Fleurs seches

Maybe it's due to being 750 metres up, but the gardens around here are rarely what you'd call flowery.  There's lots of grass, not a few conifers, a limited array of shrubs and the inevitable veg plot.  Flowers seem to be confined to window boxes and hanging baskets.  So this little gem, in the green of the forest near La Courtine is something of an oasis:

It belongs to a rather eccentric (and very chatty!) lady who grows flowers for drying, which she makes into stunning arrangements and sells on local markets.  The grenier of her three-storey house is amazing.  Every rafter and beam is dripping with upturned bunches of this season's flowers drying.  I'm annoyed that I didn't take my camera up there with me!  And her sitting room is a gallery of her arrangements - no two the same. The whole enterprise is clearly a labour of love.  She can certainly show other gardeners round here what can be done! (Including us!)