After almost 2 and a half years in Italy I am going home to Australia. It has been a bumpy ride with lock downs, cancelled flights and a broken ankle. Despite the speed bumps I have loved my time in Italy, but now it is time to go home.
I managed to do some travel, despite the ever changing restrictions, visiting new places and revisiting favourite places. I have written posts on most of these trips.
Lots has happened at Casa Debbio with the garden growing ever larger. We have had some new dry stone walls built on the steep slope in front of the house. It has always been a difficult area, hot, exposed and with rocky soil. Ugo, from the village, built the walls, with the help of the wonderful Filippo.
I have planted low growing plants on the wall. They are beautiful and I don’t want to cover them.
The walls have only been built for a few weeks but the plants are growing.
I painted a small sign to dedicate the wall to Ugo and Filippo. I will get a permanent one in marble when I have more time.
The path to the wall got a bit trampled but the new grass is starting to grow back.
There can never be too many frogs in the garden.
Filippo had a great idea for the wisteria I wanted above the walls. He suggested rostre, semicircular metal frames often seen over old doors in Italy. We scavenged 6 and the wisteria is growing well on them.
Wisteria in other areas didn’t do as well as other years, but still put on a good show.
Now the leaves have grown and give us shade under the pergola.
Peonies bloom for a couple of months at Casa Debbio. I love them.
Aquilegias come up every year all by themselves and self seed, the perfect plants.
Verbena comes up in spring for a few years.
The weeping cherry blooms briefly in early spring.
Its leaves now almost reach the ground. I have put a chair underneath and actually sat quietly there for a while.
Lavender flowers are starting to grow.
We have artichokes growing.
The acanthus plants all have long stalks of spiked flowers.
Wild fennel is growing beside a huge sage bush.
There are different wild flowers every month.
I planted hostas in autumn last year under the chestnut trees and they finally reappeared long after I thought they had given up.
The ricotta, or snowball flowers came and went.
The roses in front of the house are stunning.
The old table which Filippo turned into a planter is looking great.
I grew nasturtiums from seeds. This one in the pot must like its home.
We have lots of these wonderful lizards in the garden. They can grown to be quite long, mostly tail. I love to watching them scuttling in and out of the rocks and sunning themselves on warm days.
The wall with painted chairs was looking a bit tired so I repainted it. I was a bit pushed for time at this stage so I did something simple. It will do for now.
It isn’t easy to leave my garden, but I know that Filippo will do a great job looking after it. I hope our guests this summer enjoy it as much as we do. I will miss my life in Italy, but I will be back in September to pick up where I left off.