The new garden is an improvement over the old one in size, shape and - from a certain point of view - even in climate. If one hears "Italy" one thinks of mediterranean shores shaded by the waving fronds of palms and mimosas, but that is wishful thinking, at best. We, in the north, got choking hot, droughty, and sultry summers, true, but also wickedly freezing winters: even the global warming did not make our winters mediterranean.
We still have freezing winters in the new garden, that we already ascertained, and howling north west storms all the way from the Atlantic ocean, but we can hope in somewhat more merciful summers.
The draw backs of the new garden are the tea roses left by the landlady and the haphazard approach to tree planting that all of her family must have inherited as a genetic trait from some ancient forefather related to triassic squirrels. There is no other explanation.
The tea roses are for the most part pink and magenta - light magenta, dark magenta, medium magenta. They make my teeth ache, but I cannot remove them. I will have to be stoic. I know I can. Or so I think.
In late april we finally got an internet connection, and I could order seeds of something choicer than the bedding annuals that seem to be only plants available in this region. I have now sown some tropical beauties (Musa nagensium and Tetrapanax papyrifera, and, more for chance than choice, Carica papaya) and several biennials that will grace the borders (hopefully) next year: foxgloves (parviflora, lanata, purpurea "Pam's Choice") , hollihocks (black), Rhodochiton atrosanguineum, and Campanula pyramidalis "Alba".
We still have freezing winters in the new garden, that we already ascertained, and howling north west storms all the way from the Atlantic ocean, but we can hope in somewhat more merciful summers.
The draw backs of the new garden are the tea roses left by the landlady and the haphazard approach to tree planting that all of her family must have inherited as a genetic trait from some ancient forefather related to triassic squirrels. There is no other explanation.
The tea roses are for the most part pink and magenta - light magenta, dark magenta, medium magenta. They make my teeth ache, but I cannot remove them. I will have to be stoic. I know I can. Or so I think.
In late april we finally got an internet connection, and I could order seeds of something choicer than the bedding annuals that seem to be only plants available in this region. I have now sown some tropical beauties (Musa nagensium and Tetrapanax papyrifera, and, more for chance than choice, Carica papaya) and several biennials that will grace the borders (hopefully) next year: foxgloves (parviflora, lanata, purpurea "Pam's Choice") , hollihocks (black), Rhodochiton atrosanguineum, and Campanula pyramidalis "Alba".
We also inherited peonies, wild roses, and a dicentra, also pink.
I have sown seeds of my own old columbines all over the place, white, indigo, mauve and cream, black, green and chocolate. The local columbines, stray seedlings that I tenderly saved from the lawn mower all over the garden are, predictably, pink. It is not their fault but I cannot help thinking of them as of ungrateful creatures. It is amazing that SOME flowers here are actually NOT pink: forsythias, daffodils and crown imperials and a vast number of snowdrops. The only reason I can find for this is that these flowers just don't come in pink.
No comments:
Post a Comment