At Home in Brittany: Pottering in the Garden

Pottering, is the word that describes my method of gardening. I take my trowel and poke at a bit of soil in random spots in my flower-beds. Teasing out a weed here and the occasional dandelion there not only improves the appearance of my garden but also my sense of well-being.

I am not a heavy-duty gardener, preferring self sustaining shrubs, usually evergreen and what need there is for severe digging is carried out by my husband, or my daughter and her boyfriend.

Colour in the garden is not difficult to achieve when you live in Brittany. You don't have to journey to Provence to see the intense blue of Lavender; it grows equally well in your own back-garden. No need to rely on your local florist to provide you with Arum Lilies, the best examples can enhance those dark corners of your garden. Lily of the Valley exuberantly clusters in patches wherever you care to plant it with hardly any effort at all.

Every shade of Camellia in shapely shrub form or growing to an extravagant hight provides a declaration of your gardening prowess. This is what gardening is all about; statements of shape and colour in waves of light and shade, providing an ambiance of relaxation encircling your home.

No better large shrub than Rhododendron will provide this and for a more delicate touch there is always the Azalea; a flurry of watercolour from their blooms.

If like me you potter, you might like to try a very satisfying way of accomplishing a new aspect in your garden with the minimum of effort. I call it posing (I believe my husband calls it wasting time, or words to that effect) it only requires you to spend a couple of minutes considering where to pose a garden ornament of your choice. Small objects can be just as effective as grandiose statues if placed in an artistic positions. Hidden discreetly behind a suitably leafy plant, amongst flowering shrubs, or just standing on top of a rock. Sundials are an attractive ornamentation, providing the double effect of combining science (the instrument itself) with nature's sunshine.

Of course the garden to me is a playground and that is why I am just a potterer; and will never develop into a sophisticated horticulturist.

But a garden is not limited to within the boundaries of hedges or a gate and when you need a change of scenery take a walk in the countryside.

Just outside my garden gate I can gaze across to my neighbours house which is gradually being swallowed up by the field of yellow which now surrounds it.Our farming friend planted Rapeseed, this is what a professional potterer can achieve.