Gardens – Page 6 – Gardens. Travel. Life.

Posted on November 3, 2020January 31, 2021 by happyretiredblog · 6 Comments

Escape to the Country

We have managed to spend more time in Somerset this year as travelling to the house in Spain hasn’t been easy. From this week international travel other than for business is banned ! What has been worse is the quarantine on return. I went to the house as soon as the air bridge was announced only to find it was just as quickly removed.

What was meant to be three weeks away to check the house and garden turned into eight. If I was to return to a quarantine I might as well stay as long as I could. Quarantine is harsh and I found it more difficult than the 3 month lockdown. But. It was a price I had to pay for the trip and I followed it to the letter. It was my choice to go away. I’m in no hurry to quarantine again.

I digress. We have spent more time in Somerset this year despite lockdowns and have just returned to spend lockdown 2 in London. It sounds like a movie but I’m hoping it stops at number 2. No prequels. No remakes.

It never ceases to amaze me that there are still places within an hours drive from the cottage that we still haven’t visited. To be fair we have only been there nearly 30 years.

We made a first trip to Forde Abbey and gardens – only a 50 minute drive away. I had seen Instagram posts from friends and decided that as we couldn’t get into Stourhead ~ it was half term and fully booked (like a number of restaurants we tried) it was an opportunity to try something new. It didn’t matter that the weather was wet. At times biblical rain ~ it was well worth it.

Expectation for the perennial beds wasn’t huge. It was the end of October. Things weren’t at their best. We were yet to have a frost but there had been a lot of rain with strong gusts of wind.

But I wasn’t expecting to still see beds of dahlias with such colour and vibrancy. Yes. Some of the perennials had gone over. You could see the Tithonia had seen better days.

But oh. The dahlias. Still standing tall. Still showing that lovely colour and shape.

I could only imagine what the beds looked like at the height of summer but I will definitely be back and hopefully the Abbey will be open then. We also didn’t get to see every bit of the grounds. Another excuse to visit and I didn’t get to see the swinging seats made by Sitting Spiritually. They were the first large stand I remember from my visits to RHS Chelsea. Always in the same spot on the corner opposite the first show garden you saw as you entered the grounds. I promise I will look them out when I’m next at the Abbey.

I must get that Sound of Music ear worm out of my head from the song sung by the Nuns. ‘ Maria’s not an asset to the Abbey ‘

We were told not to miss the fountain which would be going off at midday. Apparently it was not to be missed. The centenary fountain at 160 ft the largest in England. Set in the Great Lake with the mermaid statue it didn’t disappoint. But it did soak those standing down wind. It was more luck than judgement that we were on the opposite side. Surrounded by beautiful autumnal colours and the main house it sure was a spectacle.

In contrast to the herbaceous borders the Bog garden with its streams and bridge was dramatic. Even with things dying back the colours of Autumn were amazing.

A huge variety of trees have been planted in the grounds. Beautiful bark, stunning autumnal leaves and a golden carpet to walk on.

More late Autumn colour in the borders ~ I fear that this week the impending frosts will have a major cull of the plants. Another season over. Lovely Deep colours of Salvia Amistad along with persicaria. The borders and beds such an inspiration for ideas for me for next years planting.

The vegetable garden was looking good. Brassica city and full of lovely healthy looking vegetables with an amazing back drop of the house.

The Abbey is privately owned and is a former Cistercian monastery with the gardens grade II listed. Forde Abbey is Grade I listed.

Day 2 was a very different day. A trip to the coast to one of my favourite beaches with a fabulous beach restaurant for lunch. Two years ago we were here a week later when we sat outside for brunch. Not this time. The wind was blowing a hoolie. When we sat down for lunch the heavens opened and the rain was biblical.

Hive beach cafe & seaside Boarding house.

The Jurassic coast though we saw no dinosaurs. I remember telling my god kids we were off to the Jurassic coast. ‘ is it like Jurassic Park ‘ they asked. A bit was the reply but the dinosaurs are away at the moment. Burton Bradstock is perfect. A National Trust car park. A great beach cafe Hive Beach Cafe and a restaurant and boarding house on the cliff above ~ the lovely Seaside Boarding House

Jurassic Coast

The sea was rough. When I say rough I mean rough. Brutal waves. High waves and nobody was in the sea. Surprise that. It certainly was bracing as we walked up onto the cliff top. There is sometimes a bonus to being a little on the heavy side. No chance of the wind taking you over the cliff. But it amazing how many people walk either too close to the cliff top. Or too close to the cliffs on the beach. You can almost see which bit of cliff is next to fall into the sea.

I think I’d be a bit worried sleeping here. I doubt I’d sleep when the weather was as rough as it was when we walked past. The little seat we say on looking at to sea was no more.

No change here.

Um. This sign was on the gate into the public right of way through some scrub land. Did we walk through it? No. Never. I have a pathological fear of snakes. Why wind myself up and have a coronary.

My fear stems from my childhood. When walking through woods in west Wales down to beach at Pwll Ddu my father grabbed my collar and yanked me back off the path. An adder was sunbathing across the path and I was about to step on it. Now I’m a big scaredy-cat. At an office event held in the reptile house at london zoo I could be found with my back pinned against the wall as far away as possible.

After a bracing walk. Lunch at Hive Beach Cafe. Well worth the drive down.

The final day out was a short drive to Shepton Mallet. Well a longer one than usual due to the never ending road works. Kilver Court gardens are a revelation. Many people just visit Kilver Court for the shopping adventures but are unaware of the gorgeous gardens behind. They shop. They pack the cars and retreat. I admit. We’ve done the same but I remembered visiting one autumn previously and remembered the fabulous colours.

The gardens have an amazing backdrop of the 27 span Charlton Viaduct. Once a working viaduct for the Somerset and Dorset Railway and beautifully maintained. It’s a grade II listed structure.

Kilver Court and Charlton viaduct.

The gardens gave an interesting history ~ established in the early 1900s by industrialist Ernest Jardine as a recreational space for workers at his lace mill. Since then, they have passed through owners including the Showering family (of Babycham fame) and Allied Domecq. Roger Saul bought Kilver Court as a headquarters for Mulberry in 1996. The gardens are a delight. The herbaceous borders inspired by the colour gardens of Santa and Nori Pope from Hadspen gardens were coming to the end of their seasons best but you could see Thor beauty still.

The lake and the rockery designed by a Chelsea gold medal winner adds to the beauty with the autumnal colours spectacular this year.

It’s a three and a half acre garden which packs in a punch and features in the new book by Abigail Willis. ‘ Secret Gardens of Somerset’

To round off the visit. Lunch and a hot chocolate in the cafe. Brilliantly socially distanced.

The colours in our Somerset garden are no match for the two gardens we visited this week!!

Autumnal colours of the spindle berry

I thought there would be no garden adventures for the next month with lockdown no 2. But. Hurrah the gardens of the RHS are open so I have booked our tickets for Wisley. I now need to look at the NT gardens. If they are open then that’s another day out.

Posted on September 6, 2020January 31, 2021 by happyretiredblog · 4 Comments

A tale of Three Gardens ~ part 1

The question or sometimes the Statement is. “So you have three gardens?” Often the reaction to the answer is ” that’s a bit greedy ” you must be loaded” ” are you mad”: but the answer is ” a little bit mad. Yes” Greedily loaded. “no”; the real answer is circumstantial ~ we never set out for three. Two yes. But not three. And yes it’s a struggle to juggle. At some point there will be two. Not yet. But there will. Only one of them is non negotiable ~ and we go through stages of which of the other two will be the second permanent with one today being a strong contender. But tomorrow ……

When I met Ian nearly three decades ago I was living in a one bedroom flat. No garden. Not even a window box. Ian moved in ~ travelling between his flat in SW london and mine in SE london was a pain. Realising that the papers for your meeting were across London became a pain in the posterior. That your suit was not where it should be.

