The Chateau De La Hulpe in Brussels/Belgium

23 Apr '07 5:39 am

3-- The Fauna :

Well, no horses this time, only birds:

23 Apr '07 2:23 pm

Hello again, Liza;

More beautiful pictures from you! The cherry trees are simply wonderful! I haven't checked yet, but I don't think our cherries are in bloom just yet, although the plums are just finishing. I've been too busy to check, and although there are many flowering trees in bloom now, I always have to check them a bit closely to determine whether or not they really ARE cherries!

I see that you folks had the same kind of winter damage that we did - broken trees and broken footbridges! Somehow, though, damage in your manicured gardens seems worse than the same kind of damage here, in our more natural parks. After all, in the wilds, such damage always occurs and Nature needs it to rejuvenate herself, but in a manicured area it just seems so much sadder!

But on to happier things: how is your garden coming? I find that I am putting a few more plants that overwintered indoors back outside day by day. Hopefully we won't get another frost, but one can't be sure until sometime in May, so I have to be always ready to bring them back inside at night.

Although I was called into work for 7:00 this morning, I did manage to plant a couple of new "Toronto" pink lilies this afternoon. I received them as free bonuses from one of my favourite nurseries along with my recent order. Over the next day or two, depending upon the weather, I have to repot my "Tuscany Superb" rose and add the new perennial geranium, "Double Jewel" to the pot to hide the bare "legs" of the rose. The rose has nearly purple flowers and the geranium has double white flowers with tiny pink stripes in them which should go well with the rose, and which will bloom much longer than the 2 weeks that I get from the rose! I don't suppose that the one geranium will cover ALL of the rose stems this year, but perhaps by next they will do their job!

My gentians STILL haven't come into bloom; they sit there and get a tiny bit bluer each day, but refuse to open in this cool weather. I sure hope they will not suddenly flower and be gone within 2 or 3 days, after waiting for them for so long!! Very Happy

That's it for now! Enjoy the new week!

Cheers,

gordonf

23 Apr '07 2:57 pm

Hello again, Liza;

More beautiful pictures from you! The cherry trees are simply wonderful! I haven't checked yet, but I don't think our cherries are in bloom just yet, although the plums are just finishing. I've been too busy to check, and although there are many flowering trees in bloom now, I always have to check them a bit closely to determine whether or not they really ARE cherries!

I see that you folks had the same kind of winter damage that we did - broken trees and broken footbridges! Somehow, though, damage in your manicured gardens seems worse than the same kind of damage here, in our more natural parks. After all, in the wilds, such damage always occurs and Nature needs it to rejuvenate herself, but in a manicured area it just seems so much sadder!

But on to happier things: how is your garden coming? I find that I am putting a few more plants that overwintered indoors back outside day by day. Hopefully we won't get another frost, but one can't be sure until sometime in May, so I have to be always ready to bring them back inside at night.

Although I was called into work for 7:00 this morning, I did manage to plant a couple of new "Toronto" pink lilies this afternoon. I received them as free bonuses from one of my favourite nurseries along with my recent order. Over the next day or two, depending upon the weather, I have to repot my "Tuscany Superb" rose and add the new perennial geranium, "Double Jewel" to the pot to hide the bare "legs" of the rose. The rose has nearly purple flowers and the geranium has double white flowers with tiny pink stripes in them which should go well with the rose, and which will bloom much longer than the 2 weeks that I get from the rose! I don't suppose that the one geranium will cover ALL of the rose stems this year, but perhaps by next they will do their job!

My gentians STILL haven't come into bloom; they sit there and get a tiny bit bluer each day, but refuse to open in this cool weather. I sure hope they will not suddenly flower and be gone within 2 or 3 days, after waiting for them for so long!! Very Happy

That's it for now! Enjoy the new week!

Cheers,

gordonf

23 Apr '07 6:44 pm

Hi, my good friend Gordon!! You know, I have been thinking so often of you recently! I remembered you saying somewhere, that you had seen certain flowers blooming all together, the same , that in other areas flower in stages..Well, in my recent Athens experience , some of those wild and private garden flowers you saw in the Athens/Museum post, will flower here all together, all summer long, either in pot gardens or in the wild, like in the Chateau. Here they will be summer flowers, while in Athens were only Spring flowers ... There, by the end of May, much of the blooming wild becomes dry, so sad to look... There a dry, sunny Summer weather , here a medium-sunny , moist weather,...exactly like the Spring time in Athens...Faces of dearest Nature..

Oh, yes, I enjoyed immensely those Cherry Trees you saw at the Chateau...It was so calm and peaceful that day.. But, yes, you could notice everywhere the damage of the recent winter storms..; quite many trees were cut back and missing...So sad...Concerning the damage in my garden , it did happen, but it was not fatal: I have a lovely big cypress that suffered a lot by the strong winds and needs to be pushed a little back straight ; this is the job of my kind young gardener, who makes the work in the garden that I can't, where special body power is needed... He helped me in the same way with my Rose Arch, that also suffered a lot by the storms..

Concerning your news and plans in your garden, are exciting!! Gentiana has the most beautiful blue I know in blooms!! Here they say "a Gentian blue", to stress the beauty of a blue...Your Double Jewel Geranium is the perfect companion for your Toscany Superp Rose! I' m waiting for their first blooming photo!

And now I have to rush, in order to end my household duties, before I start my garden ones! See you later! Happy Spring gardening!!

24 Apr '07 6:26 am

Dear Liza

What joy your photos bring - and how I picture you, like a fairy in the garden, skipping from vantage point to vantage point, camera in hand!

Thank you so much!

24 Apr '07 6:32 am

Dear Liza

What joy your photos bring - and how I picture you, like a fairy in the garden, skipping from vantage point to vantage point, camera in hand!

Thank you so much!

24 Apr '07 10:39 am

A Double Blessing from your friends ,Liza .
A Double Blessing from your friends ,Liza .
Dixie.

25 Apr '07 11:17 am

Liza I woke up around 3 this morning and couldn't sleep so I took a trip to Belgium and dropped in on the Chateau de la Hulpe in Brussells, starting at the beginning. (Not recommended for getting back to sleep by the way.) It's neat to get to know a place I've never been to over time this way, to see it in every season. I get a sense of it as a well known place, or maybe it is just a sense of how well you know this place. Very special.

Those sculpted archways in the hedge are very dramatic. Stikingly architectural. If I lived nearby I think I'd probably spend more time in the woods walking the dogs if it is allowed. You had to feel for those horses though. I suppose the blankets are more to guard against the cold than the wet.

A place I go to at least once a month is the San Francisco Botanical Garden. We don't have the dramatic changes in seasons you do, but there are changes in what is in bloom or in leaf. (I thought that recent photo Jack took over the lake during a storm was very dramatic. We do have rain!)

The Chateau De La Hulpe in Brussels/Belgium

Winter Damage

Winter Damage

Spring excitement!

More and ever more beauty

More and ever more beauty

A double blessing

Guess where I was last night?