The Garden Update

One of my first greenhouse (les serres) jobs was cutting off the tops of tabac flowers before we replanted them into separate containers. This made me very happy, obviously, padding through these soft petals in yellow and pink. Christian (the serre boss who likes acting grumpy but is in fact a sweetheart) let me take them away in my hat.































The capucines have grown so much in one month!








Les geraniums rouges are one of my most favorite flowers. I've thought of them as "very French" since my friend Stephanie H. told me (many years ago) they were everywhere in Paris. Two weeks ago I found myself snapping off their dead stems right in front of Monet's house; we also pulled delicatement the little dead petals out, and then turned and raked over the ground around them.





I never knew what hollyhocks looked like. They unfurl like folded paper, or curled silk, from perfect geometric buds. These are right in front of the original gate.































And this past week, I have been taking off the dead campanoules, to make a second flowering (une deuxieme fleuraison, like roses).





















On the right here is a stalk with many finished blossoms. They need to be snapped off by hand, because if you use un secateur (a hand-cutter-thing) it takes off too much of the stem and "the flower gets confused", as Jean-Luc said.