My first guests of the season, who have been at Casa Debbio for 8 weeks, left yesterday and I had more people arriving today so I got to visit the house to do the change over. Between washing, ironing, cleaning and watering the garden I got to see my garden for the first time in high summer.
The lavender is huge! Filippo told me it has lost colour in the last couple of weeks because of the extreme heat. He said it was also standing up a bit straighter then too. I think it looks great, thanks to his loving care.
The fragrance is divine and it is full of happy bees.
The lavender on the driveway brushes the car as you drive through.
The hydrangeas behind the house have finished but the oak leaf hydrangea in the driveway is still flowering.
This blurry photo is one of the new ones on the driveway. I am very happy with the progress.
The view from the front door over Vergemoli always makes me happy.
Evening at Casa Debbio is glorious, especially when Sisto plays his music. He had his tango set on last night.
Here is the same scene this morning as the sun began to shine on Vergemoli below.
…and in the middle of the day. Could it be any lovelier?
The little vegetable garden is guarded by our scarecrow. She is not great. We got no raspberries because the goats ate them, but we do have a few tomatoes, egg plant, rocket, parsley and zucchini. The gooseberries did well but have all been eaten.
The garden bed has had a rough trot. The wild animals won’t leave it alone. It has been chewed, climbed on, dug into and generally been treated as a feed trough. It will need a rethink next year.
Some of the roses are still blooming.
Some of the pear trees are laden with fruit and there are plums. Filippo is watering the fig trees because he knows I love them. They should be ripe in a few weeks. I didn’t have time to climb up and down the terraces to look at the fruit trees, maybe next time. I saw 2 deer and a squirrel on the way out…there goes some more garden.
I will be back next week, even more briefly, for the next changeover. Then after that I am hoping it will be all mine for a while…can’t wait.