Ian wanted to buy a house somewhere but we didn’t want to move in London and at that stage we weren’t sure if the relationship would last ~ Which now nearly thirty years later is hilarious.

So Ian bought the cottage so we could work in London and stay at the flat. Then head off to the cottage on a Thursday or Friday ~ us and the two cats. To a cottage furnished with second hand furniture and a decent sized garden. Ten years later we bought the cottage next door and to quote the Spice girls “Two became one’.

So if you want to be pedantic. It’s 4. The gardens were merged together so technically it’s one ~ I’ll stop as I’m confusing myself. And this continued for the next 24 years until we threw a spanish spanner in the works. Which added to retirement changed everything.

Though I had loved helping my parents garden when I was living at home I hadn’t had a garden myself for a long time. Finally we moved from the flat ~ now I’m not one for a massive change so we moved a couple of hundred yards down the road to a house and we have been here 17 years. See how I don’t like change. To a house. With a garden. Madness.

Those that know understand it’s more a patio garden here. Tiny. Though big enough for us to dig up a cooker ! ( yes, honestly) and all manner of things when we started to renovate the house.

The question I get asked is ” Are the gardens different? ” Umm. Chalk cheese and concrete come to mind. A cottage garden. A small patio garden and a hot Mediterranean garden. Somerset has fabulous soil. London I garden in pots. Spain. I garden with pick axes. In Somerset we have sufficient water. In Spain water is a luxury. We have some common plants in all three gardens. Agapanthus is the main one. Honeysuckle is another. Salvia Amistad.

The cottage garden

When we bought no 3 the cottage garden was in good shape except for a hideous hedge that had grown into trees at the bottom of the garden. Eventually they came out. The borders widened. Fruit trees planted ~ some do well. Some will be replaced. The plums are pretty non existent but the apples do well. Gooseberries. Raspberries. Red currants blunder through and need a good prune and a bit of tlc. This years crop sit in the freezer ready for a day of red currant jelly Making.

All we did when we bought no 4 was to remove the fence. It was that easy. I remember on completion day going straight out and started taking the fence down. Like an animal marking the boundaries.

View from the bedroom

These photographs were taken in July this year. Our first visit to the cottage in 6 months following lockdown. During lockdown we stayed in London but the grass was cut and some weeding done ~ trust me we have the National collection of ground elder and bindweed. No matter how much we have tried it comes back. And back again. Usually with a vengeance. ~ I’ve learnt not to stand too still for too long. Otherwise it’s up to my waist. I’d managed to prune the roses so we had had a good first flush. To be fair a number need replacing but that goes onto a list of things to do. Of which I have three separate lists. Obviously. And that’s just gardening lists.

We have a tsunami of golden rod. I hate it and I’m forever pulling it up and disposing of it. It’s fine in places. But. ,,,,,,, to be honest it’s got to go.

The garden has suffered over the last three years as I have split my time unequally but hopefully we are now in a pattern where we can get back on top of it. Funny that I’d said that at the start of the year and then look what happened.

I’d spent some time in February doing some work on the garden and our summer was planned. August and September in Somerset. How things changed.

The garden falls down to a small river. Come the Summer you can walk across it and not get your feet wet. We are in a valley and after heavy rains the little Pitt fills up pretty quick. This picture is when we had the steps put in ~ a few years ago. It needs a bit of a tidy now. Can you imagine Ian and I sat here with a glass of wine on a balmy evening? I wouldn’t. It doesn’t happen. If you ever see a public display of affection I’ll slip you a fiver.

It’s usually me trying to get a phone signal standing on one leg on the bench waving my hands in the air. Not a pretty sight and not the thing to do when the bench really needs replacing.

I started to cut things back in July ~ but remember we hadn’t been here been for 6 months. Plants don’t stop growing in a pandemic! Especially in a wet Somerset garden.

Need the loo anyone? The old loo 100 ft down the garden close to the river for obvious reasons. No signs of that today ~ Funny enough we have loos indoors.

The door needs repairing and that clump of Crocosmia splitting as it never flowers.

Ian’s not running away. Not this time. We worked hard as a team in February. I didnt throw my toys out of the pram once. Well maybe a rattle and a dummy but we didn’t stop. He did keep saying when are you off to Spain. I’d like to think he was just checking dates but in reality he knew once I was away he could sit and relax.

Umm. We were busy ~ so busy that my godson came along with his tractor to take away the garden rubbish.

But despite the neglect we have worked hard to get some normality back. A boot full of new plants from the plant stand at Ultimg Wick and our friend Phillipa Burrough and some canna and agapanthus from Todds Botanics together with some plants that have done well despite the neglect we have made a start. Next is to plant some daffodil and narcissi bulbs but bulbs aren’t great in the garden. The ground can get too wet. But il going to have another bash.

I am yet to see the result of the July work and planting as I’ve been away for over 8 weeks and I’m now in quarantine for two. But I have had some photographs. The friend who sent them mentioned the grass needed cutting and she would get onto it. Which is easy as it’s her husband who does it. I shall be back shortly and again it will be a week of gardening.

Thankfully we don’t have a front garden. . The cottage opens onto the lane with a small gravel border. In the spring it’s planted with tulips. In the summer generally geraniums but again this year it’s not been a normal year. So it was agapanthus. Did I mention I like agapanthus.

I did manage to plant the tulips in the Autumn. Ok. I admit it. I’m a bit of a show off. I plant all new tulips each year ~ all in pots so it’s easy. I’ve tried explaining to Ian that it will look good and he just raises an eyebrow. Until he sees them and I get the eyebrow of approval. If he saw the invoice for the spring bulbs he would raise both.

This year I had to rely on friends and neighbours for photographs and a friend who runs past the cottage most days ~ not because she’s scared ~ she’s a runner ~ who posts the photos of the tulips on Instagram and tags me.

This year we missed flowering in Somerset and in Spain. Sad but the joy the photographs from both gardens and the thoughtfulness of friends was heart lifting. Good friends and good neighbours are worth their weight in gold. So are fabulous bulbs from Peter Nyssen.

These are some of the photos that were sent to me during lockdown. Good neighbours and friends ~ who obviously watered them through the weeks and months we weren’t able to be there. Using water from Jacks Shute just across from the cottage which has lovely spring water. Quite where it comes from we don’t know. I just wish I had a similar water source in Spain.

Previous year tulips

We have planted agapanthus this year in pots at the front of the cottage as we were too late for geraniums! Big tall white agapanthus which will be used again. We had ordered from our friends at Todds Botanics. I had a message from the courier. I called back and he said he had delivered the plants. I opened the door. Nothing. I called back. He was adamant he’d delivered. So he sent me a photo. He was right. To london and they were there on the doorstep waiting for me. Me. I was 125 miles away ! Schoolboy error. Mine.

To be continued.

Part2. London.

Posted on September 5, 2020September 6, 2020 by happyretiredblog · 7 Comments

8 Weeks later

I can’t quite believe it’s been eight weeks since I arrived in Spain. After six months of being away from the Pueblo Blanco and the garden. When we bought La Casa we said we wouldn’t be here in August because of the heat, we did in 2017 as friends wanted to come and visit. 2017 was fine. 2020 was not. I like the sun. I like the heat. But to be honest there is heat and there’s heat. This year also meant that every time I stepped out of the gate on went a face mask. In extreme heat. Some people may look good. Hot. Sweaty. Posed. Me. Well I don’t look good at all. Try walking up la Rampa in late 30* heat. If I looked any way decent at the bottom ( of the Rampa ) I sure didn’t at the top.

But 2020,is no normal year. I arrived on an air bridge which two weeks later was taken away. There is no certainty in travelling this year at all.

