October flowers
Aren’t they amazing? If only you could stick your collective noses into that bunch of Gertrude Jekyll roses and have a deep inhale.
I often have some repeat flowering of the English roses along the potager fence each autumn. But this year has been sensational.
Roses in every bouquet.
And they came in handy this month when I took some bouquets to Paris to give to Ardèche friends.
Plus one for their airbnb owner who needed a bit of a bribe to make up a second bed. She was only expecting a couple sharing the double bed. My cousin Betina and I had the most wonderful two days in Paris of which I will post later.
If you are looking for an extremely quiet apartment for a couple in the Faubourg St Antoine district, this was great. Quirky but charming. And what a brilliant location. Close to the Bastille, the excellent Marché Aligré. And five minutes walk from dining at the excellent Le Square Trousseau on a quiet street facing a park.
Pretty quiet loft atypical Bastille
I have yet to eat a more ridiculous pavlova. And rather wished the walk home was more than five minutes to digest.
But back to the bouquets.
The dahlias were still going mad.
And their season has only ended as the huge storm last week blew over most of the stems.
I have a dozen plants still harbouring flowers. And the rest make their way to the drying racks in the potting shed and here in my office.
What does the saying go? In a city you are never more than three metres from a rat? Here in my office you are never more than 60 centimetres from a flower.
And if you swivel too quickly in the office chair you will face plant into the long tendrils of drying amaranth stems just above your head.