October has come in with a rush, I’m not sure what happened to September, I suppose being away for two weeks made it seem shorter, but I don’t even know what happened to the other two weeks!
On Sunday night there was a terrific thunder storm with heavy rain, Monday had lots of heavy showers. The garden will appreciate the rain but it doesn’t make much difference to the images looking out of my top window for this month’s Long View. Hosted by Xericstyle, the idea is to show a view from the same spot every first of the month to check how the view changes through the year. Why not join in, I think I’m going to learn a lot from this, you might too.
I’m satisfied with the overall look
Perovskia still blue, this has been flowering since the end of June
The edge of the Large Island
Clematis Armandii is very brown, dead maybe?
Looking straight down, Rosa clair Martin is flowering strongly again
If I lift my eyes, this is the view from the window
Fun photos, I always enjoy seeing what is planted where…photos like that are always full of ideas.
A lovely view – definitely greener, and the light is much softer now. Perovskia is certainly a star in your garden!
Yes, the light is changing rapidly now, morning and evening has an entirely different hue of light which changes the feel of the garden completely.
although there is still colour the shapes and textures of the foliage are what makes the scene, in the last photo I am surprised by the amount of green in the distant landscape, I hope your clematis isn’t dead and that the storm didn’t do too much damage, Frances
No obvious damage except the ditch is again full of mud! The rain has made the grass in the fields regrow, the farmers shallowly plough to encourage new growth to feed the sheep. Also you can see olives that are green because of the rain, they’ll be silver again soon.
I’m finding this all very interesting having just started gardening in Italy (Piemonte) myself. I think the idea of repeating the same view will be absolutely invaluable. Love the shape of your garden and how it twirls your eye round and in. Very effective.
Hi Jane, I’d love to see your blog, the link doesn’t work. Piemonte is a good place to garden, where exactly? At least there are some great nurseries there. Christina
Hi Christina! since I lived in Rome (actually the village of Morlupo) for four years, I was thrilled to see your “cipressi” and realized how much I miss that distinct shape in a garden. So I signed up to follow your adventures. Can’t wait, Susie at life-change-compost.
Hi Susan, welcome to My Hesperides Garden, I hope you enjoy what you see and read. Christina
really good strong shapes, particularly in that first image, I do like the way the curves of drive and path echo one another. An interesting exercises, I will enjoy watching how it develops through the seasons. And what a wonderful view over the surrounding countryside.
The views are all better from the upstairs windows than they are from the garden. I iron infront of this window, I need something to distract me from that chore.
The exclamation points of the Italian cypresses is a look we are aiming for as well, but there is no vantage point to take it all in like you have here. It’s especially effective against the rolling hills in the background. Our armandii often gets dieback in isolated areas but it doesn’t hurt the health of the plant.
I’ll wait and see with the clematis but it seems the whole plant is brown!
Do you have a blog? it isn’t part of the links that I see when you comment.
Yes I do. Sprig to Twig can be found at http://bannersbyricki.com
I would be thrilled if you would visit. I guess it doesn’t show up because I’ve been commenting via Facebook.
I’ve made a very quick visit, I’ll be back when I have a little more time.
This is a great design you have – I love seeing it Christina! Thanks for joining in! What I really admire this month…is all your levels…and trees! I am working on this , this year.
Lots of the trees you can see are olives. The house is built on a sort of mini hill, so the drive is very steep, hard work to walk up, I didn’t want to build terraces so the ‘slope border’ is steep too. There is quite a large flattish area around the house itself luckily
It’s nice to see this long view. Are those the olive trees on the right side of the drive, across from the perovskia? Rosa clair Martin has such a soft color–nice.
Yes, that’s right, the olives are on the RHS of the drive; there are 15 trees which give us enough oil for our needs for the year, between about 25 to 35 litres depending on the year.
Your window views of the garden offer the perfect vantage point for this exercise. I can appreciate all the wonderful variations in foliage color. It’s nice to see how the garden fits into the larger vista, too.
When I am in Maine I have a long view out over the ocean like the one you show at the end of your post. I wish I had it all year because it makes me feel expansive. What is that thin pointy conifer so characteristic of Italy. It really is so beautiful. Probably wouldn’t grow here.
This is the classic tree you see all over Tuscany, Cupressus sempervirens, known as the Italian cypress, ot Tuscan cypress, it grows all around the Mediterranean. In Lazio, where I live the Umbrella pine is more common, Pinus pinea.
Your garden is beautiful, and that last photo of the wider view has me wanting to move to Italy straight away… can I come and do your ironing for you?!
Any time you like Sarah, I don’t enjoy ironing!
Hi Christina! I’ve not had chance to catch up on blogs for the past couple of weeks and coming back to yours has made me gasp with delight! Seriously I gasped out loud and said wow when I saw that full view. Just gorgeous! I like the idea of this monthly series – I said this when i saw it last month too then forgot all about joining in. It is really nice to record changes though and also to notice what has passed and what is still flowering. I did something similar this weekend, I realised that although the weather is changing (it’s like winter today brrr) some plants just carry on flowering and some actually look their best right now, the beauty and charm of those plants is just wonderful. A great post Christina! I am excited to catch up on the others that I’ve missed too … 🙂
Anna, thank you for all your positive feed back. It really does make writing the posts worth while. Blogging is my way of ‘chatting’ to like minded gardeners; there aren’t so many of them here and those that I do know obviously don’t come from the same gardening heritage so your comments are very gratefully received.
Love the long views! I like the idea, but I need to settle on a view that I can show every month. Your garden looks great this time of year–that Rose is so pretty!
Autumn is a bit like a second spring here, once we have some rain, not just in the garden but the countryside too.
Christina,
I just logged onto your blog today, thru xericstyle. Could you post some information about your location, weather wise, on your main page? Lowest temperature in the winter, hottest temperature in the summer, things like that….I am new to gardening and I want to make sure a plant I see in your own garden would thrive in my own garden before I go out and purchase it for my own. Full names of plants are especially appreciated. Thanks for joining in the gardening conversation. I may one day start my own blog about my garden here in HOT, HOT, HOT, central Texas, USA.!
I’ll see what I can do. I usually give the Latin names of plants rather than common names. Our winters canbe quite cold, down to minus 10 or even 12 °C, high in summer is about 40°C although it is usually mid to high 30’s for about two and a half months. The drought usually lasts from Mid June until the end of August, with no rain what so ever.
It’s so cool to see the long view of your garden. It’s really beautiful and so different than anything in my neck of the woods…….great job!
Thanks Sally, that’s the fun of reading blogs from different places.
Christina another wonderful month of a favorite view….I love the curve of this view and the even longer view out from the garden.