Squirrel- you don't need to know what the names mean, just remember them and, since you're a teacher, you presumably have a trick for remembering names. Common English names vary around the country, as do French ones and Belgium has 3 languages t add to the confusion so try and get your head round the botanical names. Just a few a week of the plants you want most will do, or write a list for when you go to plant fairs or garden centres.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
It must be fun to live in Belgium, especially when you live in The Netherlands, or is it the other way around.. as the town of Baarle-Hertog, or should I call it Baarle-Nassau is split in two, street by street almost... situated just across the border from Belgium, it's in Holland but half of it isn't... I don't think there's anywhere quite like it in the world, but I expect they manage their affairs better than we do here, by all accounts... and their gardens look superb, not a piece of litter in sight.. of course half their garden can be in one country and the rest in another... I don't suppose you live in this part of Belgium Mr Squirrel?... I would be so terribly confused...
Belgium can indeed be a surreal place to live, you are right there @Marlorena. On my drive to school (15km) I pass through three separate regional areas each with their own governments: Brussels-Capital region, Flanders and the Walloon region. My friend lives in a town a bit like the one you describe, where the regional border goes right through the middle, so suddenly the language changes on all the signs as you go from French to Flemish, and the gardens become better organised and well-marked cycle paths suddenly appear No surprise that the Surrealist artist Rene Magritte is Belgian!
I actually have the enormous privilege of living next to part of Europe's remaining primeval beech forest, the Sonian forest (Foret de Soignes), 10,000+ acres of UNESCO-protected land. These are photos I took on Monday...
Oh that's exciting... fantastique !... and of course you have the Battle of Waterloo on your doorstep, if one is interested in this sort of thing... which we should be really, it's not something to be ignored.. google maps is a good substitute though...
Only humans could make life so complicated, and that certainly is a complex situation demographically... hope you find some good plants for your garden, and I hope all this Brexit business doesn't interfere too much with your future plans.. best wishes...
The Foret des Soignes is a very good place for a horse ride and for losing your dog if you let it off the lead.
Belgium is full of hidden treasures and ancient history from pre-Roman times onwards. Genetics indicate the first tribes to colonise England after the Ice Age. Ambiorix (Tongeren) played with the Romans and then there are the Carolingian lot. William the Conqueror's wife was a Belgian - Mathilde of Flanders. Lots of castles, old towns, artists, scientists and inventors and loads of battles and some pretty good gardens and designers and plants people too.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Re Belgian nurseries I do not have @Obelixx 's vast experience but I can unreservedly recommend the Van Nuffelen clematis specialists. I got to know them at a plant fair here in Brittany where I bought my lovely clematis ‘Samaritan Jo’. Here is their website: http://www.clematis.be/index.html At that plant fair they had an impressive display of their clematis.
Wow, that clematis selection is amazing, I will look out for them and get out to as many plant fairs as I can find. Although I've been here for a while, it's only recently that I've had my own garden to play with
Thanks again everyone for all your help, you've been great!
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They also have Open Days when the Day Lily field is in bloom ... https://www.woottensplants.com/specialities/hemerocallis/
just beautiful
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
https://goo.gl/maps/ZwmbrAtV2es
I actually have the enormous privilege of living next to part of Europe's remaining primeval beech forest, the Sonian forest (Foret de Soignes), 10,000+ acres of UNESCO-protected land. These are photos I took on Monday...
Only humans could make life so complicated, and that certainly is a complex situation demographically... hope you find some good plants for your garden, and I hope all this Brexit business doesn't interfere too much with your future plans.. best wishes...
Belgium is full of hidden treasures and ancient history from pre-Roman times onwards. Genetics indicate the first tribes to colonise England after the Ice Age. Ambiorix (Tongeren) played with the Romans and then there are the Carolingian lot. William the Conqueror's wife was a Belgian - Mathilde of Flanders. Lots of castles, old towns, artists, scientists and inventors and loads of battles and some pretty good gardens and designers and plants people too.
Wow, that clematis selection is amazing, I will look out for them and get out to as many plant fairs as I can find. Although I've been here for a while, it's only recently that I've had my own garden to play with
Thanks again everyone for all your help, you've been great!