Where is my shoe ???

This is one of the pear trees, trained horizontally, and planted against the garage. So amazing to follow how quickly the blossoms turn into fruit. It is not precisely a herb or vegetable garden where the three Doyenne de Comice and Conférence trees are planted, but there is a bit of everything in that corner. This year for instance artichokes at the background are an experiment. Not every day, but often I step in between the plants to see how the seeds are doing. What was this strange surface at the bottom of the pear tree?

It appeared to be my shoe. The dog had pinched it the day before from the garden settee. Look how he buried this: even a little twig of the just cut yew trees placed on it! First he digs a hole with his front paws, then he hides his trophy and covers it all by sand with his nose.
When putting on my Wellingtons at the kitchen door I had left the shoes on top of the settee, never thinking of the dog. He accompanies me all the time, is always close, sniffing the air with his long nose, listening to things that I cannot even hear and from time to time telling me how he is enjoying himself by giving me a kiss on the nose and asking for a hug. At a certain stage he was away and I missed him, but he cannot break out of the garden so sooner or later he returns and no need to worry..

When my back was aching, my duties for that day in the garden done, it was time to stop, take off the Wellingtons and to put back on my normal shoes. But where was one of my shoes ??? I would have loved to see how triumphant he had carried it away sneakily, with composed and careful steps, searching for an appropriate place to hide it. He has done this before, the most gorgeous sea green summer shoe was found back all discoloured of the mud and the rain a few days later. Once a garden glove was sticking out of the soil as a hand .... So far I had not missed it and seeing this really startled me

!

He is clever. He knows all his toys by name, so I wondered if he could find me the shoe. I told him to go and find it. Off we went, he took me through the whole garden, like a guide in the jungle almost - just adorable. But no shoe! By now I know his hiding places, but no luck this time. He has learnt me a lesson: to be careful the next time where I put my things. 

How I love my dog, shoe or no shoe!

Mother's Day

It is Mother's Day.
My mother and I used to share our plants. She lived on 'sand' and we live on 'clay', which meant that the plants from her garden thrived so much more than the ones in hers. Despite all her care it would never become what she saw later over here. With disbelief she would stand there and watch, would pull her skirt in the for her so typical manner and then say: 'I do not understand it ...... it is fantastic how the plants do so well in your garden, your soil is so good'.

This pink strawberry is from her garden. It is potted up to share it with others this spring. So pretty! Bright and colourful, just as she was.

My father was really in charge of the garden and would do most of the work. When he could no longer do it my mother took over. She had a different 'touch' to the garden. My eldest sister could not always appreciate how she planted the perennials like soldiers lined up next to each other. A systematic mind and so disciplined which became visible in her garden approach!

How I miss her, but she is there in the garden - I hear her, I can almost touch her, and touch her plants, but I cannot talk with her anymore. And that we used to do so much, talk and laugh together!

Happy Mother's Day!

by Jessie Willcox Smith

Wisteria and a warm 'hello'

The wisteria originated in the United States, China, Japan and Korea. Over here they are blossoming at the moment: against facades, porches, along flag poles, just anywhere where it feels free to curl up and take over the place. It is a big favorite in just any garden, small or big.
We have a wisteria in this garden. It carried many blooms, but part froze over and now a new part has to grow up. No blooms as yet this year. Before we know it will have made its way underneath the woodwork of the house, such a rampant growing plant, you really have to watch it.

Where are you going, my friend?

Wisteria on its way in the Hibiscus 'Oiseau Bleu'

In 2010 I posted this story, about the wisteria along the river, dangling from one tree to the other and forming a swing. So romantic and such a beautiful sight. The new owners of the house nearby changed their garden dramatically, as happens so often unfortunately. Mature and fully grown gardens are taken down to scrap and altered to new and modern ideas.  One of the two trees covered with wisteria was cut down. So sad..... it ruined this fantastic scene created by nature, the wisteria entangled in the arms of both trees.
The picture of the shoes in this former post disappeared for some unknown reason. It is not possible after all these years to access and edit the post. Well. here is a pair of Marie Antoinette's shoes, found on Pinterest, it suits the story nicely. Sometimes one wishes to be able to travel back in history!

Today no tea visit along the river, but a creative visit to Quiltshop Vlijtig Liesje in the polder.

The wisteria forms a gorgeous purple welcome along the path beside the private car and bycicle parking shed. The flower bunches are so long, truly amazing!

Binky, the beagle of the shop owner, forever knows exactly which customers arrive with cookies in their handbags. His welcome at the front garden is loud and enthusiastic, he then runs around the house speedily and repeats his warm greetings at the entrance of the shop, hoping the treats appear from our bags. On leaving the same ceremony and the promiss next time there will be more cookies. For him, and for us a treat - the shop in these beautiful surroundings is such a creative place.

See you next time, Binky!

'May flowers always line your path'

'May flowers always line your path

And sunshine light your day.

May songbirds serenade your every step along the way.

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that’s always blue.

And may happiness fill your heart each day

Your whole life through’.

