Monday 7 April 2008

Something I Want III - The Return of the Well

This wouldn't be bad, but maybe a bit grand compared to the previous well.



Simon

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is perfect. I want one too (if we only had a well). I'd have my head gardener run a clematis up one side and a thornless rose on the other and put a few pots of ferns on the ledge.

I am very interested to know what plants your head gardener will be putting in your garden. There are possibilities of French, Australian, and English influences here, and I can't wait to see how you bring it together.

Which reminds me--can you use your identification magic on a vine we saw blooming in September at Apremont? The profusely flowering vine hung down a wall; the possibly pea-like flowers were purple-magenta. A few English gardeners (?) we showed it to had never seen it before. If I knew how I'd send you a photo.

Susan said...

The thornless rose would have to be Zépherine Drouin, wouldn't it? The head gardener would have to spend a few minutes every day gently massaging the buds though, à la Malmaison.
The garden at the house is very small and there isn't much soil (used to be a stableyard, so gravelly and compacted). We will bring many plants with us from our shady courtyard in England - ferns, unusual bulbs, a twisted hazel, a paeony, several species of acanthus, a bamboo, several clematis - I could go on and on. The main thing the garden in France will give me the opportunity to grow that I currently miss is irises. They thrive in Preuilly, but we don't get enough sun in our garden in England, and they are one of my favourite flowers.
I can't tell from your description what the magenta pea flowering climber is, but I wonder if it is the same as a very uncommon one that I saw last year at Ellen Willmott's garden (unfortunately I can't remember the name, but I might be able to find out from them). You can send us an email with a pic attached by going to our profile (click on where it says 'Susan and Simon' on the right hand side of the page, underneath the 'About Us' section.
Susan

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I'll try emailing a photo later today. In the meantime I'll see if the Ellen Willmott garden is online. There should be at least a ghostly web presence.

Massaging the buds? I have a Zephyrine Drouhin and she's never even hinted that I should. But if it's good enough for Malmaison...

Susan said...

I see you know the marvellous Miss Willmott :-)
Bourbon roses are notorious for budball, where the bud just sits there and then rots. One of the cures is supposedly to massage the buds. I wonder what the correct spelling of Z...D... is? After trawling the net and not getting anything authoratative enough, my conclusion is that the correct spelling is probably Zéphirine Drouhin. I must check my books and see what they say.
I've PM'd you about the purple scrambler.
Susan

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan. We have one thing in common: irises! Irises are my favorite flower, or at least were when I lived in the spring in a non-desert environment.

Susan said...

A man of extreme good taste, as I suspected :-) Have you been to the Parc floral de Paris (Bois de Vincennes)? We are visiting in early May with the recently retired director, who is one of the friends we have made in France. The Parc has a very fine collection of irises.
Susan

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the compliment. I'll be in Paris beginning mid-may, perhaps not too late for the irises, but I don't walk as well as I used to. I'm not sure I'd be able to stroll around that parc floral and enjoy the scenery. I'll think about it, though.

Apropos of parc floral, do you know the "parc floral de la source du Loiret," just south of Orleans. If you don't, I strongly recommend it. It is worth the detour. You won't regret it. If you like butterflies [ha, ha!] you'll love it.
www.parc-floral-la-source.com

Susan said...

I checked out the website for the parc floral de la source. They seem to be doing some interesting things there, so on to our ever growing list it goes - thanks :-)
Susan

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