07/09/2026
I’ve taken some months out to finish renovating our farm in France. The house is now done and we’re going to start on the inner garden constructing terraces with pergolas to create seating areas. Unfortunately, of the 60 odd trees we planted out in the front fields last winter, only three have survived- the one in the first picture(squint ) a Sorbus, I only found today at the top of the front meadow. Bless it. One Tilia cordata made it. They were fine in the spring - I had banked on them putting on good roots over the Winter as a water table here is high being so close to a river, but they just couldn’t cope with the successive heat waves we’ve had this year. The freak storm wrecked the existing trees - seriously thinning them out so yet again shade is hard to come by.
We have plenty of self seeded oaks and this Forsythia (formally blobbed as is the way around here) is acting as a nursery to at least 6 young oaks, so eventually I may get my woodland ….
shade goingtohavetowaitalongwhile