It’s been a funny eight weeks. Five of them on my own until Ian arrived although there was,morning coffee and supper with the neighbours and supper in town with friends. I was there to garden ~ but try gardening in that heat. Watering at midnight or at 6am in the dark, trust me it’s not easy. When we moved in there were pick axes lined up in the garage. I thought. Hi ho hi oh it’s off to work we go. I now know why they are there. Outside the rainy period which is brief but often pretty heavy the ground is as dry and as hard as cement! Planting is nigh impossible. And you know when you read ” drought tolerant ” but really your looking for desert plants. This year well it’s been that.

I read my book constantly these days before buying anything. And take advice from the author who owns the garden centre just outside town. Back in February I bought a Colocasia mojito just as I was leaving. I asked if she would keep it in the poly tunnel until I was back in a month after returning from Mexico. She kindly agreed. Six months later it was delivered! She’d looked after it for us.

It wasn’t all sunning myself. Topping up my tan. It was none of that. Afternoons in an air conditioned room watching Netflix. With an occasional 15 minutes into the garden and then back inside. To lie down in a cold room. And I’m not joking. But I did manage to fill a skip. We had had the jacaranda cut back in March and the cuttings and branches had been left in the drive. There was an idea of cutting them up for the wood burner. That idea soon went out of the window. It was hard enough filing the skip before 8am and after 10pm. I wasn’t going to cut up wood as well.

Before anyone tells me. I know I shouldn’t have cut things back in that heat. But nothing had been cut in 6 months. Salvia were leggy ( I didn’t cut them). The gaura were leggy. ( they had been cut ) partly by someone who had been going in once a week to check the plants. But the Australian wisteria had gone bonkers and needed to be cut back from the gate. Some of the oleander were not only running away with themselves but with everything else. The yellow jasmine on the drive had gone bonkers. So I pruned. A little. ( lies. It was. A lot) on the basis that when I return to the UK who knows when I will be back.

Things needed repotting. The two ferns in front of the garage were by the pool. They had grown so large one had broken its pot so we had to re pot them. We bought the new pots ~ and I remembered not to ask the stupid question I asked in year 1. ” Are they frost feee”. But of course they were too big to go by the pool so 2.5/bags of compost each and they were placed in front of the garage. I don’t know why but the ferns gave f bonkers this Spring and Summer.

Having tidied the garage and kitchen beds and tidied the path it’s good for another few months.

I’ve had to remove one or two of the giant leaves off the Strelitzia Nicolai as you risked being smacked in the face as you came into the garden. I removed probably ten yucca shoots to give a bit more air and light from near to the gate and planted a few more gaura which have become my favourite plant this year. Inspired by a friends garden in Essex who has a gorgeous path planted with gaura I decided to plant some mixed with lavender along this path. The lavender was great for the first two summers but I replaced most of it as it had become too woody. Some has been fine. Some hasn’t. But the gaura has been gorgeous. Like little white butterflies hovering.

Gorgeous gaura

White gaura on the path. Red in the beds. Hopefully I will be able to cut them back properly and at the right time to get an even better display next year.

I’d waited nearly 6 weeks for the flowers of the Salvia oxyphora to appear. The plant needed to have been cut back a bit but it was too late to do it this year. So the plant is tall and leggy ~ unlike me ~ but it was worth the wait for the lovely flowers.

The oleander has gone over earlier this year. There is still some flower about but a number of the plants have already started to form their magnificent seed pods. Long and thin they open up,as they ripen with fabulous furry seeds inside. I have cut a number of them off before they throw their seeds around the garden. Oh and thanks to everyone that reminded me. All parts of the oleander are poisonous. But then again so are so many of the plants in this garden.

We have some pretty large agave on the roundabout that’s not a roundabout. I don’t want them to flower as soon as they do the large plant dies and I’m happy to look at other peoples plants flowering! These are spiteful devils. I’m sure they move when you are near and spike you given the chance.

We seems to have been lucky this year. No nasty little processionary caterpillars on the three pine trees on the bank. They really are nasty little blighters and we get someone in to remove them as soon as we see the tell tale white nests in the trees. Dangerous to young children and to dogs. The caterpillars. Not the people we get in.

The garden still has some colour and interests which is surprising as it’s been so hot for so long and without rain. The flowers of the. Have returned. The gorgeous leaves of the nispero or loquat are standing high. The black aeonium is looking good but let’s not linger ba on the one dahlia flower. The smallest dahlia I have ever seen. Come late September and October the garden will get its second wind. The osteospermum will be back in flower as will the salvias.

There has been fruit. As well as the almonds. I haven’t picked the almonds this year. I didn’t want to venture into the area where we have them as it had not been strimmed and the dried grass and wildflowers are scratchy and itchy. Call me what you like.

But to be fair I have last years and the years before In the cupboard. We have grapes which have been picked. All 3 kilos and frozen. Who freezes grapes? Me. So I can make grape and rosemary jelly when I have time. It works. Back in February I picked the windfall lemons from next door ( with permission as Laura will read this) and sliced and juiced them for the freezer.

Waste not want not. This year I made more limoncello. That too is in the freezer. Along with the juice in ice cube bags! The figs were poor again. Well I suspect they’ve been and gone but there were a few. The pineapple guava is just getting the fruit. I don’t mind missing them. They are ok. Ish. But a friend described them as tasting like germolene. I think that’s a bit harsh. But as I hate the smell of gerolene and TCP I try and avoid both.

Now I know I have moaned about the heat and to be fair I went down the mountain only once when I was on my own. Not because I was scared but because it was too hot and I was too lazy. But when Ian arrived he was more encouraging about getting out and about. As long as I was driving.

Twenty minutes drive down the mountain is Caleta de Vélez a marina and the main fishing port for the Malaga region. We usually eat at El Camarote with views over the marina and fabulous fish. Then a walk along the promenade toward Algarrobo. I love watching the fisherman lay out the nets and sew them to repair any breaks.

Oh. And the food is delicious.

Caleta de Vélez

One of the other places we usually take a drive to is down the other road. We have the windey and wiggly. People have their favourites. But we always head to Nerja. For a walk along the Balcón de Europe. I was surprised just how quiet it was this year. I know that we are in the middle of a pandemic but it’s did take me back. The little beach with the old fisherman’s cottage on the beach itself was being monitored. One person off. One person on. That’s social distancing etiquette for you.

No visit would be the same without eating out either in the plaza Almijara which I did numerous times at my favourite Casa Paco. Where my dietary requirements are well known. Where the fabulous staff can order direct for me.

Or to El PIlon to see my friends Dani & Loli.

Masks. Let’s talk masks. In Spain it was second nature. Leave the house. Teeth. Keys. Wallet. Mask. To be worn outside the house ( not in the garden obviously);whenever you went out. In the car if you were travelling with another household. In the shops. In the streets. And everyone complied. You rarely saw anyone that didn’t.

So we have made the best of our visit. The thought of quarantine doesn’t fill me with joy. But rules are rules and we will comply. 14 days is a small price to pay for 8 weeks in paradise.

Who knows when we will return.

Posted on July 29, 2020July 30, 2020 by happyretiredblog · 4 Comments

Hello again hello. Spain 2020

I’ve been in Spain now for two and a half weeks. Alone. Ian should have arrived on Sunday with our friend Mary to a fridge full of food. Rose wine. Aperol. Now due to quarantine rules on return to the U.K. the decision had been made that no insurance added to quarantine wasn’t the risk to be taken. Best made plans.

You won’t find me in the garden for the next 10 days. I’ll be munching myself through the fridge. Not the fridge itself. But it’s contents.

Me ? I feel safe here. Safer than in the U.K? yes. I’m in an area where there isn’t a spike. Masks are mandatory. It’s become second nature when you leave the house. Teeth. Keys. Car keys. Wallet. Phone. Masks. Plural. In case you lose one you have another. To be worn as soon as you leave the garden gate. In the town. Shops. The bank. Taken off when sitting down for eating and drinking. Everyone is complying.

Oh. And at the garden centre where they have a fab sign that they have made.

Talking of garden centres. I’ve been. Three Clivias. An agapanthus. And a large strelitzia Nicolai. Maybe I should have worn the mask over my eyes.

