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In the Shadow of a Château

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Le Dorat
In the Shadow of a Château

Life in rural France - gardening & renovating, and my rescue dog Velcro. Motto: I like big beams and I cannot lie. Favorite Room: The pretty little powder room.

Quote: It's really starting to look like something!
👷‍♀️👩‍🌾🐕👩‍🍳

13/05/2026

Roses and Their Garden

It's been a while since I put a Tiny Powder Room flower display on the grid.

This little posey is made up of mostly the pretty light pink salmon roses from the 'wild' rose over at the composting zone in The Moat Garden.

📷 2-4 are from the garden. I published a simple reel yesterday with more of what is captured in the second slide here. I just love the contrast of the frothy elderflower with the light salmon rose blooms and dark green foliage.

I added a couple of blooms from two roses in my backyard that haven't quite become established. They are the fragrant yellow 'Roald Dahl' (in the middle of the posey) and the beautiful grenache colored 'Botticelli' (middle right).

I tend to cut blooms off during the first flowering season after planting a new rose just to allow it to focus more on building stem strength. They seem to droop because the blooms are too big for their little stems. 🥰

I'm not sure that is the recommended thing to do, but it makes me feel good to take the strain off of them.

Have a lovely rest of the week all.

À bientôt !

French Country Home | French Country Style | Small Flower Arrangement

12/05/2026

Roses and Rain

Yesterday gave us a huge downpour and lots of rain throughout the day here in my little corner of the Haute-Vienne.

I had no choice but to go out into it, primarily because I needed to take a lot of clippings, kitchen scraps, and spent flowers over to the compost zone in The Moat Garden.

I also wanted to make sure I rescued any peonies that might get weighed down by the rain.

Most of you are now familiar with the 'wild' rose in this video. Two years ago, I discovered her after clearing out the jungle of brambles near the compost zone. She blooms once a year for a couple of weeks, so I've only been able to share a little bit since then.

Because she was here before I got here, or was carried in by a bird, I have no idea what kind of rose she is. She does have double blooms, so I don't think she is just a wild rose.

My best guess is 'Albertine' and that she was planted here purposely by the previous owner.

Just like the 'Arielle Dombasle' in my backyard, this climbing rose thrives when it can climb up an elderflower bush.

I took some still photos and put together a small posey for the tiny powder room. I'll post those later in the week.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the sound of the rain in the garden.

À bientôt

French Gardens | French Rural Life | Rose Lover

06/05/2026

Oh my! Is there anything more exciting for a backyard flower grower than a flower-filled Hump Day?

My peonies have really taken off this year, and I think I may never leave home again. 😁

Here's what I have learned so far this (my first real) peony season:

1 - The wild geraniums help keep w**ds and pest away early in the season, then help support the heavy stalks later. I was overly fastidious about clearing everything away from the peonies in prior years, but the peonies seem happier with beneficial airy friends.

2 - Having different types of peonies in the same planting area is good for succession. For example, I've got Coral Charm planted between King's Day and Shirley Temple. When the earlier ones finish, the other start to bloom.

3 - Coral Charm is by far the earliest bloomer and is done now.

I hope everyone is having a good week!

À bientôt !

03/05/2026

FIRST SUNDAY FLOWERS - May 2026 (Edited to add names of flowers)

Here's a small sample of blooms from the gardens on this first Sunday of May.

I had put the names on the individual slides the first time around, but Meta stripped them off.

Here you go -
Roses
📷 4 'Pierre de Ronsard' (Meilland) with Clematis 'Voluceau' Tipi
📷 5 'Golden Celebration' (DA)
📷 6 an unknown climbing rose (possibly 'Albertine')

Peonies
📷 8 Peonia Itoh 'Lollipop'
📷 9 Peonia lactifora 'Bridal Shower'
📷 10 Peonia lactifora 'Shirley Temple
📷 11 Peonia lactifora 'Flame'

I took the photo of the clematis and the 'Pierre de Ronsard' rose together to give you an idea of what they look like growing up the same lattice in the front courtyard.

The Pierre de Ronsard is a new rose for me this year - I got it on 60% off at the end of last year. It is in a pot and has surpassed my wildest expectations!

The peach colored rose I guessed is an 'Albertine', based on its growth habits and how long it has likely been in the Moat Garden. It has its own post from when I first uncovered it a couple of years ago.

Not pictured today are 'Old Lady Rose' and 'Arielle Dombasle' - they get plenty of action throughout the Summer. They'll be sure to make appearances as the season progresses.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!

À bientôt !

27/04/2026

Peony 'Hillary' & oak leaves

If you saw my stories yesterday, I had quite a bit of clippings from the moat garden that included lots of aquilegia, some other peonies, roses, and these oak branches.

