Tea at Trianon: Winter Gardening

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Winter Gardening

I would love to have a greenhouse. From Country Life:

I am not one for New Year resolutions, but the fact that such a tradition exists does give me a nudge at a time of year when I can get a lot done before the spring rush, which will otherwise leave me feeling like one of those circus acts desperately trying to avoid the spinning plates on sticks crashing to the ground.

Already, I have planted several thousand more bulbs — naturalised in the meadow, grouped in borders and pots — and the feverish anticipation of the spring show to come, courtesy of daffodils, narcissi, crocuses and tulips, is giving me a feeling of intense positivity about the year to come. But then that is a key feature of gardening — the joy of anticipation and the postponement of gratification in an increasingly ‘have it now’ world.

If you have always wanted a raised bed for your vegetables, build it now. If there are months in your garden that are less than spectacular when it comes to flowers, order seasonal plants to replace some of the dullards that people your beds and borders. Buy a greenhouse, put up a shed, but whatever you do, remind yourself that it will make a difference not only to your garden, but to your state of mind.

Plants and gardens are great healers. There are disappointments, yes, and almost every year there will be something that does not work. But if you make sure that 2024 is not ‘same old, same old’, then you will discover the lift that is to be enjoyed from simply doing something different or planting something new or creating a new area or feature where, up until now, you have bimbled along with the status quo. Shake up your garden this winter, and wish it a Happy New Year. (Read more.)