We didn’t manage to get back to Casa Verano Eterno for a year. Now we are on trip number two. The flight was busier. Epic fail on our part booking around half term ~ why would we book in school holidays when we don’t have to. Checks diary for future trips.

Temperature taken on arrival and Spanish entry form QR code checked and we were on our way up the mountain. Not before we made a mental note to make sure our passport was stamped when we leave. Those who know know we don’t go into the pueblo Blanco when we arrive but take a right at the donkey and into the campo. But who could get bored with this view. Not us. Have I said before how much I love this place. Well I’ll say it again. I bloody love this place.

I never lose that feeling opening the gate and walking up the path to the house. It’s the same feeling I had when we walked up the garden path in March 2017. There is always a little trepidation as to how the garden will look. What may have died. What has have opened up. We – as in Spain ~ are pretty desperate for a bit of rain. Its been a long old summer in many ways but in terms of the heat and no rain it’s been endless. I’ve said it before but spending time here has made me think even more about the water we waste. Because we aren’t here full time I’m changing some of the planting to more drought tolerant plants. But to be honest. There are drought tolerant. And there drought tolerant. I’ve lost echiums in this heat. This summer has been exceptionally hot and October has been one of the hottest in years.

Talking of water. I drowned this lime tree two years ago. A real schoolboy error and not one I’ve repeated. Well not so far but I planted it in a pot. Watered it. Left it for a while during the rainy season. It drowned. I hadn’t checked that the pot had drainage. Repotted. Water drainage it was do or die. It didn’t die and is now full of limes. with more to come. There was a benefit of me not being here for 12 months. No seriously over watering of a pot with no drainage. I admit to being a serious overwaterer and I promise to change. As well as planting everything I get as soon as I get them and in labelling better and having a planting plan.

There is blossom on the buddhas hand citron. A really weird citron shaped like ~ well the name gives it away. A buddhas hand. Very little juice. No pith. No. I’m not taking the pith. There isn’t any. Nor pulp. Or seeds. A gorgeous smelling citron whose peel is used in drinks and in candied peel. Not in this house though. After the first flush I’ve struggled to get the fruit to form. Maybe this is the year. Masses of blossom. A few citron forming. So fingers crossed.

I’ve been planting. I call it planting but is it really planting when you use a pick axe. I’m not joking. The photo on the left is a new strelitzia Nicolai that I had bought three weeks ago and now planted in the bed outside the kitchen area window. To add to the largest one In the garden. Which is too tall to photograph. The one on the right is the smaller of the two originals. I bought one last year before we left for our 12 month sabbatical in the Uk ( no corona travel). So then there were three. Roll forward 12 months and there are now 5.

Add a new Strelitzia Reginae ( left pic) and two new clivia ( pic 2) and my planting done. Wrong. There are 4 gaura. 4 creeping Rosemary. 2 lavender. And another clivia. I first had clivia as a house plant 25 years ago. My neighbour and friend in Somerset had a fabulous garden shop called The Potting Shed. It was Clare who introduced me to clivia as house plants. To beautiful orchids and to unusual Cornish bulbs for the Spring garden. Clare moved away but the gardening connection continues ~ as well as her animal sanctuary she produces the fabulous Donkey Gloves. Now in the spring as I walk up the garden path I’m reminded of Clare when the clivia are in full bloom. Oh. And when wearing the orange donkey gloves.

These Strelitzia Nicolai are on the coast at Torrie del Mar. I’m not expecting ours to get this big anytime soon. Ian suitably seated for scale. The biggest problem is that the banana like leaves shred like mad in the wind. Remember we are 620m above sea level. Up a mountain. Which gets pretty windy at times.

At this time of year there are spectacular sunsets. I bore the pants off myself to be fair. The gorgeous colour of the fallen pine needles on the bank take on a gorgeous red at sunset. But make the most of them. Ian and I spent three days clearing the bank and filling a skip of pine needles. Now I know that rhey can be a mulch. But they were so thick nothing was getting through. When it rained the water just ran off. Plus being Senor Paranoid I was worried about fire. There’s always something. Next the worry will be processionary caterpillars. Nasty little blighters they are.

