50 shades of .....

every colour except grey!

Red hot pokers and sisyrinchium on the "roundabout"

We've been following the Chelsea flower show on the television this week and loved seeing the range and diversity of show gardens.  We thought the Chatsworth garden stood out head and shoulders from the rest, and smiled at the first ever prize winning display of potatoes!  I was just thinking that the exhibitors work really hard to get their plants perfect and their displays immaculate, but one thing they don't have to worry about at Chelsea is weeding!  Here we've been pulling them out by the barrow full every day for weeks, and planting just has to wait.  However, the weather is getting warmer and the ground is getting drier so we may be over the worst now.

Here are some of the highlights of the Chenevaux flower show!

Rose Danse du Feu on the front of the barbeque palace.

Buddleia alternifolia - full of bees

An area of natural grasses, the croquet lawn is just in front of the wooden structure to the left.

That reminds me,  I mentioned a little while ago that we sometimes have unwelcome wildlife visitors and this week we were walking round and came across this ....., right in the croquet lawn.  Mark nearly had a fit and rushed off to see if the golf green was OK as our annual tournament is in only a couple of weeks time.  On close inspection we could see hoof prints which we think are wild boar and we also found acorns under the grass so think they, or hopefully it, was snouting around for them. Those squirrels have got a lot to answer for!

Not a laughing matter!

Since then Mark has reported the matter to the locals in Gorry's cafe, who have all talked about it and done nothing, and the boar seems to have gone away again.  But may be back!

Anyway back to the nice things .....

Beautiful peonies

I was going to put in another photo of some single pink peonies with lovely golden centres but then I noticed a huge dock plant in the front and a load of nettles behind so decided this one was better.  The flowering time is probably even shorter than that of irises but I just love these plants.  From the first sighting of the new growth coming through in the spring to the flowering of these glorious globes of gorgeousness these plants are well worth their fifteen minutes of fame.

Madame Alfred Carriere

This rose is climbing along the pergola in the back garden and has been flowering for about four weeks already.  Every time we go past there are a couple of dead heads to take off, hopefully it will continue to flower all summer.

Enough of the garden!  Mark has been busy in the studio and has just opened the kiln after a glaze firing.  More trauma!  He really packed the kiln carefully to maximise use of the space and had spent days on the items in it, throwing, first firing, then glazing - then he put the kiln on on Saturday night with the expectation that it would take about 12 hours to reach temperature.  18 hours later it had just finished!  As the kiln has to cool down from its internal temperature of 1250C to about 350C we then had to wait until late this morning (Monday) to open it and see if the firing had been successful - and as you can see it was!  Mark will now have to check each of the elements to see if any have blown, and replace them before he does any more firings.

Hurrah the kiln gods have been kind.

   These are some of the vessels that were at the back of the top shelf.

Even after a day the pots are still too hot to handle.  This is a stoneware bowl, thrown on the wheel.

And a close-up of the glaze which is rather beautiful.

At the moment Mark's making a built-in barbeque on the terrace at the end of the barbeque palace, summer's here!

A bit of imagination needed at the moment!

May photos from Chenevaux

1st May is a public holiday here and at the local spa town of La Roche Posay people turned out in the pouring rain to take part in the events that were taking place all round the medieval area .....

Firemen who had just had a water fight against the local police in the rain!

Forging iron

A vintage car ralley

Woodcarving in the donjon

A stroll round the medieval area

Fab-u-lous roses!

And various things to eat including a local biscuit, very similar to shortbread, called Broye.

Oh yes, and Mark had a shop for the day!

By the time we had cleaned the windows at least people could see his work!

Here at Chenevaux we have gone from bare trees, shrubs just starting to go green and daffodils to green green green everywhere in the space of two weeks.  Mark can hardly keep up with the mowing and the weeding is becoming more like a jungle clearance!

Blossom came and went in the space of a week.

Wisteria and irises along the front of the house

This wisteria died back and has regrown from below the graft - it was pink originally
but has reverted to blue which is actually a nicer colour against the buff walls.

Bare trees and apple blossom on 21st April, taken at sunrise. 

Green everywhere on 4th May, taken mid afternoon.

There's another public holiday on Friday 8th, more excitement!