I’ve been joking lately with Linniew about her way of pruning roses… I said it was a bit of a massacre instead of pruning but now here I am, with my old dusty hedge trimmer exhumed from the darkest part of the stable, ready to play a mad killer, running up and down the grass garden with a sadistic grin in my face and cutting whatever passes by. This is the grass and perennial massacre, or the silence of the lambs grasses.

I didn’t feel a real killer though, because I’ve cut already dead plants indeed. But the part of running around with the saw in hand was funny, shame I’m using an old wired trimmer and I almost killed myself when I stumbled on the rope!

The one above and the one below have been taken last week, before we have this strong, freezing, dry wind from Russia blowing insistently for more than a week, moving things, shutting shutters, plucking my feathery grasses and above all this wind made this little Italy shake cold and covered in snow.

Fortunately it didn’t snow in the Venice  area, we only experienced cold and very dry wind.

This morning the mercury marked -9° C and it was a very cold and bright morning. I was a little worried about my garden, exposed for more than one week to very low temperatures and this dry wind. I decided I should cut the perennials and grasses back and see what was left of them. I must admit I still found a little life at ground level and I felt relieved.

The water on the pond is now an at least 10 cm thick sheet of hard ice, I hope my gold fishes and gambusias are fine… (and the lotus as well…)

I started cutting back the tall perennials, like eupatoriums and I mulched the dried stems, then I proceeded trimming the grasses horizontally, slicing every 20 cm or so, at the end I moved the mulch over what remained of the plants to eventually protect them from further cold.

The result is rather sad but it is a necessary stage of the circle of life. Or so they say… I think it’s pretty ugly. I just hope it is going to rain now, so that nice mulch will settle and soon the plants will grow green over it.

Meanwhile I am sketching maps and plans for the new parts of the garden that we are going to make this year. I need to re think the large bed of the yucca (pictured above) because all the deschampsias there didn’t perform as they should, too wet in winter (the past one!) and too dry and hot in summer for that particular grass, shame. I need to plant something tougher and possibly improve the soil.

Then we are going to lie the gravel on the gravel garden, finally, but I need to move some plants before, and last but not least I’m planning a new bed that I call the squared bed (which is actually rectangular) featuring 6 1mt topiary cubes (osmanthus x burkwoodii) and an old fashioned italian pear, small, sweet and ripen the 29th of June, San Pietro’s day, in fact this pear is called San Pietro’s Pear. I’ll keep you posted on future work in progress…

Pennisetum Orientalis ‘Tall Tails’ shining in the cold morning air

Again yesterday morning I woke up and saw everything covered under a thick hoarfrost. A real winter has started these days, they said it’s cold wind blowing from Russia… I looked out of the window and I think I saw a penguin for a sec, while drinking my hot cup of tea. He was running awkwardly in the grass garden. Then I think I woke up. Finally. Or maybe it was just Rudy finding a hidden place to do its morning things…

Amni Visnaga seed heads amongst stipa tenuissima on the right and gaura on the left (yes, I know they look alike but trust me)

I couldn’t miss to take some photos, could I? The morning light shining through the dry flower heads of grasses, that chilly air that really wake you up and pinch your chicks… and I was late for work already.

Again pennisetum ‘Tall tails’, a pennisetum alopecuroides seedling in the background, panicum ‘Warrior’ and a few, bare, skinny branches of the birch holding its seed pots like precious decorations

Pennisetum incomptum ‘Purple Form’

I feel a little sad because I’ll have to cut everything back as soon as this harsh air from mother Russia will pass off. I reckon the garden still looks good, ok I have no flowers at all and the only green you can see is the one of the box balls by the pool and the hedge but textures, colours (somehow) and volumes are still holding up pretty good, I mean it still looks proudly like a garden and I am very happy with most of my choices, grasses at first.

Molinia ‘Heidebraut’ was a disappointment last summer but with her arching and subtle stems she proved to be a good plant and I had to change my mind. Molinia ‘Transparent’ has been a disappointment too the first year, now is one of the plant I wouldn’t give up

Eutrochium atropurpureum (I prefer to call it Eupatorium though) looks like a group of tall, skinny, clumsy drunks, with white hair

I’ve decided I should cut everything back earlier than usual this year because of the warm winter we had and because I’m afraid the plants will start sprouting. Then the garden is going to look like a ground zero, I hope the bulbs I’ve planted will make their show.

