2026/40 - Winding Down towards Winter

Puck and I walk in the dark...every morning, every night. It is just in the afternoon that we can admire the turning leaves and many different toadstools and fungi. And in the garden almost everything is turning in for Winter as well.

My neighbour gifted me some of his Italian tomatoes. I chopped them up for salsa. With the prices in the shops being what they are (ridiculously high), I do not turn up my nose at some free sauce!

Whilst he was picking his last tomatoes and beans, I did my last mow...or did I? The grass is making up for those months it did not grow at all!

I mowed my path last week, and mowed it again this week.

And the council mowers were out in force as well. What always amazes me, is that they can mow on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday those toadstools are back! Oh...in case you are wondering...Puck is watching them drilling for yet more cables. Our entire town is resting on cables.

The Plane tree on the ravelin is not turning...yet.

 

I had planned to cloud-prune my Elaeagnus, but did not, as it is filled with flowers and smells divine! I am sure the last bees are grateful.

Making heatwave related changes

 So I took some bedding plants from the balcony to the garden instead. I have decided to go with the flow, you see, and that means downsizing on planters and choosing more heat resistant plants for the balcony. This summer was not only hard on Puck and me, but also terribly hard on my balcony plants. Even daily watering was not enough for a lot of them! I am on the 3rd floor, in full sun all day, so temperatures on the concrete of the balcony were up to 45 degrees C. 

That means taking out the plants that sort of survived, and putting them in full soil, hoping that they'll use the coming months to establish in the garden. And it also means I will switch to Mediterranean plants for 2027.

This Gaura is fine! It has passed the heatwave test with flying colours.

My beloved roses, both on the balcony and in the allotment garden, are fine too. They can stay!

But the wild flowers I have sown in the tin planter were a total disaster!  The only plants that survived were the white Aster, just about to flower, and the Rudbeckia in front.

The Caryopteris that is playing peek-a-boo from beneath the Lathyrus is fine too. But I suspect only because it was in shade from the Lathyrus all Summer.

Just to remind you what that planter looked like initially...all gone now! Not one of those plants survived the last three scorching summers.

And yet again it is 27°C ! Absolutely ridiculous! Mind you, the early mornings and evenings are fabulous. I took Puck to her favourite spot by the Maas last night, and the full moon was gorgeous. She enjoyed, I think...

My old doggie is walking very slowly...with very frequent stops to recover her strength. I bought her a dog cart years ago, but the silly old girl refuses to sit in it. Utter panic! Despite her stamina she is very stubborn! Right now (7 a.m.) she is still asleep, where normally she was raring to go at 6. Yesterday I had to wake her up at 8.30.

So... It is not just my garden that is winding down, I fear. Old dogs...You get a pup (or in my case a 'whatever age in between 2 and 4'), you love it for years and you know you'll have to say goodbye to it eventually. But it is very hard when you both actually get to that stage.

Right. Have a good 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 

2026/29 - Heatwave # 3 - help!

 It is getting boring, I know... I realise that I do go on about climate change, but it is hard to ignore. Sorry! Whilst in the South of France bushfires are causing mass evacuations for campsites, our grass verges are as dry and yellow as if we have moved our country and dropped it in the South of Europe. And we officially have the third heatwave of the year.

My roses are thriving in that heat, though. They are doing much better than myself, I wilt as soon as the temperature rises above 24°C...

So I cycle to Hunky Dory in the very early morning, often around 07.00 a.m. when I am the only one there. Well, except the birds and other animals that is.

This Red Admiral kept fluttering around my head, I think it was attracted to my hot pink hat. And when I watered my tin planters, a huge bright green grasshopper startled me by hopping almost into my face. I wanted to take a photo for you, but it had other ideas.

I bought the first marginal water plants, Polygonum bistorta. And that bright green grass-like reed in the pond is the Papyrus...it has survived, happy about that.

The Lathyrus is moving along the branch. But I think it is past its prime now, eventhough I deadhead it daily. 

