Thursday, August 26, 2010

Magic Garden Update: You Bring the Bamboo, I'll Bring the Booze.

It's been pissing pouring rain for 4 days, so I haven't been able to get outside on the terrace to take any photos before now. Finally, the storm let up for a few minutes this morning and I was able to get outside and take a few quick shots.


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As you can see my mail-order bambou is happily in its home. We found these gigantic plastic planters made by some slick Danish company at the local yuppie garden center. They are super lightweight and are guaranteed to resist UV fading for a hand-full of years. I have complete and blind faith in Les Danoises.

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The same weekend we potted the Bambou, French Father-in-Law and FrenchBoy installed this lovely and colorful straw material stuff that I found on sale at Leroy-Merlin. It's synthetic, so it should hold up a bit better than the real stuff we had installed on the terrace at our old apartment. The best part, besides finding it one sale of course, is that it makes the whole space seem more defined and dare I say cozy? I mean who wants to hang out and have cocktails on a Helipad? Ok, I would, but it would need to be dressed up pretty nice first.

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You bring the bamboo, I'll bring the booze! p.s. That metal armiture to the right of me in the photo is a hammock that I might eventually use if it ever stops raining.

And just last week French Mother-in-Law called to tell me that Lidl was running a promo on lavender for less than 3 euros a plant.

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I promptly drove over to my nearest location and bought their entire stock. OK, I left one plant in the store. I didn't want to look too greedy. (My apologies to the grey-haired old lady that I drop kicked in order to score an entire case of 6 plants, but lady, you had it comin'.) When we bought the planters from the garden center, I saw the exact same size of Lavander plant for about 10 bucks per plant. I don't exactly know which type of lavander this is, but I couldn't pass up that deal. Now my only hope is that they somehow manage to survive the psychotic Lorraine winter and don't end up as 6 flower-sicles.

Anyone who has tips on how the hell to protect Lavander from frost and pissing pouring rain for months on end, speak up in comments.

Oh, and for those of you in France who want to order your own magic garden in a box, I bought my bambou here: here's the website: http://www.bambouweb.fr. The selection, information, and pricing is nothing short of amazing. Order now, have your plants in 4 days. Insane!

16 comments:

Kicha said...

Classy, classy, classy. I'm green with envy!

Anonymous said...

You have a beautiful terrace and you've fixed it up really well. I'd be glad to come over for a drink, when it stops raining.

the fly in the web said...

That looks so stylish....
lavender likes its' feet dry.

Camille Acey said...

pssst, bring the lavender inside in the winter. the bamboo too.
*

things are looking sweet on Barbie Dream House patio. I'll gladly bring the booze! :)

Megan said...

Looks great! Wish I had a freakin' huge terrace with chairs and plants instead of a narrow walkway over a busy road. Oh, and I think those are "fake lavender" plants like my in-laws have. It is some sort of cross breed that is more hardy, etc. Good luck keeping it alive!

Jasmine said...

So French people DO wear flip flops. I knew it! Sexy garden btw. I am jealous.

Oneika said...

wow, that looks fantastic! love the ultra modern feel of the chairs!

Unknown said...

I like the lavender planters. Is the brand Lechuza? If it is, I saw someone in my area with some on his balcony but cannot locate them in stores. Where did you find them? They look nice.
As far as lavender is concerned, I doubt it can survive Lorraine winter without being inside but hopefully for you, I might be wrong.

Madame K said...

I'm worried about the Lavander....erh, fake lavender, erh Lavandine.

I’m all but certain it's the crossbreed that Megan mentioned, but even so I'm afraid. And it's too damn smelly to keep in the house all winter. I think we'd die from Lavander fumes. They are REALLY damn strong.

Oh and before you all get too jealous of the Barbie Dream House terrace, it still hasn’t stopped raining. We may never get to use it!

Cherise said...

Love it!!!!! I'm jealous, even with the rain.

PigletinFrance said...

Your terrace is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the links for the garden places, pretty snazzy!

I hope it has stopped raining enough for you to enjoy your corner of paradis now :)

ps. I started reading your blog before you took a break last year so just came back recently and glad to see you're blogging again :)

mccork said...

your terrace looks amazing - thank you so much for posting the link to the bamboo mail order site, it is full of helpful information, and you can see the quality of your plants and the ones on their site are way beyond anything we have seen at garden centres - we hope to order a selection soon, thanks again for sharing.

dkan71 said...

Love the terrace. Very elegant and warm. Girl, you've got a great life!

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog and read several posts. I busted a gut over here laughing my hubby thought I had lost my mind. Keep it coming!!!

Great terrace by the way!

Samantha VĂ©rant said...

What awesomeness. I'm green with envy. After being in the US for six weeks, my backyard/terrace looks like hell on a haystack. Nice blog. Another expat joining in on the fun.

Unknown said...

love the art deco feel to your 'garden'.