The weather is hot. When I say hot I mean hot. Very. Too hot to walk on the terrace without shoes. This morning I watered the garden at 6am. It was probably dry within an hour. It’s that hot. It’s watering either at midnight or very early.

I haven’t done very much in the garden to be fair. A bit of cutting here. A bit of pruning there. Surveying the situation ~ a lot. But the garden is constantly changing. Things appearing this week that weren’t there last. Things that were there have gone over.

Let’s talk quince. Last year the tree was full. There were so many I was making quince jelly like crazy. The last of it is in the fridge and I was hoping I’d be able to restock. Well I may later in the year when I buy the fruit from a shop down the windey not wiggly road. In Nerja. I have never seen them for sale in the Uk. But maybe I just haven’t looked. I’m hoping it’s a fruit that does one good year then one bad year. It may also be the heat. This will be a constant theme. The heat.

I’ve missed the alliums flowering. Missed as I have been in lockdown London. What are left are the heads of the Alliums Summer drummer. This one nearly 6ft tall. Soon to be picked and brought in for the vase of last years dried flowers.

Note to self. Order more summer drummer from Peter Nyssen.

The citron “buddhas hand” has started flowering whilst I’ve been here. It’s an odd one. Not the most attractive of citrus but a very fragrant one. It’s segmented into fingers . Often crooked looking. No pulp. Often no juice. If any a little only. No pith. As in no pith. Used for candied peel. In salads. Whenever you need fragrant zest. The biggest problem I get is having the fruit to set.

Two years ago I drowned a lime tree. A foolish schoolboy error. I thought I’d put a drainage hole on the pot. Obviously I didn’t. It drowned. I re potted it and pampered. I have been lucky as It’s survived and this year is covered with limes. I’ll be making limencello if that’s a thing. To add to the limoncello.

I have been up to the back of the house where we have four almond trees. But I went at dusk. There aren’t as many almonds this year. They definetely a one year good one year bad crop. I have to admit I’m not too bothered. I still have last years in the garage and they are a hard nut to crack.

I’m not going to mention oranges. Well I have. We have two. Not trees. Oranges. I don’t know what’s happened this year. I am blaming the weather on everything.

The lantana is as tough as old boots. Again it’s appeared over night again. Three different colours and are not that well tended. Them the flowers appear and look great.

Ruella. Mexican Petunia. Never heard of it before but it’s such a pretty flower. The flowers last just for a day ~ I am getting one at a time at the moment but the plant is a decent size so I’m hoping for more to come out all together

We have a few different jasmines in the garden. ~ Jasminum grandiflorum is a bit scrappy on the bank but the scent is lovely. Jasmine Azoricum. Another lovely scent said to be lemon scented but I don’t get it. It is a native of Madeira. It’s a slow grower or it may just be the poor soil. Jasmine trachelospermum on the garage wall. Yellow winter jasmine ( not a favourite ) but it adds colour when there is little else flowering. And this one. Jasmine Sambac. A sweetly scented jasmine and used to flavour jasmine tea in China.

The flowers of the Society garlic are so pretty and delicate. Grown in the border by the pool and in a pot on the terrace. Tulbaghia violacea.

Said to be drought tolerant. Let’s talk drought tolerant. In this garden there’s drought tolerant and there’s drought tolerant. These like a bit of a drink to get good flowering in this garden.

Hello hibiscus. A gorgeous yellow flower with a gorgeous red throat. Another flower that has virtually appeared over night. Such a beauty. Grown in a pot on the terrace.

I planted these crocosmia from Peter Nyssen last year and they did nothing. But they have flowered this year in a place I can’t remember planting them. Maybe they did flower last year. Maybe I’d planted them in a different place. Maybe I should do what I’ve been promising myself. Do a garden plant list.

This must be the smallest Daucus Carota I have ever seen. It’s self seeded on the bank at the back of the house. It’s a small flower. Guess what I’m blaming. You’ve got it. The weather.

I thought I had missed the flowers on the scented pelargoniums. They are in the wall planter and the scent as you brush by is lovely. I may get a second flush.

I love the strelitzia we have in the garden. Both strelitzia reginae and strelitzia Nicolai. I missed the two flowers on the Nicolai. They are stunning flowers and to miss them this year was a shame. But there’s always next year. When I arrived the two flowers were well and truly dying. But they were so spooky as you walk up the garden path. It looked like a prehistoric monster. So unlike the beautiful black/blue white flower when it is in full bloom.

It sounds stupid to say but I found this cactus flowering on the bank as you drive down to the road. I pass it at least twice a day. But in the car. It’s on a bank I only go onto if I really have to. Not without a mobile phone and my nerve. It’s not for the faint hearted. I have twice slipped and travelled part of the way down. Trust me. It’s not a pretty sight. The bank or me.

But this cactus ~ name unknown has a simply gorgeous flower. With some more to come. Don’t get too close. It’s spiky.

Talking succulents. These were saved from the window sill by our neighbour. Absolutely roasting in the sun. Now placed somewhere more sensible they are doing well and throwing out flowers.

It’s not all sitting indoors watching Netflix with the aircon on. Surprisingly I haven’t left the mountain in nearly three weeks. But I have been into town to shop.

I’ve put the barbecue on to cook the fruit to have for breakfast with yoghurt.

I’ve eaten at the local restaurants. Drunk coffee at others. Shopped local and seen friends. So whilst I’m complaining about the weather it’s been brilliant to see friends I haven’t seen for 5 months.

With a potential quarantine if I return to the Uk they may be seeing me more than they would expect these next few months!

Posted on July 18, 2020November 16, 2020 by happyretiredblog · 1 Comment

Post Lockdown ~ back to Spain

After nearly five months I’m back. Not in the words of Take That ‘ back for good’ but back for three weeks. Am I happy to be back. Well the journey was different. Did I feel safe? Yes. The airport both at London City amd Malaga were well organised. British Airways managed the boarding and disembarkment really well. No fighting for room in the aisles or people stuffing their cases into the overhead lockers. But all done civilly. Whilst wearing masks. I like this mask thing. You can’t see me scowling when people hack me off on a flight.

So I’m back. Singular. Ian arrives in two weeks time. We haven’t got to nearly 30 years by being together 24/7. We’ve coped like everybody else by lurching from one meal to another. Social distancing as usual. From each other. So we were determined to get our break from each other.

Did I cry when I arrived. Almost. I’d given up seeing the garden this year if I was honest. We have been lucky to have had it watered. To have things tidied. Cut back. But it’s never the same unless you do it. That sounds ungrateful. Which I’m not. Let me just say good neighbours are worth their weight in gold and ours are worth more than that. They have been exceptional. Not only with the garden but I arrived to the windows open the fridge stocked and the hot water on. I couldn’t ask for more.

I have sat and relaxed. To be honest the heat has meant that I have been unable to do much at all. There’s hot and there is hot. This week it’s hot. Very.

The garden is quiet green. The alliums are over and the heads of the Summer Drummer are drying nicely. They will be picked for the vase for the house. The drumstick alliums are in various stages of flower. Some half out. Some definitely over. Any others I’ve planted have been and gone for another year. Or they haven’t been at all.

When I left in February the Colocasia Black Magic was growing. Not well. But I hadn’t lost it over the winter. Now it’s leaves are large but aren’t as dark as I would like. It’s in too much direct sunlight so it’s been moved a little to get some more shade.

I have moved the pots around and I have uncovered a colocasia mojito which I thought I’d lost. Small still but it’s alive. I also have an enourmous pot waiting for me at the garden centre. Bought in Feb I asked them to keep it for a month. It will arrive this week. I think I have the ideal spot for it.

I was delighted that the straggly plant of Sesbania Pucinea still had some flowers hanging in there. Lovely orange pea like flowers followed by green seed pods which turn brown as they age. The seed pods are as fabulous as the plants. Especially as they are about to burst. I must sow some of the seed in pots to grow on for other parts of the garden. The height gives it colour at a good level.

