The Chateau De La Hulpe in Brussels/Belgium

22 Mar '07 3:22 am

Liza, yet more glorious photos! You can't beat blossom for sheer fragile beauty, can you? And, of course, I always see daffodils as the ultimate herald of spring (despite the fact that mine have been blooming for weeks now and we've been having snowfall for the past two days! Evil or Very Mad

).

And I second Gordon's request to see some pics of your own garden too - I'd love to see what it looks like in spring. Smile

That leads me on to Gordon - that clematis looks lovely, I love the cross-shaped flowers and I'm sure it'll thrive on your pear tree.

22 Mar '07 7:29 pm

Dear Gordon , lovely your garden news! Sunny , with 10C, I love gardening! Lucky guy! And your new Clematis, another wonder! I fell in love with this nursery of yours , and added it to my Favorites!

And my sweet Bambi, and Gordon,... send you photos!! How?? Yesterday and the day before, the weather was like in the photos of my "Spring-Snow" post in The Diaries section...Yesterday I entered the supermarket by the time a...snow storm was starting , after a sunny break... And, after 30', when I returned to my car, it was white covered by snow! This thing has NEVER happened to me before! A little later, after 30', the snow had melted again . and...again a sunny break of 30'-40', with 5C ... Crying or Very sad

23 Mar '07 6:45 pm

Dear Bambi and Liza- Thanks for your comments about "my" new clematis! I hope that the colour and size of its flowers won't overwhelm my pear tree.

Other than that, Liza, I really sympathize with your changeable weather. The other day here, the sun was shining and it was snowing at the same time!! Didn't snow very much, but enough to make lots of people comment about it. But now, you see, you need to dash out in whatever little sunny break you get and snap a couple of pictures! I plan to take at least one tomorrow, rain or shine, of my new flower bed, as it will be all dug over for the first time, and I want to show everyone. Not much to show as yet, but it'll be something to look back upon later in the year when it's ablaze with colour Very Happy

! (Provided that a neighbour doesn't poison it again!)

If anyone thinks of a better clematis choice for my pear tree, please let me know, as I haven't ordered it yet. But remember, it can't grow too tall, must bloom in mid-summer and needs small flowers. Fragrance would be an asset!

Cheers!

-gordonf

24 Mar '07 2:10 am

Gordon, I might suggest that you try any of the integrifolia Clematis. They all have small (often bell shaped) flowers and come in many different colors. They all grow well through other plants and are not so rampant. They are also resistant to the disease that sometimes kills off the large flowered varieties. Do not, whatever you do, plant C. terniflora (Sweet Autumn Clamatis) which dies have small white flowers that are supposedly fragrant, although I have never been able to detect a fragrance from mine. It is a very rampant grower and would swallow your tree.

24 Mar '07 4:20 am

I just can't believe I've missed so much in this lovely thread! Rolling Eyes

Anyway, it's a blessing in disguise in that I get to view all these remarkable snowy and springtime captures and read all posts in one sitting! Liza, these pics are simply awesome and many of them left me astounded and captivated by the beauty presented! You have a great artistic eye and display fantastic photographic skills! Thanks lots for taking us along to visit The Chateau, dear friend! Very Happy

24 Mar '07 8:27 am

Hi, Faith-

Oops! I already planted a Clematis ternifolia to grow over my smoke tree! Oh, well, I can always cut it back, and the smoke tree is quite a lot larger than the pear tree. I planted it there to remind me of the many wild ones in the Interior of the province and I thought it's rather smokey-looking seed heads would blend nicely with the "smoke" of the smoke tree. It's still a tiny plant, so we'll see what it does. But thanks for the warning!!

Cheers!

gordonf

p.s.- There's another Pacific front passing over the Island today, and, boy! is it ever windy!!

24 Mar '07 9:29 pm

Thank you, dear Jacqueline! Yes, how is it possible not to create lovely pictures in this amazingly beautiful place! One is constantly inspired by its Natural Beauty and its uplifting , joyful energy!

Thank you, dear Bambi, for your nice comments, too!

15 Apr '07 2:04 am

Dear Liza

Earlier in this post Jacqueline commented that your pictures of the chateau are the best on the web. And somewhere during the last weeks I said that Eggy's pics of the Beth Chatto Garden were second only to the Invectis site on Sissinghurst www.invectis.co.uk/sissing/ . But I think it is time a third candidate is added to my 'most beautiful pictures of a famous garden on the web' list: Liza's Chateau De La Hulpe Collection!

I intend to now group them all together and use them to replace my longest running ever screensaver slide show: Eggie's Beth Chatto Gardens! (Previous longest: the Sissinghurst ones at Invectis)

23 Apr '07 5:08 am

My good friends, Jack and Jacqueline! I am hugely flattered by your comments!! You make me to be even more responsible regarding the quality of my photos in this way... This is not at all bad...Thank you so much!

Today, I will present you some Spring photos of the Chateau I took last week, when the day was quite cloudy...I had gone to the nearby good nursery, in order to buy some good quality universal compost. It would be impossible not to pass from the Chateau, knowing that the Cherry Trees there are in bloom, like everywhere...

1-- Around the Chateau :

23 Apr '07 5:25 am

2-- The Flora in Spring

The photos of the Spring I'm posting, are showing the Spring prior to the season of those I posted last year. Last year the Cherry Trees had just lost all their blooms, and the petals were forming pink carpets underneath.

The Chateau De La Hulpe in Brussels/Belgium

Changing Weather

Clematis

Gorgeous pics of The Chateau!

OOPS!!

The Chateau in early Spring!

Liza's Chateau Collection

Springtime in the Chateau.