It looks to me like Escallonia there are various varieties with light or dark pink flowers. Yes, flowers in May.

Agree with Lizziebee, Escallonia of some variety. And, by the way, never worry about asking ID questions - I reckon they're by far the most popular with members!

Yesss!!! Just looked at the pics of escallonia flowers, and that's obviously what it is. Brilliant, MANY thanks both!

I would love to be tackling an overgrown garden in France - to live in France is my dream.

I had two of these at our other house,MJ..as hedging..very hardy,and a good barrier.. your neighbours could be the variety called Apple Blossom,with the colour of the flowers..My other one had deeper pink flowers,but can't remember the name..

It mystifies me why my predecessor created a small raised bed (facing north, with east and west occasional sunshine each day, though these are fierce) in front of a crumbling dry-stone wall (once a sheep enclosure I am told), and then planted in it 3 x hibiscus, a flowering quince and the escallonia we are discussing!

not helped of course that I have ignored all of these for 4 years (arrived here in France only to be floored yet again - literally - by poor health) so 1 hisbiscus has died and chaenomeles & escallonia are flourishing beyond the reach of my secateurs... But yes, Cammomile there are many compensations to life in France - supping a surreptitious glass of wine outside in the evening cool after 30-35 degrees in the day, while you lot (according to my "ex") are suffering downpours is one of them - though my arthritis hates the resulting watering-cans...

we too had rotten weather this Spring/Summer but here unlike England it turns from the wrecking downpours to drought at the press of a switch... Fun gardening, though... if you can stand the strain!

I've a relative living in Condom in France - not yet visited, seems to be in the middle of absolutely nowhere, so yet to see their 'garden' if they have made one on their land.

Yep, Bamboo, most places in France are "in the middle of nowhere" which is one reason to like them - poor for supermarkets and GCs, and difficult for visiting relatives; but good for walking and absence of litter and roadkill! Your relative will have warmer conditions than I do, hope you get to visit him/her...

They ask me to all the time, but to be honest, its the hellish journey that puts me off - I'm not driving in France, and its a minimum 3 hours drive from Lyon to where they are. And once I'm there, I'm trapped, lol

Hi Bamboo,
do you drive routinely in England? (especiallly London if that's where you're sited!) - if so, why not drive, in France? I must admit I wouldn't drive all the way from England down to mid-or-southern France at my age & health (unless I could stop for a night on the way there and back which all adds to cost, and was staying for a week at least at my eventual destination!) It's a long journey and everyone agrees stressful especially if you go via the Paris route! But if you can get to a suitable French airport (I don't know what your routes are from where you live) and there hire a small car, it's not too horrid...

When I decided to come and explore here in Limousin 5 yrs ago, I'd almost never driven on the "wrong" side (ex-OH had always driven on our rare holidays in France) and I was frankly terrified... Hired a lh-drive car at Limoges airport, nearly had a nervous breakdown in first half-hour! But there IS much less traffic than in England, and there are lots of (let's say, mature?) people pottering about in their cars... so if you just tootle along it's fine. The motorways can be hairy (mainly the joining and leaving them, I find!) but if you avoid those at first (and presumably if your relative REALLY is in middle of nowhere you won't be on motorways) it's do-able and you would then not be "trapped" while there- you could explore a bit... it looks an interesting area to visit - and there'd probably be some different gardens!...

That's kind of you to give me some advice - I don't generally drive far, spending more than an hour in a car is pushing it because it kills my lower back, even as a passenger, but you're right, the thought of trying to cope with driving on the 'wrong' side of the road is also terrifying! I'm told the best route is the Eurostar to somewhere or other, then the 3 hour drive after that - and its that bit where I get stuck - I'd probably need surgery after 3 hours driving, whatever country I'm in, lol! Although I have to say, I wouldn't mind having to have surgery in France, their health service is pretty impressive, not to mention single rooms in the hospitals;-)

Thanks for allowing me to promote your potential visit to France - it's really OK, despite 1000 years where we've supposedly hated each other! even though we owe more than we'd confess, to each other...

Yup, if you have to have hospitalisation I'll vote for France over our dear UK! I managed to collapse with a horrendous heart condition, which led to 2 x 'AVC' - strokes, in our local 'pharmacie' (chemists' shop to you and me) while collecting medication - and after 2 swift ambulances & 3 weeks in hospital, operation and constant blood tests etc. - here I am (so far) 2+ years later, to tell the tale... (ps the food in hospital was better than in England...!)

(not to mention that because I staged the collapse (inadvertently) in the village pharmacie I made it to the anecdotes of our local pompiers' (firemen/paramedics - here the firemen rescue you by helicopter at need 'cos we're so remote)' Christmas Ball!...and have thereby had my '15 minutes of fame'!)

regards 'MJ'

I was gonna say, you couldn't have collapsed in a better place, apart from a GP surgery or hospital. Glad you recovered - I know about healthcare over there because another relative is married to an Algerian French woman, and they lived in France till last year, when they moved back to Cambridge, at her behest, oddly. Her husband (my brother in law) had back trouble sorted out in France, having an op they'd never even have considered doing here in Britain, and had heart treatment there too. He hates being back here at the tender mercies of the NHS... even though he's being treated at Addenbrooke's, he really wanted to stay in France.

Yup, I too was seen by a consultant at Addenbrookes...

...Mind you, there are drawbacks in every system: one stroke specialist here told me firmly that I couldn't be truly left-handed, since I'd had my strokes on the 'wrong' side!...

(so, going back to the gardening theme, why, please tell me, do I have to pay extra for left-handed gardening secateurs?)

Best wishes for your current gardening, here the leaves are crisping ready for autumn, alas! - but the tiny frogs (thumbnail-size) are nevertheless flourishing... every time I turn over a trowel-full I disturb one... in a dry-as-dust bed!

Dry as dust, oh yea, I remember that, way back in March...!