Another lovely flower which is giving colour to the garden is the duranta repens. A gorgeous violet blue flower followed by golden berries, The berries appear provided the birds haven’t stripped the seed.

There are a number of Oleander in the garden. White. Pink. & red flowers. I know these are poisonous and I am careful when cutting pruning and picking. But they are pretty tough and an attractive colour in the garden. And drought tolerant. You can guess that as they are a staple along the centre of the highways.

Oleander

We have one prickly pear cactus in the garden which I have been nurturing since we arrived. The cochineal fly has decimated these cactus in the Andalucia region and they are a sorry sight as you wind your way up the wiggly road. This one has done well and I worried that 5 months neglect would have seen it off.

But we have chumbos. The fruit of the cactus and commonly called prickly pear. These are edible and friends in the village were surprised last year that we had them as they are not as common as they were.

Chumbos

The jasmines are all but over. Some straggler flowers of the jasmine azoricum remain. The others have long gone over.

I think that the jasmine sambac which is so sweet smelling has a second flush of buds. Hopefully it will open before we leave again.

By the window in a pot is a lovely Stephanotis. It’s waxy white flowers and fabulous shaped petals giving off a heady scent in the heat of the day. I wasn’t sure if this would survive but it has and this year it has more flowers than the last three summers.

Close to the sweet smell of the Stephanotis is quite a different aroma from the growth under the old Olive tree. A smell of curry. The Helichrysum italicum ~ commonly known as the curry plant has grown like crazy. I usually keep it well trimmed but not being here it’s overtaken everything around it. Will have the chop soon.

But sitting on the terrace this week having an afternoon drink with the neighbours I was asked if I was cooking a curry. The intense heat of the afternoon and a slight breeze had the waft of curry coming across the terrace. Not unpleasant for 30 seconds.

Along with the obligatory rubber plant my parents had a Swiss cheese plant as house plants when I was growing up. Throw in a Christmas and Easter cactus a maidenhair fern in the bathroom and that was the extent of the houseplants. I never expected to inherit a monstera in the garden though. I have seen some in La Concepción Jardín Botánico-Historico de Málaga and they are huge. This one hasn’t grown much in 3 years but to be fair I’m happy that it hasn’t. I’m not over keen but it can stay where it is. Maybe it will grow on me.

The euphorbia candelabrum were Ians idea and are in pots on the terrace. I think we need to plant them in the ground on the drive. They have thrived but are slow growers. But I like them.

I’m also very happy to see the foxtail agaves doing well. We have three. This one which was in a pot when we moved in, a second that is in the ground at the rear of the house which is also doing well and one more that is small and in a pot. I really love the shape of the leaves and having seen one flowering down in Nerja virtually on the beach, the flower is awesome. A great big plume of flower is thrown out. I’m not sure if this agave dies after flowering or not. I need to check.

We have gone ferntastic on the terrace. We started with two. There are now 4 on the terrace.

Another two at the head of the pool. Two in the pool bed and one under the window. All are doing well. The smaller ones could do with potting up a size or two. If I have time ….

Hello Aeonium. I love these and my aim is to have a display like the ones at the front door of Ulting Wick.

I have had a move around of pots and the garden furniture to get as much shade from the overhead umbrella as is possible.

A walk to the roundabout that’s not a roundabout. Oh my. I’ve missed the wildflowers and weeds. All now dried to a crisp. Except the oleander and a couple of bit fat agave. I forgot to check the fig tree. That’s saved for another day.

There are some flowers seed heads. on one of the small succulents.

There are drying seed heads on most of the wildflowers.

It’s great to be back. Ian arrives in a weeks time with a friend of ours for 10 days. I need to concentrate on getting things ship shape before they arrive.! I have made a start.

For now. I’ll sit and chill.

Posted on June 27, 2020February 11, 2021 by happyretiredblog · 2 Comments

Lockdown Walks

We arrived back from 3 weeks in Mexico just as lockdown went into operation. Three weeks of walking and sightseeing. Climbing mexican pyramids, looking at art, eating and garden visits. Then back to a walk once a day, and those 20,000 daily steps soon dropped. Massively.

But we found our groove pretty early on as we pushed ourselves to go on a daily walk. Trust me. Some days it was a push. Even if it meant just a walk around the block admiring other peoples gardens. Not that I’m nosey. Not much ~ that’s why I love NGS open gardens. But after living in the area for over 30 years the walks introduced me to places I had only skirted around before.

Yes I had been to Peckkam Rye but did I know before lockdown that there was a lovely garden in the centre? Did I kow that Brockwell Park in Brixton had a magnificient walled garden? Had I heard of Russia Docks, that the walk at One Tree hill was lovely.? No.No.No.No.No.

Well I do now

Take Peckham Rye park. A good walk through the back streets to get there for us. Across the common where people are working out, where mothers are walking with their children, joggers and cyclists Across to the centre and to the garden A garden with a lovely wisteria walk. A Japanese garden. The Sexby garden. A lake – who knew? Everyone I suspect excepy me.

Brockwell park

I drive past the park often on our way to friends or on our way to Somerset I lived close to, the park in 1982 and have been in a few times since. To the Lambeth Show, to Pride celebrations. But why hadn’t I ventured further into the park and found the walled gardem. In lockdown we have all been looking for that extra something. In my case it was often four and yeast but also stretched to new gardens and parks to be able to wander and get that fresh air.

Beckenham place park

This is one that simply wasn’t on my radar. Not a clue until a friend mentioned she had been there in an instagram post so I looked it up, About 7 miles from us it was once a golf course and now a new municipal park. Helped with a £6M lottery grant the 96 hectare site has been remodeeled into a recreational and natural park boasting a 45m wide wild swimming lake and you can still see the bunkers. Not in the lake obviously.

The grounds include a georgian mansion built around 1773 and which is currently being run to hold arts events, yoga classes with a bar in the basemet but all on hold at present because of COVID 19.

Add a pretty garden and outbuildings housing a cafe and you have a fabulous walking place and with 96 hectares you don’t feel that it is busy.

Russia Dock Woodland

Another one off our radar. Russia docks was a working dock in Surrey Quays and was used to import soft wood from Sweden and Russia. The docks were closed in the 1970;s and were planted as a woodland of 34 acres in 1980. It is a lovely woodland park which also includes the Stave Hill Ecological Park.

There are areas of wildflowers and a lake along with the lovely woodland walks.

Horniman Museum Gardens

Another one we had driven past as we winded our way through East Dulwich and beyond. We have walked through the gardens a nuber of times in lockdown and they like most gardens change on a daily basis. With 16 acres and a stunning view over London the gardens were some of the most colourful during lockdown and are educational as well as visibly gorgeous.

There have been others. One Tree Hill. Burgess Park and Greenwich Park. A walk over Tower Bridge and through St Katherines Dock. A walk along the Thames to view the floating gardens as the Downings Road Moorings or Garden Barge Square, the gardens can be viewed from the shore at anytime but for a close-up view, you’ll need to visit on a NGS open day.

As gardens have opened we have been to RHS Hyde Hall. To Nymans National Trust. Lockdown has had some benefits. We have found and re found local parks and gardens. Hats off to Southwark Lambeth and Lewisham councils.

Bottoms up.

Twitter. @pitcombe

InstAgram @pitcombe123

Posted on June 27, 2020June 27, 2020 by happyretiredblog · 1 Comment

Six on Saturday.

My first six on Saturday for a while. We are still in lockdown London having followed the guidelines.

Did I mention I like Alliums. Probably. Definitely. This year is a good year for them in the garden here. This is the tall white made even taller as its potted in an old chimney pot.

The fabulous red trailing thyme which I bought from Pepperpot herbs and which had become a firm favourite. In a window box. In a little pot on the garden table. The bees love it as much as I do.

