EGRET VISITED: We were sitting under the pergola enjoying the sunshine, greenery, the tinkling of the fountain and the sun, when who should happen by but a dainty egret. S/he strutted her stuff up and down the trellis. We just prayed Yin and Yang would not see it, although I wouldn't rate their chances if they tangled with the egret's beak. Alas, the camera was not nearby. Isn't it ever the way!
D. saw some lovely tiles in a souvenir shop when we were in Seville and thought how attractive they'd look on his new wall. Here they are. We bought compost and vermiculite today to mix with ordinary earth to fill up the wall and plant some portalacas. We weren't looking, but also found another hardenbergia looking a bit dilapidated. We will nurse it along and plant it out soon to ramble over the chain link fence.
Like Yolanda at Bliss, we take a tour regularly to see what's happening and to date, everything we planted is settling in nicely - the phormium, agapanthas, lilies, more osteospurmums of the spoon shaped variety and hollyhocks.......wot a lot we got.

(by the way, click on pictures to enlarge them, in case you don't know)

MAGNOLIA AT HOME:


We've planted this where we can enjoy it when we sit under the long pergola. Look - our first ever bulbs, already going over as it's far too warm for them. The miniature tulip is purply-black and it looks as if four more are coming up in the bed near the double gates.
I love this succulent plant and must find out its name - anyone know? Last month there was the first-ever legal Boot Sale in our town and there were lots of unusual plants on sale. Rain and wind prevented another Sale today otherwise I could have asked the seller. She told me to break off bits and stick 'em in soil and they would grow easily.
Last week we had a day out in beautiful Seville and I'll try to refresh my memory on the slide show and post that. ....

WATERWHEEL:

What a surprise as I passed a Spanish garden with the gate open yesterday.....a waterwheel as a piece of garden art. And an old farm cart.


After a whole week, the wind dropped today so we had a monster burn-up, plus a mow around the trees to get rid of the yellow clover-y stuff. It'll be back again if we get rain but for the meantime, it all looks loved.




I think you can just about see the caulis and broccoli in the distance.

PARAGUAYOS - or Doughnut Peach.

Last year we found these funny little fruits in the market. They look like a pale squashed peach and as long as the fruit was soft and yielded a little to the touch (matura) they tasted 10 times better than a peach or nectarine. We asked Gonzalo if he could graft some onto a bitter almond tree and this week he obliged. Down came most of the branches of the almond, cuts were made at the top of what was left, little twiglets put in, wet bandages wrapped round, then sealed with plastic and hey presto, fingers crossed these unprepossessing twigs will start growing and maybe next year we'll have some fruit.


And here are the fruits. When I googled for an image, I discovered that they've recently become popular in the UK and have been renamed doughnut peaches.

I thought bulbs wouldn't take here as it's too warm, the more so this season as it's been prolonged Autumn. But here are the little grape hyacinth and maybe a tulip or two when it decides to show itself.
I really love the copper leaves of this phormium lower right of the pear tree). El jefe liked the idea of the sun shining these lovely blue, green and copper bottles towards sunset so has hung them on the bare branches. Another bit of whimsy in our garden


These osteospurmum grow like weeds here and make a lovely show. I love the white spoon flowers in the front.
Isn't it strange......I didn't blog regularly for a long time - I think I got overwhelmed by the busyness of it all and other things took priority. Now I can't seem to stop...feast or a famine.

GARDEN BLOGGERS CARNIVAL

Sue in Italy (see RH side bar) has now published her Garden Bloggers Carnival. Go see.....you'll get lost in some lovely images and news of gardens around the world. My contribution was of Naturegirl's. Hers was one of the first garden blogs I saw and was blown away by her photography and poetry additions - see October 27th, 2006. This image of the Anniversary basket of flowers got lost somewhere on my previous blog so am trying again.

VIVA LAS AQUARIANS.

I know you've seen this hardenbergia before but now she's in her full glory, I can't get enough of her. There's a vicious Levante wind blowing - has been for the last 3 days - and she stands up well to this.



We found ourselves wandering round the back streets of Chiclana this week, looking for the second Interflora florist in town and a missing boucquet from Cornwall for our anniversary. There were a few fast-food kiosks around, fancy-dress clothes and paraphernalia in shops, including this beautiful child's flamenco dress......it was Carnival week, with floats, music and dancing. If you want to enjoy these events and most others in Spain, be prepared to go out at 10 p.m. until the small hours.
Not far away we found this Ceramics shop, closed for the winter. Very unusual to find brightly-painted buildings around. In some hilltop villages - the pueblos blancos further in the country - all houses are painted white and there's a law that they have to be done every year. There are loads of renovations going on in our small town.
And now we come to the goal of our search, the floristeria that had the anniversary boucquet and didn't know what to do with it as no correct address or phone number on the order. Deep red roses, antirhinnums and orchids....beautiful to look at, no smell. What a shame.
We've both had birthdays so have been celebrating trying the local restaurants. Very little real gardening work done this week, although there's a mountain to do.

Hasta la proxima