Flâneur Gardening

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The snap peas are getting ready to go… They’re 4 ft high, and with a row of sweet peas at the back to attract pollinators. And they’re MINE! And they started as SEEDS and are now almost at the point where I can start harvesting them.

The white radishes are almost past their prime, really, and I need to start eating them and re-sowing where I’ve pulled up the plants.

The pears have a long way to go yet, but they’re there! Last year our pear tree gave not a single pear, but this year we have perhaps 10 pears… Grand! (The apple tree that gave around three dozens last year has not produced a single apple this year, though, and it seems the flower buds were frozen off before the pollinators had a chance to get to them.)

Like the pear, the plum tree didn’t produce any fruit last year, but this year it seems to be doing fine, producing some 40 plums. I look forward to seeing what type of plums they are and whether they’re any good or – like our mirabelles – somewhat dull.

In other news, the past Saturday gave Copenhagen approximately 150mm of rain in just two hours… Streets flooded, basements (including the one where we store a large part of the furniture for the new flat) filled with water and disruption to public and private transport, television signals, cell phone reception, and even the national weather forecasting service… Fortunately our furniture seems to have survived relatively unscathed, so all is well for us.

Oh, but I have more pictures… And I need to show them to you!

The red rose that I tore from the courtyard outside my flat last autumn… 

And the white rose that came with the house…

And one of the lilies in the courtyard, almost ready to bloom. 

And a day lily in bloom…

And the (almost) black dahlia “Arabian Night” that I bought last year.

Oh, and the clematis… This one is the most spectacular, its dark puple flowers hover like exotic butterflies around the white post of the patio, adding a dash of dark, rich colour to the greenery of the lawn and the post-bloom rhododendrons towards the road.

After all, while I love the utilitarian plants in the garden, a garden is essentially – the way I use it – a frivolous pursuit and in some way a luxury. Just like a blooming flower that serves no practical purpose, other than to be pretty and to make people happy. The garden does that for me.

The peas, the day lilies, the pears; all serve the common purpose of creating one happy Flâneur Gardener. In spite of torrential downpours, basement flooding and whatever.