A canna with no name. Tall. Only one flower as the others blown away in the wind. A species canna I believe. Very pretty and I’m hoping for more flowers.

Gorgeous Gaura. New this year and bought from Burncose. I fell in love with a gaura path at Philippa Burrough open garden last year. It’s a lovely plant

with little butterfly like flowers dancing above the other plants.

Another Agapanthus. This time one of the blues. There are more blues than whites in the pots.

As well as agapanthus the front pots include Canna. I love the dark leaves of this one. There is one darker in the back garden but the leaves are as lovely as the flowers which will come later. Probably when I’m not here in London!

Posted on May 6, 2020May 6, 2020 by happyretiredblog · 2 Comments

Lockdown in London

What a difference a week makes. One week we were in Mexico City slightly (me hugely) worrying if we would get home. Normally I wouldn’t have minded being delayed for a month in Mexico. But not in the current climate! I had visions of being locked down there unable to get back. Other guests at the fabulous b&b from Canada had been advised to return. Airports were closing. Flights cancelled. Choices limited. But thankfully our flight was fine and we arrived back to London with a week or so to spare before we went into lockdown. Phew.

Had we had time we would have decamped to the cottage in Somerset. But in reality and in retrospect staying put has been the best decision. We can and do walk to the local shops. We have a brilliant butcher. Greengrocer. Pharmacy. All within 10 mins walk. We also have Kings hospital close by in case of emergencies.

I so wanted to start the dance from The Full monty in this queue on Saturday. Could you imagine Ian’s face? Especially as one of the debit card transactions was declined. You know the ones. They decline. Send a text to check and say you have to confirm in 2 mins. You don’t get the text until 10 later. Worse thing was I’d left my wallet at home and was using Ians card. I was in the shop. He was outside.

I’ve used deliveries from our local farm shop in Somerset. From our local coffee roasters in Bruton. We haven’t wanted for anything. Well that’s not quite true. The occasional bag of flour. And a week on my own (there I’ve said it). Whilst waiting at the airport to fly home I ordered bags of flour online and I will continue to use them post lockdown. However that may be. I will also at the end of lockdown have that week on my own.

The major benefit of lockdown is that we have been in one place for longer than I have been in the last 5 years. The opportunity to spend some time in the tiny garden here. Rather than there. Or there. It is tiny but I’m so glad to have some outside space. The other benefit has been seeing the tulips slowly open. Then boom. An explosion and a riot of colour. Normally we would have been away at this time of year for Easter. Easter is huge in Spain with the Semana Santa celebrations in every Pueblo Blanco and town and it’s amazing to be part of the community for these festivals. Oh. And I love our little pueblo blanco.

I have filled my Instagram timeline with tulips. More tulips. And even more tulips. I make no excuses as they have been amazing this year. My brother told me ‘ at least you’ll soon move onto agapanthus’. I will but I will be missing the allium segment, and the explosion of wild flowers on the roundabout which isn’t a roundabout in Spain.

I get my tulips from Peter Nyssen where Karen is one of the most helpful people you can find. Last year we saw this tulip at Phillipa Burrough’s open day for the NGS. Phillipa is an inspiration and I love her garden both at tulip time and for the summer explosion of planting. This tulip ~ not this actual one obviously ~ was in a pot by the greenhouse. I fell in love with it. Tall. Big. Bonkers. I knew I wanted to try it in pots for the front garden here and in the cottage pots. I also planted a few in Spain which flowered, but tulips never flower as well there. We don’t get that cold snap in the Autumn.

I added Tulip Uncle Tom to the pots which is another one I hadn’t grown before. Turns out it’s one I will grow again. A lovely peony type with a shiny looking petal in deep red. Opens up beautifully.

I also used it in the window boxes and the colour selection has been great. I’d like

To say it was a considered and measured plan. To be honest the tulips sat in their box in a spare bedroom and I planted late again. So come planting I first took the box to Somerset and planted the pots and brought what was left back to London.

I haven’t grown Angelique for a few years as I found it had lost a bit of its charm but I decided to give it a go again. Sometimes you grow the same one as you know it works. It’s been a corker in the window boxes but is now going over. One for next year but not for the window box. I have to change them year on year.

The window box combination are all of a peony type which I particularly like. When they open fully they are all big, blousy and a bit of a show off. Belle Époque, Uncle Tom, Angelique and Copper Image. In lockdown and because we have been here more and on the front garden the comments have been brilliant. Except the comment by one passing couple. Lovely roses he said as he continued walking. I didn’t get the chance to correct him.

Tulips hocus pocus opened slightly later than the others and has lasted slightly longer. It needs sun to open fully but when it does it’s pretty large.

As well as planting here in London I plant tulips outside the cottage in Pitcombe. I planted in late November and December and the last time I was there, just before we left for Mexico, they were growing but not open or anywhere near it. Sadly with lockdown there was no way we were going to see them. But worry not. Our neighbour has watered them. Our friends when out walking and passing the cottage watered them ~ we are lucky that we have a fresh water spring called Jacks Shute for them to get water. So there has been socially distancing watering!

As well as the generosity of friends and neighbours we have been so fortunate to be sent photographs. To have Instagram posts. E mails and what’s app messages. It has brought us such joy in seeing them in the photographs even though we couldn’t see them in person. You can’t beat good neighbours and friends.

Pitcombe tulip pots

Now all I need to do on the tulip front is to decide on the tulip colours and combinations for next year. I have made a start on my list with new colours and new tulips recommended to me by various friends and gardeners but no doubt I will change my mind. Just the once or twice before during and after ordering.

Back in London Ian said at the start of the lockdown ‘at least you won’t spend as much’ But at the end of the first week he muttered. ‘How many more deliveries are you expecting’ Today he said is that the last of the orders. No. I said. We have one more tomorrow. Then remembered the herb order for next week. What he doesn’t know is that as soon as we get to go to Somerset we will be starting all over again.

It’s been an opportunity of being in one place to do the things that have been on the “to do list” for a while. So paint was ordered. Floor paint. Paint for the window sills. Paint was delivered. Week 6 it’s still unopened. I need to move the window boxes after the tulips have finished and before the summer ones are planted. I have no excuse for the floors. Except diversion tactics. I’d rather be in the garden.

Plants have been delivered. Gaura from Burncose. Herbs from Pepperpot. Perennials from Todds Botanics. Hardenbergia from Fibrex. That’s it I told him. No more. Then a 4ft tree fern arrived from Todds.

The one delivery he didn’t comment on. But the one thing he’s got involved in and had me moving half the pots around the garden to accommodate ‘his’ tree fern. We have yet to plant it. But he’s decided where it’s going which meant moving two others around in the bargain. I have said no more.

The garden is tiny but is packed with pots. A large oblong planter of narcissi. Much later than usual and only now going over. Quite what I’ll put in there under lockdown though is yet to be determined. But will depend on what I can get Ooh. I’ve just remembered. I have another plant delivery. Salvias from Middletons.

I will move the tulips and narcissi to the Somerset garden which needs some TLC. It looks like we may be spending the summer there. We have a lot of work to do but needs must and if we are unable to travel then we will make the most of the time.

We have one single climbing rose in the garden in a pot which blooms like crazy. The jasmine was planted in a small pot and is now 25ft up the down-pipe. The scent from it is stunning on a warm evening. This will be followed on with jasmine clotted cream and then traechospermum with its gentle star like flowers.

But it’s not been all gardening. We have lurched from one meal to another. Breakfast merging into lunch then into supper. With snacks all the way through. The builders are on notice to widen the doors after lockdown. Here and there. There and here. I’ve gone through three stages of clothes. Fat fatter and enormous. There has been cooking. A lot of cooking. And eating. Menu planning. Shopping.

I think Ian and I invented social distancing. We have been practicing it for years. On our walks for sure. We have taken it to another level with Continental social distancing. One of us in the Uk. One in Spain.