We drove down the wiggly road to Torrie del Mar for a walk along the beach. It’s so different in late October to the main summer months. But Spain marked up its beaches so that people could and did socially distance on the beach. Now the beaches are quiet and people social distance of their own accord.. Can I tell you a secret? In four and a half years we haven’t spent a day on the beach. We have walked along the prom. Paddled in the sea. But have never sat in a deck chair eating sandwiches getting pink bits and looking like a lobster.

We have had a wander around the pueblo Blanco. It’s hard to forget it’s hilly with narrow streets. No it’s not. It is. I get embarrassed when people older than me = yes. There are a few ~ who run past you carrying a weeks shopping whilst I gasp for breath. Looking for an oxygen mask.

A few days later just as halloween was approaching the mists came down and made everything look a bit creepy.

When the mist and clouds come down it really comes down. We get it occasionally and whilst it may look great it’s a nervous drive into town, the first time it happened I was driving the boys and their parents from the pueblo Blanco to home. Boy. You could smell the fear.

We had made huge progress back in September in clearing a lot of the overgrown bits in the garden. We had had some help before we arrived and 4 large dumpy bags were waiting to be taken away. We then filled skip no 1. So we were returning to a better position. I’d had a move around of pots and tables on the terrace and we could now see plants in the borders.

Ignore the tiles. They are looking better now. For now anyway and until they are covered in olives.

When we moved in four and a half years ago ( yes time flies) we had a great lavender path. two years ago I replanted it. Which was a disaster. I lost some in the first year and then Corona hit. Not being there fir 12 months took its toll and in a fit of pique I ripped it all out. To be replaced with creeping rosemary. I planted it in September in haste ( story of my life) but it looks good. Rosemary does so well in this garden and my experience with creeping Rosemary has been good.

One thing that makes me smile are the things growing in the garden that my parents had growing indoors. I think they would find it hilarious. The Swiss cheese plant was a staple growing up along with a rubber plant. I never liked either but the cheese plant in the garden is growing on me. Especially after seeing them in the botanical gardens in Malaga where they were monster monsteras. They were huge. The tradescantia planted by the door ~ my mother had one that was always breaking off . The aspidistra in a bucket by the jacaranda tree. The money plant. I will admit to hoping the monstera would die. But not anymore. It has had a reprieve.

There are a few aeonium dotted around along with plenty of agave. We have lost about 4 of the massive agave ~ which is in keeping with friends and neighbours. I’m not sure what’s affecting them but they just rot from the base. I need to look it up and see why.

There is still some colour and shape in the beds. Not a lot. But some. As soon as we get some rain more comes out. I have freesia over a foot tall. A couple of Allium summer drummer starting their way into their tall growth. All early here but the weather has been mild. All it needs now is some more rain. I have had a good old chop back of a number of things whilst we had the skip. The pomegranate trees are now shedding their leaves. They have grown really tall but in the pruning exercise I found a couple of pomegranates. In four years we have had just the one. The year we aren’t here it looks like there have been 5.

The area at the back of the house was cleared around the almonds. There are 5 almond trees which crop reasonably well. I’ve picked them. Dried them and have never used them. Have you tried cracking almonds.

Adjacent to the almonds we have two Nispero. The leaves are fabulous but I’m not a lover of the fruit. A bit messy and doesn’t travel well. But the blossom is nice until the rain gets on it. Then it’s like mush. Scent is good too. But the leaves are big. And beautiful.

The skip is the last for 2021 the next visit is purely pleasure. Famous last words.

But I’ve bulbs to plant. Please remind me never to buy those small alliums. They will be the death of me. I’d bought 100 Allium Sphaerocephalon (Drumstick Allium) and planted half. I hate small bulbs. It’s a patience thing. Not one of my finer points if I was appraising myself. I love them. But as long as someone else plants them.

I have tulips. Ballerina for pots on the terrace. Freesia for pots. Allies ~ big ones for the borders. But first there are the Somerset pots to plant. I’m losing the plot already.