
-
As I keep saying: I don’t really like orange or yellow flowers. But there are some lifelong favorite exceptions like Calendula officinalis or Eschscholzia californica. You just have to love these totally uncomplicated flowers with their deeply luminous orange color…
-
Gaura Lindheimeri
Supposedly Gaura Lindheimeri should thrive in this climate and I’ve been dreaming of large swathes of them swaying in the breeze. But I’ve not had much luck so far. Since 2022 I’ve planted quite a few and until last fall…
-
Buddleia davidi
It’s not my favorite shrub and I would never have planted it myself in this garden… but I have to admit that the color of Buddleia davidii “Black Knight” is simply splendid: a very dark and sumptuous purple with pink…
-
Hypericum perforatum
One of my favorite flowering herbs. I macerate it in oil to obtain “red oil”, which is useful as a rub for lumbago, gout, rheumatism, to relieve pain of sprains, heal wounds, for bruises and light burns. The red color…
-
Little Beasties everywhere
Birds and bees don’t change all that much between countries and gardens. But there were quite a few little beasties I had never seen before, including a large Western Whip Snake, crawling at speed straight up the embankment, hissing and…
-
Echinops ritro / bannaticus
Another one of those “I would never have planted it myself but now I love it!”-plants. I dislike the feel of prickly plants, that’s the main reason I never before considered Echinops for my various gardens. But since it was…