2026/5 - Delta Winter Wealth

 There is nothing nicer, weatherwise, to have a week of calm, sunny weather after the misery of icy roads and sub-zero stormy winds.

Us delta dwellers take our moments of weather joy when they arrive. Personally I did a round of Hunky Dory to see how my plants were after the snow and ice, and basically they were absolutely fine, except one. My Clivia, which I had put into the greenhouse, was definitely very unhappy. Too cold!

But my veg, such as it is at the moment, was still looking good, lovely! It will not be long before I will buy some more soil for the other three beds (two more on the other side of the greenhouse) and sow some more seeds.

There is one plant that has nestled itself between the chicory, which turns out to be a Glebononis coronaria...never heard of it. It can stay, for now.

I am curious to see how it develops. Will still have to look up if it is edible.

It being such wonderful weather yesterday, a friend and I drove to the next island, Goeree-Overflakkee, to take a walk along the sea.

Well, I say the sea, but actually there is a marsh, with lots of reed beds and thus lots of wader birds. Just like at a lot of other Dutch island coastlines, the seawater comes into the marsh at high tide, and leaves again through gullies. The sun lightened up the reeds, and it was beautiful. We walked to a birdwatchers hide to see if we could spot any Spoonbills, but they were not there.

In the background you can see one of those gullies and the sea, and that light stripe right at the back is my island, Voorne.

There weren't any Spoonbills, but we did spot Mallards and Cormorants, and when we sat on a bench to rest, a Buzzard passed by overhead.

This part of the island is called de Kwaade Hoeck, meaning Terrible Corner. The sea has 'walking sands', so the shrimp fishermen from Stellendam have to have a very good working knowledge of where they can pass with their vessels to get to the harbour. There are supposed to be a lot of old shipwrecks below the surface, and during the last couple of decades those sandbanks have become larger and larger. And the Goeree fishing fleet has become smaller and smaller...I used to teach English to their young men, I wonder how many of those boys attending that fishery college have actually become fishermen...

Anyway, that was aside. Back to my garden.

It looks bleak at first sight, but looks deceive. I saw my bulbs pushing their way up, always the narcisii first, and the tulips come later. No tulips in sight yet, which is as it should be.

What I also noticed, that all of a sudden my blood red Malus apples have disappeared from the small tree. So the birds do actually know they are there, and eat them when they feel the need!

That sky! So lovely! Talking about skies, we had the Northern Lights in my country for the last couple of nights. I spotted it once, when I woke up around 3 a.m., and I saw a red pulsating light in the direction of my allotment. I thought what on earth...is there a fire? But no fire engines, all was very calm and quiet. So I watched it for 10 minutes or so, and then it disappeared.

It was only on the day after that I heard on the morning news that I was lucky enough to have witnessed A Very Rare Event. So I set the alarm for the next night, but saw nothing. Ha! That is always the way, isn't it?

Proof that the trees are anticipating spring again. But first we are in for yet another icy spell, if I can believe the weatherman. Hm, can't say I am looking forward to that...after a couple of sunny days my body craves even more good weather.

Okay. Nothing more to tell you...these are the quiet weeks before the rush to get ready for a new gardening year.

Have a good week, wherever you are.

And please share my blog address when you enjoy reading my words, or visit my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft

See you!

Renée Grashoff 

2025/50 - Botanical nerdy stuff

 Since my last two posts our Delta weather has taken a wintry turn. Suddenly the night frost has reluctantly arrived, and during the day it is chilly, what we call 'guur'. Guur means your lips chap, you curse yourself you have forgotten your gloves, you have to defrost car windows, and you long for hot toddies. In my personal case it also means walkies are a wet affair, for it rains a lot.

Still, I do visit Hunky Dory, and try to do my business in between the showers and hail. This week I have continued replanting. I did dig up that pesky clump of Solidago that was in the wrong spot, and have moved a few shrubs to better places. 

The Pyracantha 'Teton' I mentioned last week has gotten a pyramid support and a trim. I am trying to get it to form a pyramid shape. Quite ambitious, as this plant longs for a nice wall to climb against... I can't provide one, so I am experimenting. It 'thanked' me by piercing my leather gardening gloves with its thorns. Wicked they are! Still, the berries are glorious this year!