Achillea 'Hella Glashoff' on the right is ephemeral and held up by some pennisetum ‘Magic’ stems, in the background there’s echinacea purpurea seed heads

Everything was bright white or sepia tone, here is Molinia ‘Transparent’ centre stage

Helianthus salicifolius seed heads look like little men fighting against something, with their heads down and punches up

I would not leave, why people does have to go to work? There’s loads of more exciting little things to do instead…

The car window had defrost and it was time to go, hell I’m late this morning too.

Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ stems look like little shap blades

Still remember my adored rosa ‘Single Cherry’? Could you imagine I adore its bare stems too??

Muhlenbergia capilaris is like a frozen seafom, overwhelming the echinacea

In other fronts, last week I put an ad online to give away the puppies because everybody kept telling me I wouldn’t have never find someone for them if I didn’t get a move (I wouldn’t…). Well after less than 2 days I had so many contacts I had to deactivate the ad. After a few days a couple came to see Luna and they wanted to take her away immediately. The girl is pregnant and they want a puppy to grow together with their baby… How could I say ‘no’ to the Sweethearts Family?!

The day after that another young mum with two daughters came and see Chico. They fell in love and wanted to take him away immediately. She had a big car and the children were sweet and polite… I think Chico is now having a drink from a coconut glass with a little coloured umbrella on it, sitting by some big swimming pool, with some slave cat refreshing him with a big fan (hell, I know it’s winter but he deserved some kind of ransom to whatever his bigger brothers did to him).

So there’s only one left.

I promised him to a nice guy that has children and a few dogs already, living with the family. He wants to train the dog for Truffle hunting. I think some training will do good  to the little one and then he already has a job. I am growing fond of Fiocco, so I told the guy to come asap and take the dog away otherwise I’m going to keep him. Ale wants to keep him more than me… I think they will call him Whisky. I don’t think it’s appropriate calling a baby after some spirit but it’s not my call. Not anymore.

I'm drunk of him

I’ve been browsing my picture library lately, because I’d like to make a post with the most impressive moments of 2011 in my garden. When I start browsing pictures is like a trip on memories and I fall in a kind of trance while I stop blinking my eyes and the pictures on the screen blend with the pictures I have in my head. Anyway under the effect of this trance I found some pictures of some trips (real ones) we made before buying Cà Rossa and starting the renovation (after that our spare time became paint, build, move, demolish, rebuilt, dig, weed, water plants, make plans and above all pull the wallet out, so no more holidays or trips for us for a while).

Rosa glauca or r. rubrifolia has beautiful dark green/greyish foliage and sets big red hips in fall

During this dull period in the garden I decided to play for my aces in the hole and show you some pictures I’ve taken during past trips: the first one is a trip to middle Italy of which I have a very sweet memory and the place is very interesting to visit too (even though only virtually). In late spring 2009 we went in Arezzo to visit Roseto Carla Fineschi. This wide rose garden is in fact one of the biggest collections of roses in Europe with its more than 6,000 different varieties. It has been started in the late ’60s by prof. Gianfranco Fineschi, who called the garden after his wife Carla Fineschi. He was a professor at the Cattolica University in Rome, so his scientific mind lead him to collect and plant roses not like we do in a garden but following taxonomy rules. The beds and the garden sections host new hybrids, damascenas, gallicas, botanical roses and so on and every plant is kept tidy, spaced and aligned with the others.

One of the several HT rose beds (I know: shocking colours!)

The garden is literally in the middle of nowhere, up one of the many hills in Tuscany. We spent a couple of days before to visit a friend in Perugia, then we stopped in Arezzo on our way back. This Friend of ours knew personally one of Mr. Fineschi’s daughters who escorted us during the garden visit, unfortunately I don’t remember her name but she’s been very nice and talkative with us, telling us all the ins and outs and the making of the garden where she grew up. She also told us we would be welcome to come over in fall and take cuttings of whatever rose we’d like, before the end of season pruning. We never went back and I still regret it.

