Today I did something very unusual.
On an ordinary day I spend a lot of time in front of the computer working on drawings and specification which basically means the theory of what somebody else is going to actually do on site. However today was different. Today I was on site and I was « doing ».
My lovely client had called me to do a coaching session which had turned into a mini project for a very temporary sort of garden. She needed extra pizazz and flower colour for a party that she was holding in her garden.
I don’t normally do this kind of thing but I decided that I would take on the challenge, phone around a few contacts and see what I could do.I needed some colourful shrubs and plants to decorate a marquee for a big birthday party:
My first stop was at my local nursery Pépinières d’Engandou where I know that they have a small selection of really superb plants that are already potted into beautiful big colourful pots.
My second call was to my friend Ombelline who works in a big horticultural company in Castres called Haberschill where I managed to negotiate that she make me a selection of the most beautiful, colourful, plants that they have in stock. Knowing that September is not a great time of the year, the summer season is practically finished and the stock in their greenhouses would be small plants which will be grown on for sale around about Christmas time. I got lucky! They had some « test plantations », special pots that they have grown through a whole season to test new varieties which they have now finished with. Still in full flower they will look lovely.
I was doubly lucky to discover that because there was going to be an industry trade show this week, Haberschill would have a lorry coming through to Toulouse and they were able to put my plants in with the selection that they would be showing at the trade show. Even better than that we managed to recover some extra flowery plants that had been used at the trade show
I managed to coordinate that Laure from Engandou would collect my plans directly from the tradeshow and deliver them for me on site.
The charming Eric from Engandou duly turned up this morning with a beautiful delivery of plants of colours ranging from white through pink to purple and we managed to make a lovely colourful display for the birthday party.
For once, it was actually me on site placing plants, planting them in the ground and getting some real job satisfaction from seeing a result. Okay it’s only going to be a temporary decoration but still it got me away from my computer screen and thinking about the difference between the theory and the practical. I really enjoyed doing something hands-on, that is, until it rained but I just about finished and the gentle rain was exactly what the plants needed for settling in.
I’m looking forward to working with my lovely client again in in a second phase will be working on some more permanent planting in her garden so that perhaps next September she will not need a special import of flowers to compensate, she’ll already have some colour in her garden.
Just by chance today I received information about a promotion from the Engandou nursery and I’m adding it in here because the six plants that have been selected are all shrubs for late summer and autumn flowering so if you are looking in your garden seeing that you very little colour, here are six plants which would add a bit more petal power to your rentrée. Since September is very often a month of lovely weather where we use our gardens a lot, having some of these shrubs around would allow you a few more weeks of colour in the garden.