- Irish Blessing-

'MAY flowers always line your path'
'May FLOWERS always line your path'

..... like they lined my path today .....

Lilac 'Sensation'

Guess it is high time to blow new life into my blog - it is 5 years ago since the last blogpost.
For a long time for some unknown reason my account was inaccessible despite the good advise at the forum. Anyhow, a miracle and here we are back in 'Les Trois Jardins'. Enjoy!

This time of the year all around us the prunus, malus, laburnum and lilac trees are blossoming abundantly. It is a wonderful sight. In such a short time the garden has burst into life: from dark and brown to all these lush blossoms and greenery.
It is polderland here, trees root superficially. We lost a few trees in the severe storms over the years that we have lived here. Some fall over because they are tired of their lives, but the ones still present are eye candy for everyone who passes by or lives next or opposite our garden.

Syringa sinensis 'Sensation'

'Sensation' was the latest acquisition in the row of white, purple, and mauve lilac trees in the garden. About 5 years ago it was planted as a tiny plant and has now turned into a big shrub. It will grow 2,5 meters high. A few blossoms were put on a vase, their perfume filled the room. This was not a good idea: the next day they looked sad, and the third day they had shrunk altogether. So that is a lesson, you might as well leave them on the shrub and enjoy their blossoms longer. Eventually you have to cut the shrub back though, so it is not all that bad to take cuttings for a vase. It was such a sad view though to see them loose their beauty so quickly in the vase.

'Sensation' and Silene dioica or Sticky Catchfly

The bouquet is a happy mix of lilacs and a variety of the cuckoo's flower. The plant is possibly named after the forest god Silenus, because of its fat belly. They bloom all over the garden, are easily removed if you are not happy with it. By then they have already happily spread their seeds. Personally when I talk about 'Silenus' that is a white bloom with a much fatter round belly, often seen along the roads, another variety.

Lilacs forever take me back to my grandmother's garden, where the lilac tree bent over and touched the ground, forming a spectacular view on to the back garden.

It also takes me back to the teahouse of my friend's mother along the river. The teahouse was hidden and surrounded by lilacs. Having no garden at one time it was forever a wonderful surprise to receive a huge bouquet of lilacs from her garden through my friend. She would ring the door bell and would have this large bunch in her arms. One can only gasp at such a moment: so much beauty, and the perfume of the flowers! May! Spring!

'Tea drinker' - Société Céramique Petrus Regout

Happy reading, happy May!

Reaching out to the blue sky and growing taller and taller

Design cups and royal show pieces

In the previous post the happenings in two of the wings of Palace Het Loo were shown, this post will take you to a contemporary Dutch Design exhibition in the interior of the Palace, Royal Show Pieces.

The Palace has many exhibitions going on at the same time. As we had seen the Grace Kelly story and had had our coffee break, it was now time for the second and third aim of our journey. Or was it the third and the fourth? Sitting in those royal orange chairs in the Ballroom made us feel very royal, so maybe that was number two. On to the interior of the palace and the flower exhibition. This post will deal with only the first of five rooms with this specific mixture of old and new.

A view through the main gate onto the symmetrical garden

Although one arrives on a big court with steps leading to a big door, as a visitor you have to go down tiny stairs and reach the palace through the basement door.

Not upstairs as a visitor, but downstairs - note the yellow triangular warning sign to be careful with the steps.

It was confusing, no indicators to what and how; at least we did not see them – there is so much to take in in environments where you have not been for a while. After we had looked around in the basement, had taken good notice of the museum shop, the wide staircase ahead of us looked inviting. A warden must have noticed our confusion and stepped forward, right in front of us. We felt as we were being held back and going somewhere we should not go. After all the palace is still being used for official and royal ceremonies. ‘Is this the way to the flower exhibition?’. The answer was ‘Yes, it is’, the lady stepped aside and off we went. Once more abundant similar flower arrangements as in the Ballroom welcomed us. We passed the front door, a gate of unsurpassed craftsmanship, through which we had a glimpse on the ornamental symmetrical garden. There is a big difference in the ‘front door’ and the ‘back door’ (which is also a front door, just to make it easy).  In a future post more on this.

This is only a part of the door, there is a second part on top of it.

Friendly senior citizens, no doubt working as volunteers, were happy to hand and explain us the audio tour. This is so to be recommended, the text very creative and informing. In every room one was taken back in time and being spoken to by a ‘person from that era’, telling an interesting or funny story, giving details on subjects, paintings, etc. A chief cook, for instance told about the competition between the courts, a competition on who had the best and the most famous cook. It just gives so much more inside information, really worth the money and so much fun. Fiddling around with the gadget and having to change it for another one, as the 'ears' were not OK, it distracted me and I just had a quick glimpse on ‘Portraits of the King’, three official portraits made of King Willem-Alexander, at the big entrance hall.