As usual, I prepared to stuff everything I harvested into a crock for a stuffed-to-the-gills garden-in-a-bowl arrangement. I mean, if one flower is good, then twenty is better, right?!

I started as I normally do, with the bigger sturdier branches to serve as a sort of matrix in the crock to hold the other stems in place. Today these first pieces were the oak branches.

As soon as the single peony went in there, it struck me that this big beautiful bloom (bigger than my hand, in fact!) was all that was needed - anything more would be an injustice to this stunner.

I did add a small branch of dog rose in the back for fullness (and scent) and a sprig of ninebark 'Lady in Red' for a smidge of texture.

I think it looks like something from a stage show of Peter Pan. I always imagine that Neverland would have big beautiful frilly flowers made of painted parchment tucked into a wooded backdrop.

The arrangement is now sitting on my coffee table and I keep looking over at it, wondering if I'm going to see Tinkerbell perched on one of the leaves.

24/04/2026

Just a bee with pollen pantaloons on the dog rose

22/04/2026

The peonies are budding out - 2026

I planted these as bareroots in the backyard in October of 2023.

2026 is looking to be their best year yet. Oooohhhh, I am so excited!

If you don't grow peonies, I am here to tell you that you should consider them.

Of all my cut flowers, they require the least intervention. I w**d a bit around them, mostly to keep the grasses and bind w**d away. The wild geraniums grow up after the peonies have sprung up and bush out.

I do put h**p straw mulch down to avoid too many volunteer wild plants, but I make sure the peony roots have plenty of sunlight by pulling the mulch back the beginning of February. But that's it!

No continuous deadheading, no training, nothing else. Just plant, don't step in the beds, and watch them grow!

Scroll to see a sample of these blooms from May of last year.

📷 2 - a video showing off 'King's Day'.
📷 3 - a still of 'Flame' with tulip 'Queen of the Night'

I have planted 14 varieties of peony and a total of 25 plants. The first video is of the bed with seven in the backyard. The rest are in The Moat Garden.

Hopefully, we'll get glamor shots of blooms from all of them in a few weeks.

Happy Gardening et à bientôt !

14/04/2026

Featured tulip - 'Red Wave' (on the left)

Also in this impromptu arrangement: (clockwise from top)

Jumbo Bluebells 'Excelsior'
Tulip 'Queen of the Night'
Tulip 'Amazing Grace' (x2)
Botanical tulip 'Lilac Wonder' (x2)
Tulip 'Black Hero' (in the middle there at the base of the bluebells)
Alfalfa foliage for a bit of wild filler.

The second and fourth slides are real glamor shots of this amazing giant parrot tulip.

Slide #3 shows off 'Amazing Grace' and 'Lilac Wonder'.

Unfortunately, botanical tulips close up out of sunlight, so you aren't getting the best of this little beauty.

They are so cute and bouncy in a sunny border! Plus they naturalize in the right spot. I really do recommend you give them a try if you haven't already.

I always harvest above the second leaf in hopes that I might get a repeat next year. Look at how long the stem is on 'Queen of the Night'. I decided not to trim it any shorter for the vase because it really deserves to show off the long stem it grew.

I'm all tuckered out this evening. It is not even 7 pm and I've already got my pajamas on and a glass of red in hand.

If you are following my stories, you may have seen that I was over
today. I was up and down scaffolding and ladders for a continuous five hours, finishing some gap-filling and getting started on lime painting.

Let me know what you think of this purple and pink color scheme and if you have any recommendations for other tulips I might like.

À bientôt !

Flower arrangement | Spring Bulbs | Gardening in France | Cut Flowers

12/04/2026

No one is more surprised than I am that all three of my orchids have rebloomed ... let alone at the same time !

I've learned that mostly leaving them alone is the secret.

Today I did some rare leaf cleaning and hydration, which requires me to use a step ladder to reach the window sill. Slide for a bird's eye view of what it looks like with them all at the sink.

What did your Sunday look like?

Bon dimanche!

30/03/2026

Some of the blooms and blossoms in my garden right now.

A Tulip 'Black Hero'
B Narcissus ' Pink Charm'
C Cherry blossom
D Roberts Crabapple blossom
E Tulip (double) 'Angelique'
F Anemone 'The Bride'
G Myosotis
H Muscari 'Night Eyes'
I Amelanchier alnifolia - Saskatoon
J Rosemary

Lots of these bloom earlier here in Southwestern France than in some other parts of Europe.

The tulips and muscari are all supposed to be late varieties, but they are up already and are repeat bloomers from last year.

Fortunately, I planted a lot more Spring bulbs in pots in mid-February so I should get a second flush in a couple of weeks.

À bientôt !

Spring bulbs | Spring blossoms | Flowering Herbs

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