Spring garden

The garden is looking gorgeous when not dampened by the rain.  It is telling me that the bulbs need to be thinned out to give them a chance to survive next year.  I shall be giving away the extras.

The Manchurian pear has lost its blossoms but the young leaves are beautiful.

Intermingling colours

Diosma doing very well.

Feeding this thin bed last autumn has helped.

Welcoming bright gazanias.

Wallflower, ixias and red azalea fighting for space.

Spring stars (Tritellia) and blue bells.

Blue bells and freesias appear each spring without fail.

Potted pansies for variety.

orchids and other flowers

Illness and the wet weather have stopped me from doing much if anything in my garden.  When we had a glorious spring day last week I walked all over my garden, appreciating the flowers that are brightening up the garden.  Hints of blossoms and bulbs as well as hellebores and cyclamens are encouraging me to get back to work.  The flowering orchids give me much pleasure.  The pale cymbidium has been flowering for over two months even though the wind broke the flower spike which I had to bandage and support with a stake.  The edges of the petals are turning brown.  I should have taken some pictures when they were looking their best.

The darker cymbidium has been with me for twenty years.  It was given to my daughter for her eighteenth birthday but I have been it's carer and had divided the original clump many times.  It is looking good even though it has been neglected.

This white orchid I bought at the garden club a few years ago and I should have noted its name.  It too survives without much support from me.

This is the time for daffodils and I have a few, only a few in the garden.

Two golden daffodils that have survived the wind and heavy rain.  The bit of pink beneath them is a cyclamen flower.

This egg and bacon wallflower comes back in spring with some help from cow manure which I had spread around some of the bushes in autumn.

This hot pink camelia is squashed by azaleas but is doing very well.  Can I say that the amount of rain we have been getting has been a great help?

These are some of the azaleas that are surrounding the camelia.  I will give them a good pruning when they finish flowering.  Another beautiful azalea is this pink one which grows in a pot.

I have been picking violets from the scattering of patches in my garden and this is just one of them.

Walk along Le Thiou, river in Annecy old town

Along this narrow and shallow river potted plants are cleverly arranged.

A grand old wisteria that grows from a pot and trained to grow up to the top floor.

Weeping willow from a small island on Le Thiou.

Elderflower and smoke bush are grown on the side of the path along the river.

A large horse chestnut tree over the river.

A white vibernum as hedging along the path.

These are flowers along the river path.  I have no idea what they are.

Rome, Florence and Milan

Apartment living is the way of life in Rome, Florence and Milan but you will still see trees and flowering plants all over the place.  I was sick most of my time in Italy but below are some floras of these ancient places.

A view from the balcony of my B & B in Rome, of a banana tree and a potted palm.  Not far away was an avocado tree.

A bridge that connects two apartment blocks in Rome and on the terrace there are potted plants and bushes grown on every available space.

A market garden stall in Florence, with petunias and geraniums ready to plant out in window boxes and pots for terraces.  I bought two geraniums which I planted in pots on the terrace of my hospitable hosts in Florence.

Olive grove in Tuscany, on the way to Fiesole.

In the middle of Milan, not far from the tram track is this pleasant meadow, red poppies brighten up the space.

A street in Milan close to our B & B and in the white pot is a red bottlebrush.  I saw a few potted bottlebrush, (callistemon), in Florence as well.  The work of returning Australian Italians?

A balcony garden in the apartment block where we stayed at a B & B.

Capsicums and Chillies

There are a few green capsicums waiting to ripen and I hope the warm weather we are having will help.  I will leaving my garden for five weeks and feeling sorry for myself that I won't be able to enjoy the many chillies on the various bushes.

I don't know what variety of chilli this is and I will pick a ripe ones in the couple of days I have left in my garden.  My neighbour dug up the fully grown chilli plant from her garden to make some space and thankfully, with a lot of pampering, the plant is surviving very well.

These are some of the chillies and capsicums I picked a couple of weeks ago.

Pink Nerine

The pink nerine is looking good.  This is the only colour in my garden.  Perhaps I need to look for a variety of colours to fill in the gaps in the flower beds.

some vegetables

The chillies are ripening, and I shall be harvesting them as I consider the chilli as a vegetable.  I slice chillies to add to a stir-fry.  This chilli has a sweetish flavour, making it a good addition to a salad.

This white squash hanging over my garden box can grow to the size of a dinner plate, when the skin would be tough like that of a pumpkin.  I pick it at this size when it is still tender and good for steaming or adding to a stir-fry or a soup.

This is what the squash looks like when left to mature.

The white squash growing habit is more like a zucchini, spreading along the ground.  I suppose the male flowers could be used as a vegetable but I have not had the time to do anything with them.