 Still, it is very pretty, don't you think? I keep throwing the pods in other parts of my garden, next to the fences, in the hope the plant will shoot up there next year. Probably not, though. In my experience my plants only shoot up anywhere if they feel like it...

Like the gorgeous Wild Carrot...The seeds I sowed in my planter...not one carrot flower has shown itself. But in the corner, next to the small mound, they have come up spontaneously, and also on the tiny forecourt where I put my bycicle. Oh well...they are welcome.

In between heatwave 2 and 3, we had a storm...in other parts of the country they had hail, so big, that the stones destroyed greenhouses and dented cars.

In my part there was not a drop of the so much needed rain, just gusts of wind that blew down trees.

One of the casualties was my favourite Willow, along the river bank. When Puck saw it in the very early morning, she stared at it for a while. She knows something is different, I am sure.

I suppose I can be glad not the entire tree blew down. From a distance it looks insignificant, but I assure you that the branch is a meter in width.

Anyway...I'll be glad when it gets a bit cooler! It is nearing 30°C this entire week to come, and that simply is too hot for me, my dog and my garden. The Canna Lily on my balcony is loving it though.

I'll leave you with my newest painting. I have an exhibition coming up in September, so in between watering my plants and writing my book, I paint.

Have a lovely week, do visit my website to read the teaser for Moss at Renée Grashoff Schrijft and try to keep cool!

2026/28 - July Jubilations

 Week-long tropical heat has made some of my plants wilt, and others throw a party!

The bumblebees were having a party of their own on this gate crasher from my neighbour's plot. It takes the heat in its stride.

When the flowers are spent, it decks itself in lovely blood red berries, which then darken to deep purple.

There were at least 15 bees on it!
So it can stay.

Another neighbour has this Artichoke in his cold frame. This does not mind heat either.

Oh, and I finally mowed my grass! It certainly looks a lot better now! Did I tell you I bought an old fashioned hand mower? Which came in a flat pack as if it was a bookcase from IKEA? And which I put together myself, only to find out at the very last two nuts and bolts that the bloody pipe was bent? So those nuts and bolts were too short?

I was so frustrated that I did not have the strength to bend it into shape, that I bolted the bloody thing together with tie wraps. And it works perfectly fine. Only looks stupid.

A bit like my new frogless frog pond, in fact.

But hey, Waterlily is thriving and blooming, so who is complaining?

Don't let those clouds fool you! It was 29,5°C when I took that photo.

Proof!

I am looking into marginal pond plants to camouflage that ugly pondliner.

The apples are okay too.

The Monarda looking its best. It is an insect puller as well.

And my Gaura has suddenly exploded. I have exactly the same one on my balcony, where it is unhappy, so in Autumn it will move to Hunky Dory. No room for unhappy plants on my balcony!

The Crocosmia 'Emily McKenzie' is giving my hot bed some sizzle. After a very slow start, three years ago, it has come into its stride now.

So my hot bed is looking marginally hotter this year, hurray! In here is another Gaura, the White Whirling Butterfly. And a bright orange Hemerocallis. 

Another plant which has decided to show me it was worth buying, at last, is this Digitalis ferruginea 'Gigantea'. It is a perennial, was next to nothing for three years and whoops! All of a sudden this year it is as tall as me. I think it is lovely, such an unusual colour.

I wouldn't mind some more to dot around, so I'll keep my eye open.

The bog standard Digitalis, the biannual ones, have bloomed and are already setting seed. I let them do their thing, and they walk all over the garden, although they do seem to have a preference for not-so-handy spots. Like in the doorway of my greenhouse.

The Digitalis being my height only shows what monsters the Cardoons have grown into this year! I mean...wow! No taking cosy photos of dozing Bumble bees in the flowers this time...they are impossible to reach.

One of my favourites: the drumstick Alliums. They are such fun!

I'll say goodnight, now.

There's a new blog on my website for your perusal (translator button provided);  it is a teaser for my 3rd part of the Brielle trilogy (called Moss).

You'll find it at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

Have a good week, wherever you are.

Renée Grashoff