Magazine inspiration

 I think I have mentioned before that I have a small problem when it comes to magazines. The problem is that I am addicted. The central library used to have a great selection of international gardening magazines, and I enjoyed making special trips into town to pile up as many as I could carry home, to feast my eyes over the gorgeous images. Unfortunately the central library has been a no go zone since the Feb 22 quake, and I have no idea what happened to their subscription magazines - they haven't come to my local library. So I'm having to buy magazines. (I'm not as sad about this as you might imagine.)

 The good thing is that I'm amassing a good home library of beautiful pictures, and the bad thing is that international magazines are so damn expensive, and also the wrong season! But, by the time they hit the shops here, they are a couple of months out of date and therefore pretty much only a season ahead, if you think of it that way. 

 Anyway. This is the August issue of Gardens Illustrated, from the UK. I love the colours of the late summer plants pictured above... I really must get myself some honesty seeds. And I would love a bower like in the second picture - but I will settle for making myself a bench out of some rustic planks (got plenty of those lying around).

 Now, get ready for something exciting. This is La Chatonniere in France - and check out that potager shaped like a rose leaf!!! I do think that is the most beautiful potager design I've ever seen. I'm just so excited by it. If I were starting my potager over again, I'd try to incorporate this design. Of course, I'd need a castle and a humongous estate to really do it properly.

There are several themed gardens throughout La Chatonniere and each has a name. The potager is the Garden of Abundance. My other favourite is the Garden of Dance - thousands of narcissi and other spring bulbs planted in this beautiful pattern, which sway and dance in the spring breeze. Have a look at the La Chatonniere website for more photos and information on the other gardens, including Intelligence, Romance, Luxuriance, Fragrance and Silence.