Life in a Brittany Garden

I scoured my normal mushroom places yesterday – feeling sure that the conditions were right for a mass emergence. Almost nothing. This morning I went back to the exact same spots and…Voila! Boletus edulis, Penny Bun, Porcini, Cepe de Bordeaux….€28 a kilo – call it what you like, I found loads! Newly planted in my…

None of the normal oranges and yellows of Autumn in this post. Instead it’s straight back to Summer with magenta, pink and crimson. This has been the best year so far for chestnuts! There’s a 20 cent coin there for scale – about the size of a 5p. Zinnia California Giants. This has been the…

Misty morning looking out over the field from the garden…It’s raining now. I’m listening to the rain clattering on the roof lights and the wind is gusting. It possibly sounds more dramatic than it is as it’s dark out there. Today has given us the first rain for at least a month. Yesterday it was…

Letting the photos speak for themselves…. Peacock butterfly. Swallowtail on Verbena bonariensis Speckled Wood on Bracken. Swallowtail Caterpillar getting ready to wander off and pupate. Male Brimstone on Verbena bonariensis It’s not all butterflies! The dahlias have been good this year too. And the Asters are beautiful now. Apples and pears in abundance this year.…

A version of Rumtopft. Except not really as it was all put in on the same day in a bid to use a mixture of fruit that isn’t jam or chutney… The fruit with the star shape is actually a tomato. Brown Turkey figs have cropped well – and grown exponentially. Masses of little ones…

No matter how many photos I post, they won’t capture the essence of this most beautiful, (although I once may have said she was ugly) cat. She turned up here one day and decided to stay. Bit by bit she dug herself in until she became, perhaps, the most important part of my being here.…

How could I resist this Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) on ‘Royal Red’ Buddleia? Despite the heat I’ve been surprised that the Painted Ladies have been so scarce. This is just the second so far this Summer. But in the garden there are also: My new ‘companion’ who sits at my feet and waits for whatever…

Swallowtail landing on Verbena bonariensis: White Admiral on Blackthorn: Purple Emperor on Sallow: Map on Hogweed: Silver Washed Fritillary on Bramble:

How have I managed to have written nothing for so long? Loads of garden stuff to mention, but it’s really the butterflies that are the stars of the moment. A Marbled White. As always I’m pretty happy when these start appearing – they signify early summer for me. June flying and abundant this year in…

It’s been a fairly difficult Spring so far…Too many stops and starts in the weather. Too many cold days which meant the soil seemed to be taking ages to warm up. Now, even though it’s warm ‘enough’ theoretically, and things germinated well in the burst of extreme heat in early April. Since then they’ve just…