……………………….We are lucky enough to have beautiful lush Privet Hedges bordering our property……….It’s that time of year when they are in full bloom, and the air is intoxicating with their fragrance. The windows are wide open and their aroma is coming through them………………Jac LOVED the clean fresh smell of the Privet flowers, and couldn’t get enough of them…….One year Franco, our landscaper and caretaker, decided that they needed a trim…….Yes, he cut all the flowers off. By the time we noticed what he had done it was too late……they, and their beautiful smell was gone!!! Jac was devastated, and told Franco, in a very restrained voice, to NEVER cut the Privets again without her approval. She wanted them to grow wild, and to this day they never get cut until late in the season after all of the flowers are gone. and he asks if it’s OK. I guess Jac left an impression on him about her Privets…….I sit here at my computer, with the windows wide open, enjoying the lovely scent of the pretty white flowers…..thinking of Jac
Dear Louis, Jac’s garden is looking so lovely! Thank you for sharing pictures. The roses must be such a lovely welcome when you come home. It is amazing how smells can bring us back to a time and place so vividly. Enjoy the lovely fragrances and memories of your beautiful life with Jac, memorialized in this beautiful garden.
My clematis just started to bloom today on my front porch. It’s such a treat to go out for coffee every morning and sit and look at the beauty and contemplate the blessings of life. Off to pick even more strawberries before the thunderstorms begin again. The garden is bursting with abundance and I am bustling to put up produce. I have on your indigo shirt dress today….yes, I regularly garden in skirts and dresses, most times with an apron over it!
Love and hugs to you today! I am very much looking forward to your afternoon show!
I have a love/hate affair for privets. I don’t own any but I see a few in my neighborhood. Privets can grow quite large without pruning. But as April mentioned, it’s best to prune most flowering shrubs after they finish blooming & before they form the buds for next year’s performance. Pretty soon our oakleaf hydrangea with it’s white panicle flowers will release their fragrance and waft it towards our deck. It is truly a beauty.
DH asked me, ‘what are those blue flowers against the fence?’ I said those are the lacecap hydrangeas. ‘Blue Bird’ is prolific this year.
Enjoy your garden Louis, lots of good memories.
Poor Franco! I’ll BET Jac was in shock! As a gardener, he should have known that you NEVER trim a flowering shrub until it’s flowering season is done or risk the wrath of it’s loving owner. Your wife was truly restrained. My husband once decided he was going to get a jump on things & marched out one lovely spring day with the electric clippers to trim our shrubs w/o alerting me to his plans. The second I heard the motor, I went tearing out the door, waving my arms, screaming, “NO!NO!NO!” before he’d been able to do too much damage. Communication is EVERYTHING in a marriage,lol. This lack almost caused a heart attack. Your garden is looking glorious. Enjoy it to the max.
So beautiful!! I’m so envious. I don’t always get to respond, but I so enjoy your posts about Privets, roses, your beautiful garden…
Thank you for sharing!
I so relate to Jac’s shock when she saw her flowers/shrubs gone. I planted and nurtured an extensive black eyed Susan and wild flower area down our hill next to our creek. The flowers were all along the creek bank and were especially full around the bridge over our creek. It was September and everything was in full bloom. I asked my husband to help weed eat (we were having a barn party) and when I went to look down the hill, everything had been buzz sawed down to the ground. Whaaaaaaaat!!!!!???? What happened to all that beautiful color? He said he thought they looked liked the weeds in bloom across the creek. UGH. That is the last time this farm girl let a city guy loose with a weed eater!!! He is now restricted to the fire pit and fixing my computer. LOL.
We also have Black Eyed Susan’s growing up the drive. When the roses peter out the BES start to bloom. Jac planned all of this.
Oh, Louis, I can smell the aroma! I, so, love seeing your beautiful plantings and gardens. They are a beautiful bounty of color and fragrance and a joy to behold! A wonderful surprise when each bloom. A true landscape painting. The joy you and Jac had in planning this abundance of beauty is a living reminder of Jac and each time something new opens and blooms, it is a visit from your beautiful Jac coming to say hello. What a lovely, beautiful tribute to the love of your life. I know you enjoy it’s full glorious beauty!
Dear Somersault, perfectly expressed. Each new bloom, and each wave of of that heavenly scent…..is a visit from my Jac.
So Beautiful!
These are some of my favorites. Seeing the picture brought to mind the hydrangea prints you did for us, especially the navy skirt with white flowers. Possibly you were in that same spot when those were created. Thanks for sharing Louis. See you Tuesday. Pamela in the sunny south.