A cetonia raping a rose

The day was incredibly hot for the season and the heat of that year, started earlier than normal, made all the botanical roses bloom  before the time they’re suppose to be due, so I missed all that part: shame because I love botanical roses. We parked the car and we had the feeling of arriving on a old fashioned country farm in wonderland. There where peacocks everywhere: on the garden wooden signs, on the roofs, under the porch… These beautiful birds are considered to be safe guarding and protectors for the psychic self too, I should consider keeping a few of them… (but you too, Linnie!)

The presence of peacocks added an extra to the amazing atmosphere of the garden and the strong scent of the roses. The location is a rather typical italian farm with fields of olive trees, statues, they also had, in a little ‘plaza’ near the greenhouse a beautiful row of lemon trees in old terracotta pots surrounded by agaves in smaller pots. I later found other rows of those potted agaves, I think I should try to keep agave like that and then shelter it in winter, I love the patterns on the leaves.

The rose garden blended into a slope with a wild meadow and some pretty old olive trees and oaks.

The visit is very instructive, especially if you like roses and want to know more about them, a kind of living catalogue rather than a garden with flowers and perspectives.

Rosa York and Lancaster, the famous Tudor rose, a delicate damask rose

Francis E. Lester an amazing rambler, hybr. Musk

Again Francis E. Lester, I just love this overwhelming rose

Pissed off cat on a vintage bench

R. centifolia Bullata, a cabbage rose, very bold ham-like petals and good fragrance

R. Bernard, an hybr. Portland, I love this kind of roses and it repeats flowering.

The venue is scattered with statues of ninfa and putto

Prof. Gianfranco Fineschi died in 2010 and now a foundation and his daughters (3?) are continuing his job in collecting rose plants all around the world. It is a beautiful and very interesting place to visit if you happen to make a trip to Tuscany. They have an official website too: www.rosetofineschi.it it is only in italian but you can use Google translator and find some other information. I hope you enjoy this virtual trip because I have other trips to rose Meccas to show you.

This year though it has been slightly different because Mina had to stay home and look after the puppies and then we didn’t choose a nice place to go. So a few days later we decided to repeat the trip. This time I forced Mina to suckle the puppies just before we left, so to give her a longer autonomy while away and we choose a beautiful place to go: La Brussa.

It is a beautiful and wild beach and pinewood between Caorle and Bibione, the area is called Valle Vecchia and includes beach, pinewood, agricultural terrains obtained from land reclamation, wetlands and mouths of some rivers (Tagliamento and Livenza). Obviously the area is preserved and rich on biodiversity.

The sunlight came and went as some transparent cloud passed by, forming nice plays of light over the water and the dry plants silhouettes. It was amazing and very relaxing staying there, as if floating in time and space.

Between the beach and the pinewood there is a rather wide drift of a short grass with very interesting burgundy tones. I’m afraid I don’t know the name of this grass but I’m pretty sure the one pictured above is ammophila arenaria littoralis.

(I’ve just discovered the grass below is Spartina juncea)

Mina had been kind of secluded since the puppies had born and she started being very stressed and tired, a real Desperate Housedog: all milk and napkins! She really deserved a few hours off, poor dog.

I think both the dogs spent a nice time running in the beach and exploring the pinewood. Rudy found a tennis ball somewhere and kept playing with it in the sand.

The place was full of interesting pieces of wood and trunks, brought by the  tide, as well as loads of nice shells which I can’t help but collect them all. The ones I prefer are the fan-like type and murex.

There were some people riding horses, it must be very funny, I wish I could ride a horse too.

We both brought our camera along and we started taking pictures. After a while it became a sort of competition for the best shoot. Then Ale had the excuse to lie down on the sand (for the perfect shoot, he said) and get dirty… Can you see him?

Needless to say I won our competition, with two pictures: a macro on some atomic green moss and Mina refreshing her paws.

Panicum 'Shenandoah'

This morning there was a weird light in the sky, everything was frozen and still, no sounds. The sky seemed to hide under a thick grey duvet with just a golden rim at the end. Today’s the last day of the year and even though some people says that it only changes the date, it feels so different and magical to me. We have an opportunity to pause and look back and review our lives and ourselves and then we can decide what to keep or change.

