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Now that we have established that I love Autumn {you did already catch on to that, right?} I wanted to share some glimpses of our autumn garden with you.
Since our girls were little, we have had a tradition of cleaning up the garden as a family and getting it ready for fall sometime during Labor Day weekend.
This last Labor Day was no different, even though now it’s just the two of us. Â After a relaxing cup of steaming coffee in our front garden, Mr. FGH and I {those of you who know me already know it’s mostly Mr. FGH who is the real gardener!} took some time to tidy plants, clip off old, dead leaves, and purchase just a few new plants for the garden.
It was such a gorgeous autumn day, perfection, really. A warm, half cloudy sunny morning, seventy-four degrees with that delightful cooling breeze our ocean town is famous for.  I’m at the point in my life that I want to cherish and appreciate each day, and make it as joyful as I can, so I even lit the candle in the lantern outside in daylight because I love the cozy warmth of candles. I wish the pumpkins were real, and they will be later this week, there just aren’t any at the farmer’s stand or markets yet.
I may not do the actual hard garden labor {digging out almost dead plants beyond help, planting new ones} but I clip, re- arrange, and also feed my gardener well. I set up our little wood seating area for coffee, and served little tarts with cream to pour over the top. A few of our favorite Bohemian Rose bowls, an antique French enamelware little pitcher, and my stand-by ruffled linen napkins made this beautiful to the eye as well as delicious.
Since we re-landscaped our front garden to be drought resistant { fulfilling my life-long dream of a garden that reminds me of the Provence gardens in France} we have enjoyed our front garden much more.
Neighbors walk by and stop for a chat, our lab Bentley loves to lie down underneath the spreading olive tree, and visiting children like to run around on the gravel for the “crunchy” sound it makes. I love nothing more than to start the day drinking a cup of coffee out here, very early, and read my daily devotion. It is quiet, until the little school across the street starts coming to life with parents and children starting their school day.
After trimming the little Ollies and lavenders, and placing some of the mums we bought in pots, we moved to the back garden.
I love the hydrangeas when they first bloom, but there is something so magical about how they look just before they dry. The colors have gone a little crazy, and the aqua blues are turning to luscious deep, pinky-reds. Â I spent some time cutting some of the large blooms off the plants to take inside to dry.
I think they almost look like a still life painting in this antique French zinc bucket, don’t you?
By this time we were fading a little in the hard garden labor department, so I spent some time decorating the potting bench by my bedroom doors. You can see my potting bench in the spring here. {and learn how to style your garden with antiques.
Our neighbor has wild mint {I think all mint is a little wild, right?} growing between the fence on our property, and I love it when it blooms. It has the most delicate light petal pink flowers, and the smell is heavenly! Â I cut some just in time, as right when I went to close the gate to our garden, I saw him there cutting all that beautiful mint right down to the ground. Thank goodness I cut some already!
See how gorgeous it looks in the antique French zinc pitcher?
These old zinc body pitchers have such an elegant shape, although they are French country in style, they are beautiful enough in their muted grey colors to be displayed as a work of art, even in a contemporary home.
These rich, autumn colors look perfect on an antique French transferware plate in the garden. Little decorations like this make me so happy, they really showcase nature’s changing season.
Over the next few weeks we’ll work on trimming, adding just a few new plants and generally tidying up the back garden.
Since it was a holiday, after all, I packed up an antique French picnic basket to take with us on a walk.
Thank you for joining me in the gardens today. Â I am adding some French garden antiques to the shop this week. Â If you don’t already subscribe to my blog, you can sign up in the top right corner so you never miss a post! Â Happy Fall!
Gorgeous photos and lovely narrative. You get five stars for getting lie/lay correct, something painfully rare on the Internet these days.
Mint is very invasive (wild!!) and usually best kept in a pot, unless you want a LOT of mint. I suspect your neighbor’s mint will grow back just fine. Funny–I know a house here named les Menthes Sauvages.
I love that name, what a great name for a house. The mint family is a little savage. The mint between our property does always grow back, it’s just that I love it best when it’s flowering. It’s always a mad dash out there to cut a bouquet before the neighbor hacks it off and puts it in his greens bin!
This is a beautiful post. You’ve captured the essence of autumn perfectly, with gorgeous photos.
Thank you Rita! I love autumn so much, if I could, I’d just run around the neighborhood setting up little fall vignettes in the gardens of all our neighbors. {I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate!}
This post made me really happy and I can feel Fall coming already even with our temps in the 90’s. Thank you for all your wonderful posts. They make me smile!
What a stunning post! It is almost fall here on the farm, we can’t wait. The photos of your gardens are luscious, autumn in pictures. Thank you.
Thank you John Paul, I know that autumn is your favorite season too!
Lidy, I live through you vicariously! San Antonio Texas is not known for seasonal changes except hot to cold and back again. A rare plant here and there might change color but really, the direction of the light and how it looks in my home is what I enjoy. It has never kept me from decorating for the season! Have another beautiful day, Ginger
You are a true stylist, my friend. The tarts were making hungry with each picture! I, too, love pea gravel, but hubby thinks it’s too messy. Someday…
Zinc is high on my list of the ‘rustics’ I want to add to my lakehouse. I’ll have a peek at your shop. I saw zinc chargers somewhere and my heart sang.
Happy Weekend, Lidy! Back to the lake! 😀
Jane
Your message was just the right influence to turn from hot, hot and humid summer to the slowing pace of Fall. I would love to have the recipe for the Fall tart you enjoyed…if it tastes as good as it looks it will be wonderful.
Please, share?
Barbara, thank you for your visit. The tarts? I have made tarts before, but these little darlings come from Trader Joe’s! {they have amazing little tarts in their freezer section that you bake}
What a beautiful and inviting garden, Lidy, and I love the nod to autumn…so gorgeous! Hydrangeas are a favorite flower and the colors this time of year are spectacular. Happy weekend!
Thank you so much. Happy weekend, to you both, too!
Oh Lidy…this is such a gorgeous setting! … I can just feel the crispness of the Fall air when I see your most beautiful images of the garden. Love that basket too!
Your garden is lovely and your style so sweet. I enjoyed this blog post very much. Thankful to stumble upon your blog.
Thank you so much, Pammi, and welcome!
a love all of your postings.. thank you so much… yes fall has arrived where I live too this past week, cooler day and nights..
Thank you so much, Bridget! Excited about those cooler days and nights right along with you.