dahlias from my french garden

One of the the cool things about writing a blog is that I can justify, to myself at least, taking half an hour out from work and fooling around with flowers in my garden.

Today is grey, and damp, and sort of fuzzy, with a little normandy drizzle falling from the sky  ... and I love it!  I know that those of you heading into summer in Australia or enjoying gentle sunshine in California, may think I'm mad, but there is comfort in grey damp weather.

So with a little help from two young men I found hanging around in the garden ...

I started wandering around with my camera and secateurs....

then I got out a table, and a few props ....

and before I knew it, I had a little photo shoot going on here ....

It doesn't take much to keep me happy ...

and a little later on I had to put everything away, then thought these colours would like nice in a tureen I found at a fair on Sunday, .....  so I'm afraid you now have to sit through a few more !

I hope you enjoyed the pics!

early autumn in my french garden

 We are at that special moment in the year when summer starts to blend ever so gently into sunny autumn.  There are specific perfumes on the breeze, the first tinges of colour in the leaves, and with the help of dahlias, asters and zinnias, the garden does it best to show that autumn can be just as good as spring.

Early mornings are filled with heavy dew, and the evening air weighs chilly on our shoulders.  We are not yet lighting fires each evening, but we have already reached for some warmer clothes.

How I love a change of season .....

 Here are a few shots taken in the garden, sedum, hydrangeas, asters and dahlias, and even the wisteria putting out a few last minute blooms.   Autumn in Normandy is starting well.

dusk in my June garden

 Don't you just love that special light, you sometimes get on a summers evening?  

 Although the weather here continues to be moody, we have had a couple of lovely evenings here this week with the most incredible light at dusk.  Pretty hard to convey via photo, but I tried to capture the mood, and make the most of our climbing Bobbie James rose which is doing its best to steal the show!

The white border in front of the terrace is flowering well at the moment, and the climbing rose Félicité Perpétue at the gateway is blooming with its tiny, pink buds, and fragrant double rose heads.

And by the way, for those who ask, No!  I don't force Gibson to lie down centre stage whenever I take a picture, it's all his idea!  He sees the camera, and chooses a strategic spot to lie down facing me, it is really quite uncanny.   The boy's a natural ...

I wish you all a happy start to your weekend, thank you for reading me this week.

roses galore

We may not have the sunshine this June, but the roses don't mind!  It is the height of rose season here in Normandy, and every tiny village has walls covered in beautiful blooms.

Some of these pictures are from my garden and some are taken at friends homes, 

or simply while  walking to the village shop.

Hope your week gets off to a fragrant and flower filled start!

Just two more days to take part in the giveaway!!

roses from my garden

A little 'bouquet du jour' to start your weekend.  We have had torrential rain this week, in fact a friend summed it up quite nicely "il fait très beau pour un mois de novembre" ... we're having very nice weather for a month of November!

Consequently my poor peonies have taken a real battering and the roses are wondering whether it was such a good idea to open up their buds.

Still I wandered the garden this morning, secateurs in hand, and put together this bouquet.  Last week it was blue and white, this week multi coloured, and next week I'll try an all white arrangement.

I cut roses, peonies, climbing hydrangea, lupins, euphorbia, the flowers from the ground elder that plagues me in one corner of the garden and some valerian.  I hope you like it.

I have always loved putting bouquets together for the house, but it wasn't until I had the blog that I realised how much fun it is to take the photos and 'stage' them - thank you!

Thank you for reading me again this week, thank you for the many wonderful and interesting comments I received, I am so sorry it isn't possible to reply to them all.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.