Veronicastrum virginicum 'Album'

I am not putting anything written here, things like I will be good next year and stuff like that… I’ve never been that good, 2012 isn’t the moment to start. Next year is full of expectations for me though: the rest of the garden will be outlined, the house will be painted, the windows for the first floor will finally be mounted (not that sure about this…), we could finally move the bedroom upstairs and start living in a proper house. I want more bulbs for 2012, more grasses, more veronicastrums, more heleniums and more irises. Oh and I want more gravel too, in the gravel garden, so the dogs won’t come in with muddy shoes. I’d like to see the pond finished, I want a little vegetable garden, and a meadow.

Rudbeckia triloba

Somebody on telly said the Colosseum in Rome is falling apart. Apparently people is worried because it’s been forecasted that the day the Colosseum will fall apart, the entire World would too. And then there are Mayas… I start worrying too: will I ever see my windows mounted? And my garden without weeds? And the pond filled? Will I ever divide a big clump of crocosmia grown in my garden?

The grass garden

Aster 'Frozen... ehm...Blau Danube' seed heads

Whatever will be, will be. Meanwhile I wish you have a beautiful eve tonight and a very happy 2012 with your lives and gardens.

Pennisetum, verbena bonariensis and panicum 'Warrior' on the background

At the end of the day there are some little furry things which don’t care which day or year will be tomorrow, they only need some milk to eat…

Chico, Fiocco and Luna eating their 0km bio milk.

…and some fingers to bite…

Fiocco playing with Ale's hand.

Happy New Year 2012 to everybody!

Finally we had some frost this morning. Everybody in the World is saying this has been a weird year, all the season are confused, too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, blah blah blah… It’s true but sometimes it’s good to see some winter special effects in the garden and frost is the one I prefer (I hate snow). I like it more when it’s foggy at night and cold, so you find hoarfrost in the morning… I use to see it more often when I lived in the mountains though.

Frost not only makes beautiful crystals above everything but it also darkens some perennials and brightens up the grasses. I  love walking on crispy grass, feeling that dumb silence of ice.

As the sun rose, the frost crystals melted down and everything was softened and wet. The grass garden still looks beautiful to me, even without flowers. I’d like to plant some hellebores, they would be perfect but I’m afraid they wouldn’t be happy in summer, unless I’d plant them amongst taller grasses which provide some shadow in summer… I should give a try.

Last night, taken by a winter blue moment I started browsing the pictures I’ve taken earlier this year. I must admit I’ve been inspired by a post by Bridget from Arigna, she framed her best 2011 moments in one post. I think I’m doing something similar by the end of the year, I like it.

By the time I went upstairs to take a picture of the frozen grass garden, all the frost was disappeared. Shame.

I am very disappointed at the moment because of the first floor windows: we ordered them last july, they came by the end of september saying the manufacturer had failed, so we placed another order with another manufacturer. ‘It’s going to take 2 months’ they said: finally last week they arrived with the brand new windows, I was so excited… Shame they wrong colour. Frames were light brown instead of dark brown. I need windows made on size for this old house, so I can’t go wherever and just buy some windows. So we have to wait. Two months again. I feel kind of annihilated. I took the day off, that day, just to check on them mounting the windows but at the end I send them away very quickly… With the rest of the day off and nothing to do (we decided it wasn’t the case of going on working on the timber beams, as we were too disappointed) I proposed to go to the seaside. We’ve never been to the coast this year and it’s only 20 km away from home. We spend the day walking on the beach of Caorle, with Rudy. Collecting seashells and watching the sea. With the brains set on the ‘f#@*k the world’ mode. It’s been relaxing.

Back to the garden Ale went on pretty well with some tasks:

He set a boundary between the gravel garden, the yard and the rose garden. You see that straight line where the pebbles end, I decided to plant 5 green cubes in a row. I haven’t decided yet which plant I should use.

I received other 20ish bare root roses from La Campanella, yesterday morning I managed to plant 6 of them and put the rest on a big container with sand. I still have to plant more than half of the other roses…

As the walnut tree was almost dying because of water log last year, we decided to level the ground around it and dig a ditch to drain the water away from the center of the garden and possibly direct it to the (future) pond.

