The Loire Valley and especially Blois
Today we harvested our very first runner beans from the garden. We hadn’t even realised there were any on the bean stalk, just flowers. We bought the seeds from Château de la Bourdaisière. Also in the basket are tomatoes, lettuce, chives, basil, raspberries on a nasturium leaf and nasturiums which are also edible, though a little …
Continue reading “Back from the Vegetable Patch – De retour du potager”
It has been a cold rainy week and I was so desperate to eat outside today that I suggested we put our garden table in the woodshed. We shouldn’t complain – the lack of rain this summer has led to water restrictions which fortunately have now been lifted. On vient de passer une semaine froide et …
Continue reading “A Cold Rainy Week – Une semaine froide et pluvieuse”
These amazing petunias are on the bridge at Candé-sur-Beuvron. I don’t think for one minute they get all the TLC that mine get yet they are ten tmes more impressive! Ces magnifiques pétunias se trouvent sur pont à Candé-sur-Beuvron mais je ne crois pas une seule seconde qu’on les bichonne comme moi je fais chez …
When we got back from our June holiday, we had to cut the wisteria right back but it seems to have liked it because it’s having a second flowering. Lorsqu’on est rentré de nos vacances du mois de juin, nous avons dû tailler sévèrement la glycine mais on dirait que c’est une réussite car elle a fait …
Continue reading “Our wisteria gets a second wind – Notre glycine a eu un deuxième souffle”
I love this flower. It’s called Russian Sage or Afghan Sauge. It’s scientific name is Prevoskia atriplicifolia. It looks a lot like lavendar but grows much higher. J’adore cette fleur dont le nom scientifique est Perovskia atriplicifolia. Elle est parfois appelée « sauge d’Afghanistan », « lavande d’Afghanistan » ou « sauge de Russie ». …
The last time I photographed this Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius), it was on it’s last legs. Today, one of its cousins was flitting around the marjoram. La dernière fois que j’ai photographié ce papillon Flambé (Iphiclides podalirius), il était en piètre état. Aujourd’hui l’un de ses cousins papillonnait dans la marjolaine.
We arrived at Voronet Monastery in Bucovina at the end of the day which meant very few people and excellent light. Built in 1488 by Stefan cel Mare, the church is known as the Sistine Chapel of the East. It is one of the 11 monasteries in the area listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage …
We have been so busy getting ready to go on our one-month cycling holiday to Romania that I nearly forgot City Daily Photo theme day. We said goodby to our garden today. I’ll post a photo of the same corner of our house on July 1st. In the meantime, I hope you’ll follow us across …
This beautiful setting for roses of every type is at Place du grenier à sel in Blois, once the site of a salt storehouse. The second photo was taken at dusk, just ten days earlier. Ce bel écrin de roses de toutes sortes se trouve à la place du grenier à sel à Blois. La deuxième …