The cats are confused. Why are you still here? Any chance you can go out for more of an hour a day. Go away for a week or two. All this attention is a bit much. Your getting under our feet.

I’m missing the garden in Spain as well as our Spanish framily, but we keep in touch with face time. Messenger. What’s app. It was three years ago this week that we signed the documents to start a new adventure and it seems like only yesterday. So much has happened in those three years. Visitors. Friendships. Gardening.

Our friends and neighbours in Spain have had it harder under lockdown. Much harsher. Not allowed out for exercise at all. One person to go shopping. Fined. Military patrolling the Pueblo blancos.

But they now have a plan. This weekend they were allowed out to walk – restricted to 1km to their home – no driving to a spot then walking ~ and the restrictions will be progressively lifted over three phases. Quite when we will be back is uncertain. But the certainty is we will in whatever way is allowable.

I’d planted a lot of new things in the garden. Things I won’t see this year. The new gaura as part of the lavender path. New alliums. New salvias. I have had photos and a video sent. I’ve heard the elusive black and white bird of paradise Is about to flower ; last year it didn’t. This is it in 2018.

But. We’ve have stayed at home. We’ve social distanced. We’ve clapped on a Thursday. We have washed hands. Smothered ourselves in sanitiser. Social distanced. Followed the rules. If we have to do that for a few more weeks then so be it. We are lucky. We are here. We are healthy.

The only question is. Which one of us will go mad first. The jury is out.

Posted on February 23, 2020 by happyretiredblog

Hola February ~ Spain

It’s been a while since I was in the Spanish garden. Post Xmas, a busy few weeks in London so it has meant that I’ve missed four weeks. Not too bad in January early February as the weather isn’t that troublesome. He says but We had a lot of rain early on when we weren’t there and then some unseasonal bright sun. Add to that a breakdown on the irrigation system and I was wondering what I’d find.

To be fair I was lucky. The rain had soaked the soil. But with the bright sunny and warm days it was slowly drying The plants had gone a little mad.

The freesias I had planted three years ago were first out of their blocks and were flowering. Well starting to flower. The newly planted bulbs are all in bud and will smell delicous when they are all out. They grow really tall and strong and I find them better in pots than the ground. Possibly as it seems easier to tie them in so they don’t flop over. The ones I have bought from Peter Nyssen are really tall and strong and flower for ages.

A bit of rain. Bit of sun and out come the Oxalis pes-caprae on the roundabout ~ that’s not a roundabout. The bank is full of them as well. A bright acid yellow which open in full sun and carpet the hill. A weed by any other name. But the colour at this time of year is welcome.

Yellow must be the colour of Spring. The hills on the road into town are covered in an explosion of yellow. With the oxalis and the yellow gorse and in the green I have found some tiny narcissi poking through the osteospermum with the yellow winter jasmine in flower too.

The oleander has burst its seed pods and is a bit of a beauty. Not all of the oleanders ~ we have a few ~ get the long tapered seed pods but the ones that do look pretty spectacular as they mature and burst open.

We cut them back quite hard last year and this year we should get some decent flowers. I’m reminded each time that I do anything with them that all parts are poisonous. Makes note wear gloves.

Back in the 90’s an ex Blue Peter Gardener Clare Bradley became a neighbour and friend of ours in Somerset and fortunately for me she opened a gardening shop in Castle Cary. It was Clare who introduced me to different plants and bulbs and I was enthused by her selection. Her introductions included a large variety of daffodil and narcissi from Cornwall and as house plants Clivia. I’d never heard of Clivia before meeting Clare. After seeing them in the Botanic garden in Malaga – La Conception I knew I wanted them for a shady bit of the garden and planted a few next to the gate. This is the second year of flowering and I love that they remind me of someone.

But I’m also reminded of Clare these days as she has introduced her own gardening gloves Donkey Gloves which I have brought to Spain and also bought some as gifts for friends to try. Clare now lives on Dartmoor and Profits from which go to help pay for the rescue donkeys and other animals on her farm. Would I recommend the gloves. Definetly .

I love this time of year when the Australian-wisteria (hardenbergia violacea) is in full flow over the garden gate. It’s a magnet for bees, is a fabulous colour and a pretty rampant grower. Downside ~ Only one for me is that there isn’t a scent. But you can’t have everything, but you can wish.

There is scent in the garden with the jasmines. Azoricum. Sambal and officianle but sadly not at this time of year.

As is usual the osteospermum have gone mad. A bit of rain a bit of sun and they are off. it self seeds like crazy but in this part of the garden it’s most welcome. I gave it a good haircut after flowering and it’s come back thicker and better.

The ferns never cease to surprise me. In a sunny position they have romped away. I have fed them a bit over last summer and they have all come through the winter and added new growth. Lots of it. Fingers crossed it continues as they are a fantastic addition to the garden.

Along with the colocasia and the Alocasia. The colocasia black Magic from Farmer Gracy is holding its own over its first winter and new leaves are starting to appear. The mojito is struggling a bit but will return. I have asked Lorraine at Viveros Florena to hold onto a pretty large colocasia mojito for me to collect at the end of March. I love the colour and the silkiness of the leaves.

I love NGS open gardens On two accounts. You get to see other people’s plants. And I’m nosey. There I’ve admitted it.

I first saw Melianthus major in Jack Wallington and Christopher Anderson’s Clapham garden . I then identified it in Holly Grove shrubbery and wanted one for Spain which I managed to get. It didn’t flower last year but I have high hopes for this one. It has grown really well and I’m hoping for the honey flowers this year.

Of course there was a visit to Viveros Florena ~ largely to get some soil to top up the beds. But also as I can’t resist a wander around to see what’s new. Lorraine has knowledge of what I like and is on hand to show me what is new.

I loved the coppery colour of the Salvia Africana so I bought one. Well I bought one for the kitchen window bed and one for the garage bed. That’s my description of one. One here. One there.

It has a lovely flower head and I’m hoping that it does well. Salvias seem to have been a good flower in the garden so fingers crossed. The Salvia leucantha has flowered all through the winter ~ the amistad has only recently stopped and has been cut back and the new Salvia oxyphora hasn’t stopped flowering either.

I was also taken with these ~ Asphodelus fistulosus ~ onionweed. The fact that they spread and the fact that they are drought tolerant what’s not to love! Though I have to say when they say plants are drought tolerant they are but often a bit like me only tolerant for so long!

The hedge ~ myoporum laetum, commonly known as transparente hasn’t been cut in months and the prospect was if I didn’t do it now then it would be another six weeks or more before I’d get the chance again. It’s a task I hate.

We have some on the entrance to the house on the drive which we had cut back hard last year. It was getting bare at the bottom and too tall at the top. It’s the Spanish version of privet. It does it’s job but I’m not a great fan. Nor it of me when it’s pruned. But needs must and I did it. It looks ok from the terrace side but trust me it’s a dodgy old cut from the other. The bank is steep. I’m not as nimble on my feet as I was and it’s a bit of a slide and drop. It’s had a good short back and side. ( singular). Next thing is to top the mimosa on the bank after flowering. A job for someone else.

I bought a Meyer lemon last year. I wanted another lemon to add to the one a we had which have been poor to fruit. we have a Buddhas hand lemon in a pot which flowered like crazy last year but didn’t hold its fruit.

They are spectacular fruits when formed ~ pretty useless as a lemon except for the zest and peel. I saw the Meyer lemon at our local garden centre and it’s another unusual one. Slightly sweeter than normal lemons ~ I will report back when I pick one.

But the attraction was the name, a friend and neighbour in Somerset died last year – Guy Mayers ~ and I thought the name was close enough for me to plant it in memory of Guy.

The lime has surprised me. Last year I had a schoolboy error. I re potted things and I obviously missed making sure the new pots had holes in the bottom. So I drowned the lime. I re potted it again with the requisite drainage and said you have two choices. It took the best one and has flowered and we have three limes growing well. It’s also now flowering so I’m hoping that we will have many more next year.