Ale would like to build another squared pool at the beginning (as you can see he has already decided as he dug more there…). I think it’s a good idea. This pond will keep us busy for a while, next year…

What else? Ah! Of course it’s foliage day with Christina @ Garden of the Hesperides which I am joining in advance this month (it’s supposed to be on 22nd), so I leave you with another image of the grass garden and an image of the frozen fields behind Cà Rossa, I have this view from my bathroom in the morning… It feels very chilly seeing it when you just got up.

Last week I finally received a big pack full of roses from Serbia. It was Petrovic’s. I didn’t have the time to open this big carton before yesterday morning, so I kept it in the stable for a while. Last year I received smaller plants from Petrovic, maybe it was my fault because I’ve placed my order a little late in the season but this year roses are gorgeous, especially considering I paid a little price for them. There were about 40 in the pack, ready to be planted.

We prepared the soil for the main rose garden a few months ago and I prepared a little map to allocate every plant at the right place so everything was ready, we just had to dig.

Even if it hasn’t been raining for weeks, the ground was kind of soaked so it has been a little harder than we expected. Yesterday afternoon I had to go to work too, so I left Ale alone and he managed to plant a half of the roses: enough.

Rosa Gallica Splendens

Meanwhile, the roses we planted earlier this year revealed some beautiful and (I think) uncommon fall colours: rosa gallica Splendens has very nice, simple, scented flowers and sets pumpkin shaped hips; at the end of the season foliage colour changes from deep green to this shining orange. I must admit that this last summer has been kind of unordinary for drought and heat and I gave some iron chelate to the roses to cheer them up a little.

Rosa Spinosissima 'Single Cherry'

I know I’ve shown this rose a million times but I just love it and I can’t help it. You don’t have a ‘Single Cherry’ in your garden? Go and get one, then… Quickly!

Rosa 'Nozomi'

Rosa ‘Nozomi’ is a very minute single rose that keeps its foliage for almost all winter. I like this rose because it’s covered with pink little single flowers in spring and later on the season it sets a billion tiny red hips. We have one planted on my uncle’s grave, some 20 years ago, then we took a lot of cuttings from that rose, which is causing a few problems with the neighbor’s graves, invading their spaces…

Rosa chinensis 'Angel's Wings'

A few roses are still blooming in my garden: Angel’s Wings, Marie Parvie and Zéphirine Drouhin but I can already imagine when these little bare root roses will grow and flower in the rose garden…

Some of the roses I've just planted. Pics have been taken from www.helpmefind.com/roses

From above left, then clockwise: Clementina Carboneri, Lady Hillingdon and rosa gallica Violacea, rosa bifera, Clementina Carboneri again and Ormiston Roy: flower and hip .

I’ve made this collage using the beautiful pictures you can find  on www.helpmefind.com/roses, one of the best resources on the web about roses. Please pay them a visit and maybe make a donation as the website is entirely kept by volunteers.

Puppies eat and sleep and everyone seems to have found his place and position… We need to find them a name too. Any suggestion?

Puppies say hello!

I have recently updated the blog with a new page about recommended blogs, you’ll find the link above. Not there! I said above, over the header, can you see it now? Ok, click it.

Today we had the first frost

Then I suddenly remembered that Mina left her apart more than once while the others were eating, at the time I just thought it was because she was the biggest and the most nervous of the litter but only yesterday I realized that she wasn’t bigger she only had a bigger belly and she was probably nervous because she was in pain. I feel so sorry and a little guilty, maybe I should have paid more attention but Mina was so secure and careful with her babies that I didn’t bother to check on her. She probably knew about the puppy’s problem and she left her apart. Nature can be very cruel sometimes.

The only flower I have left, utterly out of season.

I named the little dog Susanna, then I buried her with the assistance of Rudy, we choose a nice place between rosa Sarah Van Fleet, one of my fave, and some narcissus bulbs. Poor dog.

The other three and Mina are more than fine, they even look grown in only a couple of days, surely they now have a mini dog shape, better than when they’ve born.

