A country of contradictions France's weather reflects the norm! When we arrived in France in 2003 they were having a mega hot summer, many forest fires and sadly some loss of lives. We were told that year when we exclaimed in wonder "is it always like this here?" - "mais oui, c'est normale!" (which we understood in our, then, very limited french to be 'yes, it's normal!'). I'm still wondering eight years on what is normal? Every year has been different.

When we have massive thunder storms and downpours for days or even weeks on end, that's normal. When we have frosts in May and hailstones (greles) in June, that's normal. So, after a warm, if not hot, spring we went into June for things to change again - out came the fleece's and socks to keep the chill off and I do believe some people even relit their fires. We're now at the end and last weekend of June and again we have change. As I sit and write, to avoid the changeable weather, it's blisteringly hot out there, I'm wondering how you are supposed to plan?

The answer for me is simple, don't! I work with the weather and what is going on around me. There is always so much to do and see and develop that it's not like we can't pick and choose.

After days of being sat in front of the computer and re-designing my web site I'm glad to say the sun is shining brightly today so I'll be happy to trim off all of the dead lavender heads that were missed in autumn. They will still flower profusely but a little later than normal.

After much to-ing and fro-ing I think I now have the blog sussed. I've also been making changes to the web site, how it looks and works. I hope you like the changes and if you spot any problems please let me know so that I can address them. Thank you for your continuing support.

I'm happy to say that the blog seems to be working correctly, fingers crossed. My IT skills are developing with the help of my lavender tissanes to keep the mind relaxed now I am so looking forward to getting back to the making and creating with the plants :-)

There seems to be a problem with my blog at the moment. I am in the process of getting it sorted - allegedly :-/

The Essence of Herbs

When I was entering my glory years, learning about myself, becoming independent and setting up my own homes my favourite perfume was Helena Rubinstein’s Herbal Essence. I wore it throughout my student years, I absolutely loved it.

When I bought my first house I didn’t have a garden but I had a back yard which the kitchen overlooked. It wasn’t long before I got started with my pot gardening and trellises up the walls. Of course herbs are the ideal plants for restricted areas and grow happily in pots so that was my main choice of plant. I loved pottering around in my secret little garden and continued my love of herbs from there on. Their versatility is immense and they bring a sense of well being on many levels.

The scents and colour they brought to my first house is something that I’ll always remember – it was like having that perfume around me all the time. Naturally as I learnt more about the plants my interest deepened and I tried new varieties and found out more about them as individual plants and their properties.

Over the years and in my different gardens I always had a selection of herbs. Eventually we came to France to live and even then I brought as many of my herbs as I could with me. Now they are an integral part of our life in France. We set up a nursery selling herbs and specialising also in Penstemons (another favourite range of plant). However it is a very seasonal business and the selling season is quite short here as the French have their, quite rigid, thoughts on what to plant and when, etc. They are not the same as the gardeners in England in many ways and we find that the buying side of the season is somewhat shorter and probably partly to do with the extremes of weather conditions that we have.

We had to diversify and find something that we could bring in more income and being very tied to the work here it had to be home based.  We looked at our assets and were almost led, again by the herbs, to our next venture – natural products, many of them herb based. And so we launched our second or as I like to think of it sister, business that works hand in hand with the nursery and we think they are perfect companions.

Life is very busy, often hectic  and always challenging so I just want to thank the many people that have encouraged us, believed in us, shared ideas with us and generally supported us from the beginning. If you want to follow us we are on Facebook and have links to many other like minded and interesting sites http://www.facebook.com/pages/Naturally-Progressive-dried-natural-products/288770431801.

First week of January now and it's much milder than expected - a refreshing change from the arctic conditions of late! I've been experimenting with different materials for our wreath collection - at the moment it is bases and I'm looking forward to the spring and summer when I can add to them to make colourful displays :-)

Well the weather has really turned now, arctic conditions and sub zero temperatures. The snow has added to the excitement of impending Christmas! Time for warm fires and mulled wine - oh, and don't forget the Christmas pressies!

The new mulling spice bags had a showing this weekend at La Sedelle plant show - they went down a treat and the tapers, ever popular, useful and quirky! 

The night's are drawing in and the wood burners are being lit for warmth and comfort - I love the smell of the dried herbs that we use as kindling and it makes the house smell great! You should give them a go and with Christmas is on it's way - for a really natural, beautiful gift for your loved ones we are now offering gift baskets. Our lavender and herb selection make lovely gifts and the pot pourri is so colourful to brighten up the gloom of the darker months...

This website will shortly be 'under construction' and therefore inaccessible whilst the changes are made. Follow progress on Facebook I'm not happy with the format and feel it needs re-organising to make it a better experience to view. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted!!!

At last the garden is starting to bloom and harvesting is here - lavender, calendula, borage, lamb's ears, chamomile, to name a few! See our new look pot pourri, an ideal treat or gift for someone special.

Teething problems - argh.... I prefer working with the plants than the computer. Hopefully the updates I have done now should sort the site out...Back to the plants. Time for preparation as it will soon be spring and this year I'm really looking forward to the new plants that I can use in our ranges.