My year at Casa Debbio, our Tuscan mountain house,  began in February. It was cold and wet. Winter seemed to drag on this year and spring was reluctant to show its face.
On the up side, winter does make for some spectacular views from Vergemoli, the gorgeous village which is the home of Casa Debbio.

This is Vergemoli from our house.

Casa Debbio looked forlorn without its lovely garden.


When spring finally began things seemed to turn green and bloom over night.

The Frassino or Flowering Ash trees put on a spectacular show this spring. The mountain sides were dotted with white for a few weeks.


We had reasonable rain this year, unlike 2017 which brought drought conditions.
Our garden thrived. We did lose a couple of trees. The lovely old fig tree was lost in a storm.

And the magnolia in front of the house was snapped off and blown away in strong winds.

We planted grass in front of the house, finally getting rid of the grey stones I disliked intensely. The down side is we no longer have an effective alarm. The grass allows visitors to approach silently.

Our wisteria has grown well and might cover the pergola in 2019.


We grew so many peonies this year I picked bunches of them to give to friends. We have 65 plants and some of them have doubled in size since I planted them.

Geraniums thrived this year and loved their new big pots we put behind the barbecue.



I had to leave all this loveliness behind in June to return to Australia. A delightful French family rented the house in summer and loved it.
When I returned in autumn the garden was still looking beautiful.

How lovely it is to sit and watch the seasons change at Casa Debbio.

My last job before leaving in November was to cut the lavender. This is from just a couple of plants. We have around 350 lavender plants now. They grow well in our garden.

I will be back soon to encourage the garden again in 2019.
We would love to share our beautiful Tuscan mountain house next year. Send me an email at debrakolkka@gmail.com if you are interested and please share this post with anyone who might like to enjoy the peace and solitude of a Tuscan mountain holiday in 2019. Tuscany is more than Chianti. Our glorious mountains are dotted with hundreds of authentic villages waiting to be explored.