~In jeder Sprache wohnen andere Augen.~ ~I don't know where I am going but I am on my way.~

lundi 19 septembre 2011

Autumn in Hex

Hex will always be our highlight for garden events in Belgium. One could think that it will be boring to see the same things twice a year but we never get tired to visit and take all the changes in. Because there are always changes to be noticed in a garden!



The picture above is Château d’Hex with Climbing Cécile Brunner in the foreground. Still in bloom, this will always be one of my best preferred climbing roses. Ours was almost declared dead but it has resurrected this summer. I was first wondering if it showed the original rose but when I saw 2 (!) flowers, I could be sure. It is nearly one meter high again.

Due to the fact that our garden is a bit -very much- neglected those days, I could not get enough of taking pictures in this « borrowed » environment.



Whilst it had been cold, dull and damp during the week, that very weekend was announced to be sunny and warm and so it was ! Ideal conditions to take plenty of pictures.



I love Autumn’s generosity and don't you find, this displays it perfectly?



On the right is the nice man who is an expert in old English apple trees. He grows many different varities and one gets always great tipps from him. His nursery is called ‘Nobilis Viriditas’.





This lime tree (tilia Henryana) is now ours. I bought it because of its different habit and it is an excellent bee food for the autumn season as it flowers very late. Back home, I found that I had mentioned this very species on my wishlist many years ago :-).



The basketmakers were there as always and we asked them for a specific basket which they promised to do within the next 3 hours… The nice man started it promptly as you can see on the second collage on the left.





The terracotta pottery offered a big range of wonderful pots and the old twiglet chopper, belonging to the castle, was shown in action (amazingly efficient!)



Magic September light.



This time, I admired again the love for details on the stands which seem to be always more eye-catching in September than in June.



This lovely lady sitting here is Joséphine Dekkers, she grows the oldest varieties of bulbs. We buy every time some new batches from her and our garden could easily become Josephine’s show garden for her bulbs. Every Spring we are surprised by what we discover then.



There were a few « professional » shoppers- it reminded me of my own friend in Hamburg, when we went to our shopping tour in Berlin :-))).



These clematis are on my wishlist to be ordered for next spring . I have a soft spot for those with tiny bells and clematis viticella Caerulea Luxurians needs to get a home here. Its sister, Alba Luxurians is already a joy to watch growing here.



Inside the horse stables are beautiful stands, as well. The picture in the collage down below on the right shows the dog’s annexes to the stables.





More impressions











Many would wish to live just here.



The new bee hives and yummee food around for them.




Can you spot the lonely sunflower growing on the chimney?





The huge vegetable garden






So quickly those 3 hours had passed! The basket was finished and waited to be picked up. We went home to feed the animals because the activities for that weekend were not done. EG longed for the backpipes’ sound at the Scottish Weekend in Alden Biesen.



cu

jeudi 15 septembre 2011

Work in Progress

My long absence is due to the fact that I caught the very nasty bug called Borreliosis or Lyme desease. Whilst I was always vigilant about a bite from a tick on ourselves and always treated all animals with the latest generation of droplets to be put on their necks, I have never been aware that a tick has been biting me. Latest information explain that not only ticks can transmit this bacteria which is developped on mainly sheep and fallow deer but also any kind of insects which suck our blood might infect us. The consequences of suffering of lyme desease are widely spread and the antibodies of the bacteria will always remain in the body which means that one is never sure of a next crisis. But I define my blog as a happy place where I can mainly upload my photos like in an album and therefore will not go in details about my condition.

As a consequence, some things in the bayous did sort themselves out.



The vegetable garden looks like this


and in the front yard the green is sprouting in the gaps. In the other parts of the garden, weedy things have developped so massively that for the first time I am looking forward to the end of the growing season :-0.



August was the month when the change in the loft space made a good move forward.

After the plasterer had left, there were plenty of details to be finished. This is the bigger of the loft rooms before painting.





Some of the old floorboards had decayed too much and had to be replaced.


The builder kept some of the stonewalls visible, other not so nice looking bits were plastered over.




This last picture in the collage above is showing what will be the bathroom. So there is still some more work to be done, as well as the other loft room to be finished.



A wee boy was born and the happy event was a highlight of August. This is the card I made for him.





EG then started to empty the ‘piggery’… the name keeps its promise ;-). Eine echte Schweinerei!



The old David Brown and trailer came out to carry all of the more than hundred of years old roof isolation : hay, straw, twiglets and bundles of bracken.



The huge wasp nest is old and abandoned.





EG on his own spent hour after hour in the dust...



This cross was discovered just under the tiles. It was an old tradition here to protect the building and the lifestock.



NB: We hoped also to find old tins, as our neighbour did when he emptied the old isolation in his annexe. He found then a 16-paged handwritten document signed by "Albert I, roi des Belges", Albert was also called 'le Roi des soldats' (King of the soldiers) during the first WW. He gave in this document instructions what had to be done if he would not survive... very interesting scenarios indeed. Our area has always been very hard-fought and soldiers would take shelter in the haylofts over night where obviously they used tins to hide secret writings.





Eventually, it was all taken away and brushed out.



This is what will become our new living room.



Only minutes later, EG had carried his last trailerload away and filled it up on his way back with branches which were laying around the stream. Next winter will be coming - but our wood supply seems never to end :-).



tbc