Whilst I was walking back and forth doing my bits and bobs, I surprised (or scared, sorry sweetie!) a large hare in the Fig Jungle. It suddenly jumped up from its lair and legged it down the allotments.

Seeing wildlife in the garden always makes me happy. I know there is a hedgehog around, as I find its scat, but I have only seen it the once.

That hare was in this Fig grove. It borders my plot and is sadly totally neglected. Why some people take on an allotment and then never visit, is beyond my comprehension. My bewilderment must be because I was on the waiting list for years!

Some toadstools have sprouted beneath my Pinus. They look nibbled. Mice?

Making a sudden leap to something entirely different: this gorgeous Orchid is my son's. I am very envious.

He has inherited my love for plants and wildlife, so I have painted him a plant as one of his Christmas presents.

It is actually a wooden tray.

Obviously I could not forget my daughter, but her 'thing' is cats.

Cute, eh? Being in the mood for some more painting, I did myself a new one for my wall.

Liking the one for my son, I used the same umbel plant as inspiration.

Right, back to basics! For those of you in Mexico, and Asia, that sky, and more specifically that light level, is your typical Dutch Delta winter gloom. ( I took this photo in the middle of the day!) So perhaps you can understand I fight winter depression? Still, meeting hares does brighten up my day, and mood, at the same time.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, wherever you are. Do visit my website at Renée Grashoff Schrijft if you want to keep up to date about my novels.

Take care!

Renée Grashoff 

2025 - 6 Frost and freezing winds do not a happy gardener make!

 Whilst I sit here trying to thaw out after an hour in my garden, I will make good use of my time and write a blog. For those of you that experience real frost ours is peanuts. But it is exactly our wishy-washy winters that make it so complicated.

Cortaderia selloana

  It should be either a proper winter, or none at all...not 4 nights of frost and sunny days and next 2 degrees C nights and 4 C days with an Eastern wind that feels more freezing than those proper frosts! This confuses my plants and cheeses me off.

  My spider plants in the greenhouse were confused as well and died. This experiment has taught me it is no use trying to keep them in there over winter.

Thankfully my spider plant has plenty of babies.

   Anyway. I was glad to see the rest of the garden was looking bedraggled but alive. My new stakes were upright despite the storms we've had, so that's good news.

And the spring bulbs are still alive as well, great.

My paperwhites even show buds. They are underneath the artichokes, so perhaps they are a bit protected. They are always the first to bloom.

So happy to see the bearded iris are alive, next to some more narcisii.

The hellebore next to the frog pond is almost in bloom too.

And the rozettes of the teasles are fresh and perky. I started out with one, and have at least ten by now. I value them, as they provide seeds for the birds and shelter for the insects. Besides, I like the historic value: they were used for combing wool, to get it ready for spinning. For someone who writes, those are useful details about our past.

My logs are there for the same reason as the teasels: shelter for the insects. This afternoon there was a robin perched on them, but as is so often the case, when I tried to take a photo all I captured was a blur, as it bolted.

The apple trees are pretty in their own way, with lichen. And canker... they are not very healthy and the apples are mostly mealy. But as I inherited them, I simply leave them be (except for pruning) and enjoy the spring blossom.

My frog pond is full of leaves, which I will not disturb yet, as I hope there is wildlife hibernating in that mud underneath them. So far the frogs have shunned it, but there are plenty of boatsmen and other swimming creepy crawlies in there. So strange, I have plenty of toads in the garden, but frogs, nope. I had one three years ago. Perhaps they are afraid I will try to kiss them?

Looking rather grey and boring... But just you wait!

Amaryllis

   In a few weeks time that grey, boring space will suddenly burst out in colour. And then my life will evolve around the garden again.

   In the meantime I have a gig next Sunday, wish us well.

   And my book will be for sale in approx. 2 weeks. Cannot wait!😁 (If you are interested in buying it, you can order it at Trichisboeken.nl, that's the webshop, or alternatively send me an e-mail at dutchdeltagardener@gmail.com )

   Have a lovely weekend, wherever you are.

   Renée