy, no-nonsense plant!

   Frost? Don't care. Scorching sun? Bring it on! Under water for more than a week? As if it had a snorkel. No rain for months? No problem.

My frogless frog pond is showing signs of life. I told you I found a hibernating salamander, didn't I? I haven't spotted it since, but as I quickly put it back, I am sure it lives there still. The water is very clear, so that is a good sign. And loads of waterplants to hide beneath.

Right, I hope you'll have a good weekend, wherever you are, and that the weather treats you kindly.

If you are interested, here is the link to my sparkly new website: Renée Grashoff Schrijft You can get the text of my blogposts there (about my books and life in Brielle) translated.

Renée Grashoff