We have the most remarkable blue flowering shrub in the garden at Lou Messugo.  It’s in full bloom and in its prime right now.  I just had to share it with you.  It’s certainly one of the most successful things we’ve planted here.  It’s name is Céanothe in French and Ceanothus or Trewithen Blue in English.

      céanothe3

Four years ago, in May 2010 we planted a small spindly plant about 40 cm high.  Today it’s over 2.5 metres high and about 4 metres wide.

      new_Céanothe_May_2010

See those tiny plants at the end of the arrow? One of them is our Ceanothus

      house view Lou Messugo April 14

Same shot 4 years later, the Ceanothus is not the only thing to have grown

I’ve tried to show some before and after photos, but the befores weren’t easy to find as we had a disaster in 2010 and lost pretty much all our photos of that year.  Tragic!  And a lesson to BACK UP everything numerous times.  They were on an external hard drive which met with an untimely and unnatural death!

      new gate March 2012

 This is March 2012, not much growth yet

      house view Lou Messugo April 14

Look at it now! April 2014

I’ve managed to pull a few things out of the archives, though it’s extra sad that we lost photos of 2010 as that’s when we opened the gîte and really started to get to grips with the garden.  2009 was all about building the house.  2010 was the beginning of the garden; though anyone with a garden will know that it’s a never-ending project.  For more photos of our transformation click here

      céanothe5

      céanothe10

      céanothe

      céanothe2

What do you think of our monster Trewithen Blue?  Do you enjoy watching your garden grow?  I’d love to hear from you.

You may these other posts about the garden at Lou Messugo:

Summer garden – flowers, weeds and bees

September Mediterranean garden

Wild Spring garden

From forest to garden – 4 years in the making

 

 

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