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.
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And they came in handy this month when I took some bouquets to Paris to give to Ardèche friends.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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But back to the bouquets.
The dahlias were still going mad.
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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.