Second Spring in the Vaucluse

 

 

 

 Here's an overview of the "new" garden paths, which I did this year. Its called clapissette, and is the material used for petanque courts. It looks and behaves very much like decomposed granite, which does not seem to exist here.

The buis (boxwood tree) is looking quite good, that's it at night as my logo. It really a beautiful plant, and the biggest boxwood I have ever seen. Mostly they are little square hedges or silly looking balls. I may have posted in the past that this one was pruned as an egg and you could not see the trunks at all.

 

The spot of color on the left is salvia, we have quite a few of them, and all are blooming. They have done so all summer, and will probably continue into December. Very reliable plant.

One of my terraces is below, a nice sunny spot for a warm fall day.

 

Last of all, the well garden. This is a good view of the new hardscape.

Fall is good.

 BEES! BEE NESTS! BUT WHAT BEES?

We have quite a few different wild bee species here on the property, one of which is called "wool carder bees" because they scrape the hairs from fuzzy plants to line their nests. The plant in this photo is Lamb's Ears, one of their favorites, and we have a lot of it in many places in the garden. Starting last year I noticed mounds of what appear to be shredded up lamb's ears, and upon investigation I discovered they were full of bees. We are having a trench dug for the fiber optic internet cable, and this nest is right where the trench is going. There are a couple of houses on this property, and I may not be able to convince other residents to hold off. Siting it elsewhere is not an option. If these bees will move on soon, we might delay a bit, but if they will overwinter we can't wait that long.

I can't convince them to sit very still so I can photograph them. They are very docile and not interested at all in attacking or stinging me.

This last photo is of the nest that I tried to move a week or so ago, there are some bees there but it isn't as large as it was before I disturbed it. When I did, I saw some nests that looked like photos on the internet of carder bees. Groups of round nests, not holes in the ground which are ivy bee nests. So I think these are carder bees, but if anyone knows please tell me!

TROUPEAU DE MOUTONS

 

 

 

 

Avec des chevres (with some goats). And yes, they are a troop, as you can see from this sign:

 

This particular troopeau consisted of about 100-200 sheep + a few goats, and were less than a kilometer from my house on the back road I take to the village of Mazan. I was so astonished I had to take a photo or two. They do not live around here, the fields where the photos were taken are fallow or in vines. I've never seen a herd of sheep around here.

 

Here is the shepherd and his dogs. He is wearing the official shepherd outfit with black broadbrimmed hat and carrying a stick. He was a fairly young man.  At this stage of the meal the sheep were on both sides of the road.

This is the group on the other side of the road. Really a lot of sheep. I couldn't tell if they were wool sheep or food sheep, or I suppose both. I saw no younger looking sheep, they were all quite similar in size.  

 

I would have liked to know how he got them here. Not in a truck, too many. They had to have walked here, which would involve crossing numerous roads and going through areas with quite a lot of houses. I will try to remember to ask some of the local people if they know anything about it. I felt like I had driven into another century. 

THE BLIZZARD

 YES, that's snow. Infrequent here, and it makes the bamboo sag.

This is my rear "japonesque" garden, the gaura in the center looks great covered in snow.

And the juniper on the entry terrace is quite picturesque, its a snowy japanese landscape.

Looking south towards the pool, from my small terrace. Its not very cold, its all melting now, but it looks nice. However, I did not go out in my car as planned. I don't do snow driving.

Hope you're all fine, please stay that way.

bonnie