In the first exhibition room the Dutch Design theme was ‘Dining with the King’. In various show cases and a big wooden frame fascinating modern design items were displayed.We had already had a preview in the Ballroom, where we had our coffee. Beautiful items used by Queen Wilhelmina could be seen also, but I like to share some Dutch Design with you.

What I liked about Iris Toonen’s ‘Service with character’ (2003), (on show in New York in 2005) were the shape and decoration of the cups. The decorations so match the environment of the Palace, the Veluwe, and its wild life. The gold tipped spoons were unusual.

Modern art and design can be so surprising, so inspiring. This ‘Jonghlabel -Royal re-PAIR’ was amusing. So creative, a nice combination of old and new. Very inviting for a modern royal tea.

No dining or tea with a king without gentlemen-in-waiting.

Do have a look at the blog of the Palace, it is interesting to read the background information on the gentlemen-in-waiting and gives a better picture than mine. The coats have cost the earth, the gold embroidery is handmade. The coats were ‘handed down’ for this costly reason and worn by more than one person. The difference between those on the pictures are the buttons, with initials ‘W’ and ‘J’ of Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Juliana. 

Daniel Marot's tapestries behind the gentlemen-in-waiting.

The picture is a bit blurred, it so difficult to catch a scene without catching another visitor at the same time. Do note that the tapestry on the floor is the same as the ceiling.This striking detail we never noticed when we were there, we heard this afterwards at home from a man who had been working on the renovation. Too much to see and to digest, one is so absorbed by the environment. After all it is dining with a king and we do not always get a glimpse of this, nor on the contemporary art on display.

These two figures overlook the whole room, with Daniel Marot’s ceiling and tapestries. The tapestries were King William III and Queen Mary's showpieces.The wooden standard at the bottom of the picture held many show pieces.

On now to the next part of the exhibition, beautiful paintings on the wall and flowers accompanying us. Thanks for visiting this post. Do come back to read the next story, hope you enjoyed this part of the surprising exhibition on 'old and new', on contemporary art mixed with beautiful old art.

I am joining Martha here with her Teacup Tuesdays, with such fabulous teacups on show (all pieces of art as such) and stories by so many enthusiastic bloggers.

On Monday next I am starting on a photo course (only a short one) on using a compact camera. Hopefully the pictures (until now taken with a cell phone) will improve.

Enjoy the last moments of summer and your tea!

The style of a Princess and Coffee in the Ballroom

Once William and Mary's Palace 'Het Loo' at Apeldoorn is so inviting for a visit. There is so much to be seen, that just one day is not enough.This time we had made a choice for the day: see the exhibition on 'Grace Kelly - Princess & Style Icon', the Palace itself for a renewed visit and to see the contemporary art exhibition, a bit of the ornamental garden and the flower exhibition. I am going to split up the visit in more posts. So, do come back for more pictures in future posts.

The West wing, two banners inviting us to see the exhibition on Grace Kelly as a  princess and style icon.

The journey to Palace 'Het Loo' is through woodlands, sand dunes landscape, the Veluwe, heatherfields being in full bloom. It is always a surprise to actually arrive at the entrance for the parking space of the Palace. It seems hidden in a lot of greenery and rhododendrons. The moment you drive through the gate there is this calm and you see symmetrical architectural buildings, which hold a lot of our royal history. It seems so quiet and relaxing, but you are out of the count after a full day and intensive visit. So much art taken in, so much beauty seen, so much to talk about, the memory of the visit lingers on for a while.

One of the banners.

A wall to wall poster with the description of the exhibition and this beautiful picture of Grace Kelly as we entered the door.

The poster was very impressive, every one stood there looking up at this beautiful face.The door to the left tells you the size of the picture. 

Someone told me it was not allowed to take pictures at the exhibition, so here the photography on this stops. It was awesome. The exhibition moved from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to Palace 'Het Loo' at Apeldoorn and will be on display until 26 October. We walked around, looked at fragments of films, saw all the dresses, the sunglasses, the brooches, the hats. A nicely set up exhibition, where you could only gasp at seeing the tiny waste of the dresses, the simplicity of them - realizing it was her beauty and personality that brought them to life. We became very silent at seeing the wedding film, realizing how this fairy tale ended. Such a beautiful pair.

Rosa 'Grace Kelly' - an elegant soft pink rose.

Details of the rose, the name of the nursery, I have not managed to find the rose yet.

Rosa 'Grace Kelly' in a flower pot - such a good idea! This will be imitated soon ;-)

The sun was shining, it rained, up and down - we decided we would go into the Ballroom and feel 'royal'.

Just love the shine and the spectacular size of these.

Last year I celebrated my birthday here with a High Tea .

A show case, reminding us of days gone by - Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus dancing in The Ballroom.

Contemporary art in another show case, we would see more in the Palace later.

Coffee time!

Blue and white is forever so pretty on china.

Such a pretty 'bonbon'.

Orange princess chairs to sit in!

Display at the Ballroom to tempt you to visit the Museum Shop. Really fancied these.

Flower vases on display everywhere, picked in the garden

Here stops part one of my visit to the Palace. See you soon!