Mums, Pansies, Heather & Ivy

As the kids would say… “It’s been a minute.”

There are dozens of things that I’d like to bring you up to date on and at least some of them will likely show up on the blog at one point. I’m fighting the urge to do things “in order” and reach back to former things before writing about current things… if I do that… my good friend ‘procrastination’ will make it such that you’ll see neither the former nor the current…

So… let’s just start here shall we?

Old Fall Colours

Growing up in Canada, there was no question as to what the Fall colours were. From the time I was colouring pictures in elementary school, Fall meant that yellows, reds and oranges were in high demand.

Reds, yellows & oranges are mostly a warm memory for me now. Those colours are not overly representative here, simply because – at least in this part of France – there’s not the same mix of temperature changes and tree species to replicate what was common back home.

It doesn’t mean that people don’t look for those colours though. I was recently and the Fall Plant Festival at Chantilly Castle (one of the former things that are currently in my “draft post” folder) and one of the judges’ prizes went to a tree nursery who had a lovely flame orange, American Oak on display.

While oak trees grow a-plenty here… it’s a much smaller leafed version.

New Fall Colours

One of the things I saw at the festival however, inspired me and I thought “I can do that!” (and do it for a fraction of the cost). I was an array of Fall/Winter planted basket arrangements in what I’ll call… “New Fall Colours”.

Heather is a fairly easy to find fall flower here and you generally see it in shades of mauve, pink & white. They’re a fairly common fall plant because heather naturally blooms at this time of year in the forest.

The baskets I saw, had it paired with pansies and ivy, so since I have some beautiful Montgomery Ivy potted & sprouting wildly, all I needed was to pick up some pansies (very inexpensive) & heather, and it was off to the races.

In order to go with the heather… it was shades of purple & white… quite cool colours, compared to the warmth of the Fall pallette in North America.

Sis. Jocelyne

Speaking of purple… I can never really see the colour, or use it in the garden without thinking about Sis. Jocelyne. She was one of the most faithful members of our church when we arrived in France. She passed away in March 2017, about 2 years into our tenure here… and her favourite colour was purple. Whenever I’m putting in a plant at the church entryway, if I have the chance to use purple, I do… she always remarked on it.

We have another faithful saint who is battling cancer at the moment, Ghislain. Thus far, God has dealt mercifully with him and he’s been a lightning rod of the miraculous. Going through another round of treatment… doctors & nurses marvel at his state and his morale.

He knows in whom he believeth and is persuaded that He is able!