growth in my winter garden

The azaleas are beginning to look good.

Fruits from my potted lime tree.

The lime tree.

There are a few small fruits in this smaller lime tree and I hope the flowers will set.

Summer flowers in late autumn

The sunflowers grew from seeds that dropped from the mature plant in late spring.  I let the seedlings grow, not expecting them to flower but here they are, resplendent next to the blue salvia.  The bushy salvia attracts all kinds of birds and the weight of the larger ones would break the tender branches.

mauve salvia

yellow roses, still budding

tuber begonia

autumn in a pot - self-sown rowan tree

2 pots of turmeric plant, still growing

Flowers and fruits in my autumn garden

Rowan tree with hanging baskets of summer flowers.

A mixed bed

Bougainvillea

Belladonna lily

Marigold and zinnia

Shocking pink nerine

Cape violet

Petunia, azalea and dahlia

Hippeastrum, white squash and chillies

Salvia

Green olives

Olives, pomegranates, rose hips and rhubarb

With hardly any rain I have been watering my garden to keep them alive.  The pleasure of seeing buds turn to blooms and fruits ripening cannot be measured in dollar terms.  Being extravagant in the garden is no bad thing.

Flowers in autumn

hibiscus, zinnias and hot chillies in a mixed bed

cyclamen with attractive variegated leaves

belladonna lily amongst the cacti

lobelia and petunia in hanging baskets

marigold and zinnia

fuchsia

tuberous begonia

Harvest

A plate of perfect peaches but some may have grubs.  Still, sweet and delicious.

Three large zucchinis.  Perfect for ratatouille or zucchini cake.

Ripe cayenne chillies.

peaches

The peaches are beautiful but some of them have got grubs in them.  I must remember to spray fungicide next winter.

Food from the garden

crab apples, mainly for the parrot

damson plums, not quite ready

Granny Smith apple, not many on the tree

pomegranate, still green

white squash

zucchini

bacon, growing its tubers underground

Sweet basil and greek basil