I didn’t mean to be too sad with this post and I’m sorry if I was instead but I felt like you should be informed of this loss, so now we can go on with better news for next time, I promise.

My my, how can I resist you?

...and how can I resist your puppies?

Finally the day came. Poor Mina she had a very long labor: contractions started saturday night and she delivered yesterday at around 2 p.m.. They are four beautiful puppies: 2 are completely black except for little brown boots and a white stain in the chest, a male and a female; after a while the second couple came: another male, totally white with a small brown spot near the eye and then another female with a brown mask on one side and a brown ear on the other side.

The four

Rudy had been waiting patiently in the waiting room (he said they serve good food there) but I’m pretty sure the puppies are not his. They couldn’t be black if they were Rudy’s. He doesn’t know yet, pure soul.

It’s kind of bizarre because yesterday it was Rudy’s birthday. Now Mina is very jealous of her doggies and she doesn’t want Rudy around. Apparently only I am allowed to touch the dogs. Rudy is a little disappointed of this situation so I have to cuddle him more than usual and for sure more than the puppies.

Mina was exhausted after the delivery but she’s being very careful, protective and sweet to her children.

They spend the night eating and crying and they fell asleep only this morning when I got up for work. They look rather strange actually: big headed, very skinny bodies with round and hard bellies. I didn’t want to bother Mina with a paparazzi flash so I didn’t take many pictures, I’ll keep you posted in the next days though.

Sometimes you just look out of the window and there she is. Not looking around but inside. Inside the house, inside your soul when you met her evil eyes, yes because she is always pissed off and you don’t even know why… Sometimes, while I’m having dinner and give a glance out of the window, only her yellow devilish eyes are out there in the dark, like an owl watching its prey: she scares the hell out of me.

Tigre by the window. You can see she's outside because the glass is dirty.

She hates everyone, meowing grumpy if you don’t feed her at anytime. Her only ally is Rudy, they get on very well together and she becomes nice and soft when he’s around, playing with her. She slap him in the nose if he is sleeping on the sofa, just to wake him up and play. Rudy let her feed from his bowl sometimes.

Last night though, I went out to feed her before going to bed and there she was: sharing her pap with a little hedgehog, calmly. I suddenly realized she doesn’t belong to me but she belongs to the surrounding nature, creating links with other wild animals in the countryside and living her life better than when we lived in the other suburban flat. Maybe she’s only having a kind of ‘teenager time’ (I guess Rudy is a teenager too, that’s why they’re so close).

Tigre having midnight supper with a little hedgehog

In other fronts, Mina is getting everyday bigger, I bet it’s just a matter of days now. I hope everything is going to be fine for her… and for my sofa.

The garden looks like a still life these days, there’s no frost enough to take some nice picture but they forecast real cold is coming in a few days.

In the meanwhile I’ve been totally captured by Benjamin Moore website lately. I’m choosing the colours for the inside walls upstairs, I like a lot colourful houses because they feel cozy and happy, and also because a ‘total white’ wouldn’t last more than one hour with me and the dogs around…

I love this website because of all those fancy names they give to colours, names that suddenly make you feel like you need a wasabi wall in your kitchen, maybe with a chocolate truffle accent. You can also upload a picture of yours and easily you can virtually paint your home with all those beautiful and oddly named colours.

This is how my bedroom is going to look like: wasabi green and incense stick maroon

...and this is the studio. Same maroon but paired with a gray blue.

It is very funny to see how a dull plaster wall could immediately light up and make a room feel wider or smaller or taller. I was so thrilled by this colours that I rushed to a shop and ordered a few, so next friday I’ll probably take a day off to paint some rooms. Shame Benjamin Moore doesn’t sell his products in Italy, so I had to adapt my choices to some italian products but I think I found something very close to what I wanted.

An App is also available on iTunes, you can take a pic with your phone and then tap the colours on the screen to find out the correspondent shade of paint and its bizarre name so you finally can paint your house to be paired with some mature crab apples in the garden… when they say perfectionism…

A screenshot of Benjamin Moore's ColorCapture App

Will Cà Rossa be painted Caliente? I haven’t decided yet, I think I have to delay the external walls painting until next spring though.