The almonds are flowering ~ always late in our garden although not as much blossom as last year. That’s not worrying me as I still have a bag of 2018 and 2019 almonds in the garage.

The nispero/loquat has a few fruit but again I’m not worried. I’m not that keen and they don’t keep or travel well.

I bought some small pots of succulent to place on various surfaces in the garden. On a small little table on the terrace and on the kitchen window sill. Then promptly ignored them big notices that they are now starting to have those small delicate flowers. Great to have on the window sills outside too.

Not found in our garden but up close to the roundabout moving as slowly as I do up the hill. Very slowly. The thing I don’t miss from London are the slugs and the snails and it’s great to see some insects along with the gekkos in the garden. There seems to be an abundance of birds this year with a fabulous chorus.

The plants are slowly waking up. The tulips I planted are poking through ~ though this may be the last year I grow them in Spain. We don’t get a cold enough spell to spurt them into growth and they aren’t as good as the ones in London.

The alliums are through and the Summer Drummer are the first out of the ground. some of the canna didn’t die back and are starting to shoot as well. Don’t ask me about the lavender. I’ll report back next time but all I will say that I have planted some tall gaura along the pathway with the lavender. The honeysuckle and the banksia rose are also starting to move so once things get going they get going.

The gate has been closed on another visit and the irrigation has been fixed and is scheduled and the garden will be watered by hand as well when needed.

It wasn’t all gardening though at times my back felt that it was. We did drive down the wiggly road to the coast and there were people on the beach and in the sea. In February. As I was wearing a jumper and alpaca socks. The flowers of the agave on the banks sprouting their long flower stems against the gorgeous blues of the sky and the sea a welcome sight.

And back to scouring the plant and bulb suppliers to find some new delights for the garden.

Posted on January 19, 2020January 20, 2020 by happyretiredblog

Here and there. There and here.

It’s been a busy time in the Mathieson ~ Jones household over the last few weeks. It’s been a bit here there and everywhere. But we managed to get a few weeks together over Christmas in Spain. Second Christmas and third New year. How time flies. In Spain not with Ian. Ask him he’s says about 8 years. That’s dog years by the way. Add another 20 and your nearer the time.

The weather can be changeable and when I arrived it was wet. Now spending half our time in Somerset for the last 25 years you’d think I’d be used to wet. But in Spain it’s a different kind of wet. Yes I know I’m a little bit bonkers but trust me it rains in the West Country. It’s often biblical like last night as I returned on the A303 and the M3. Rain so hard you couldn’t see Stonehenge. To be honest not that I want to. If I have time to see it it means I’m stuck in a traffic jam and after 25 years of passing it it hasn’t changed. Not a bit.

But the weather was proper pants when I arrived. I didn’t go out for two days as it rained so hard that the water was rushing down the hill. You would have been able to surf down La Rampa I’m sure. Not that I’d know. I didn’t venture out for two days. But the rain makes me happy in Spain. Wet ground means easier planting. Our water deposit is full.

Ian arrived a few days after me and it’s always amazing at what he manages to pack into his case. As well as some Xmas goodies which we would struggle to get and of course we can’t live without there were some major additions. A while back I had bought a fabulous cake stand and dome from my friend Mr Glass in London from London Times Vintage up in Islington. I wanted to bring it to Spain but was nervous. It’s heavy. On a stand and is glass. It arrived with Ian in his suitcase. All in one piece.

Those who follow me on Instagram are well used to seeing Ian’s back. This is one I made him stand still on the terrace looking down to the coast.

Trust me you don’t know how hard it is to get Ian stand for a photo. Let alone pose. Before I’ve even pressed the shutter he’s on the move thinking it’s done.

But the weather picked up. Chilly mornings. Glorious days. Chilly nights. That I can cope with. Oh. And have I ever mentioned sunsets. Maybe one or two. Hundred. At this time of year they are stunning and the views vary from the campo to the town to the areas above the town. Luckily there are others as obsessed as me who take sunset pics

On a clear day we can see the coast of Malaga, to the left Gibraltar. And further to the left usually on a different day Morocco.

As we had rain it was an opportunity to plant the final bulbs. Many I had planted with a pick axe earlier had started to poke through so this time planting was easier with the ground being a little damp. The garden in Somerset is like a paddy field after all the rain we have had. In Spain we do actually have a pick axe. Not that I use it that often but it may be useful if I ever want fancy dress as one of the seven dwarfs. Ian says I’d be a mix of grumpy, dopey and sleepy. Point is. He’s probably right.

Last years freesia are already in flower and a gorgeous yellow one was in bloom. Was is the correct term. I knocked the head off as I clumsily passed by! They grow amazingly well in the garden and I finally planted the last batch. We have pots dotted all around and the scent is fantastic a big winner from Peter Nyssen again.

There is already colour in the garden. The osteospermum are spreading like crazy and as each day gets a bit warmer more open. That and the one Gazania that seems to be way ahead of the others.

The almond trees are bursting into flower. Sadly not ours this time as ours are the latest to flower. Probably in the whole of Andalucia. Which in many ways is good. Maybe a bit less windy to have the beautiful flowers blown like confetti across the garden.

There are two different flowering types in our garden and our neighbours. Both our neighbours are out already. I love the pinky red throat of the second almond flower.

Patience is a virtue. One that I’m not great at. Particularly where plants and flowers are concerned. To be honest best I just say patience isn’t a virtue.

I witter on about the roundabout that’s not a roundabout. Not a lot. But it’s so coming into life. The acid yellow of the oxalis pew caprae is beginning to carpet the ground. This year they seem to be taller and more abundant than last year. I blame the weather!

We are over 600m above sea level. A bit exposed in parts so when the wind blows the wind blows. The enormous leaves of the strelitzia Nicolai get shredded. I’m gutted that there are no signs of flowers ~ we last had them in 2018. Fingers crossed for this year. They are magnificent in their blue/black beauty.

We have a number of strelitzia Reginae with flower spikes which will be bursting into the fabulous bird of paradise flower in the next few weeks.

When we moved into La Casa I was surprised to find that we had a Swiss cheese plant. As a child growing up we had one along with the obligatory rubber plant sitting in the sitting room. This one is in the garden. Really slow growing and to be honest it’s taken me over two years to like it. But I do. I’m hoping it doesn’t grow as large as the ones in the Botanical Gardens Malaga. Then I won’t like it. But I suspect there is no chance of that. The seed pods of Sesbania Punicea are still hanging and are a great shape. You can hear the seeds rattle inside as the pods are so dry.

The dodonia s a pretty dull plant most of the time but when autumn and winter come the green leaves turn to a gorgeous red. I’ve tried replanting some of the seedlings but they just don’t take. The final leaves of the grape are falling ~ hurrah as they are a pain to keep sweeping up. I know I should store them for leaf mould, but I fear the tree rats or some slithering snake may take up residence.

I love the foxtail agave. A lot. This is one at the bank at the back of the house. Them there’s the plecanthrus which is in the main bed. Has a bit of a funny smell. I can’t explain it. Looks a bit like an alien as it grows. Succulents on the back bed. Mr Prickly ~ the one of three healthy prickly pears. Which fruited this year.

We also did a bit of walking ~ down at the coast in Nerja. And a walk from Canillas de Albaida to Competa. A walk in an area between Canillas de Albeida and Canillas de Aceituno.

It wasn’t all gardening. Quite of bit of this trip was leisure as well. Picking lemons from next doors garden. With permission! Making the final batch of quince jelly. Picking olives to dry salt them. Making limoncello. I must remember to take that one out of the cupboard when I’m next home

So for now it’s a waiting game. For some more rain. For the alliums to start poking through. The orange blossom to make an appearance. Time to prune the grape and the olives. There’s never a dull moment, and nearly three years later I’m still excited when I drive up the wiggly road.

And surisingly. It all starts again soon.