LUSCIOUS LILIES - Zantedeschia elliottiana.

We couldn't resist these when we saw them - yellow with a coppery exterior and rim, with those wonderful mottled leaves. I hope they like their new home in a giant yellow ceramic pot by the long pergola, close by where we can enjoy them, fuss over them and have a chat!

GUERILLA GARDENING.

I came across an article in the Guardian this morning which reminded me of a post by Sue at the Balcony Garden in Milan: all about people who go gardening in the small hours to beautify public spaces. Sometimes, ironically, they face prosecution, as in Reading borough where a public space was cleared of needles, broken glass and rubbish, flowers and shrubs planted and the Council have tried to prosecute the "guilty ones" under Health and Safety Rules. (What a mad world we live in).
Anyway, here the link to more information about these unstoppable "renegades" .....
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

Try as I might, I could not get an angle to eliminate the shadow, which obscures some of the wording. Here it is: To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.

This is the main reason we chose this model: that and the lion.


And this is where it sits - on top of the mosaiced pot. I really don't know why we wanted this. Neither of us wears watches and are not governed by time but it just seems in keeping with this very rustic garden.

As well as not knowing the time, we rarely know the date so I always miss the Bloggers Bloom day in the middle of the month. So here's my little April 22nd treat - marvellously dazzling colours of just two of the plants at the moment.

Thunder, Lightening AND Hailstones...


What a racket as they thundered down on the terracotta roof and onto the tiled patio. My log box is outside the kitchen door and as they pounded on that, it sounded like a roll of drums out there. Hailstones the size of peas - whatever next in April. Here is a picture through the "rejas", the wrought iron railings which are traditional on many Spanish houses.

I think this is called "goto frio" in Spanish, not an unusual occurrence in late April/May.
I hope our poor little tomatoes and new bourganvillea are not traumatised.

ooops, I spoke too soon. The wind and rain came back with a vengeance and coincided with the arrival of a brass sundial we'd ordered from UK. Since then, not enough sun at solar noon to get it calibrated properly and properly installed. It's a real beauty and I will post about it as soon as.

"Mustn't grumble" (a favourite English cliche, after folk have a good long grumble!)....the onions, peppers and tomatoes in the veg patch are grateful for the rain.

GARDEN GIZMO.

Found this last week (snap, Yolanda!) since when, the rain and wind have stopped. Yes, it really did register 32C, but ambient temperature about 28C .....

Becky has set up a competition about tea. Now, while I don't want to enter, I couldn't resist sharing this little ode....

ODE TO TEA, Source unknown.

A little cup of friendship
With a bag of tea
When you drink this
Think of love from me.

I was lucky enough to win a gardening book from Becky some time ago.

We had 3 days solid rain last week so the new plants are in the ground and I'm talking to them daily to jolly them along.

These are the little blighters that Yin and Yang chase around the garden. They are enormous beige grasshoppers and dine out on all the new shoots in the citrus trees. Click on to see their exquisite patterning and strange eyes. Yes, they are procreating, so Yin and Yang had better get busy. (Photo courtesy of Yvonne, who is a great photographer).

I'd like to pass on the Excellence Award and have the same dilemma as Sue in Milan - many of the blogs I read have already got them. I don't think the following ones have, so I'm nominating them for giving me so much pleasure when I visit:

Colin and Carol
at Mediterranean Gardening. They are further north than us and I find their blog informative and entertaining.

M
is in Sweden and has recently started blogging in English. I like the fact that he shares my enthusiasm for Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

Vanillalotus
in Texas is a plucky young woman learning about gardening and what to do with her life and needs all the encouragement she can get.

La Gringa
in Honduras has kept me entertained since I started blogging. She has something to say about many things connected with her adopted country since leaving the USA.

Bill at the Throbbing Thumb
in southern Australia. I have learned a few things about Australian plants we have in common which obviously thrive in a Mediterranean climate.

Elderwoman
in UK - such lovely English countryside images and so lyrical and poetic a blog that I feel nostalgic.

Coresterra

in Portugal - can be translated into English. I just love visiting to see what's blooming over the border.

And finally, Zut Alors
in California for her sheer exuberance.

AWARDS:

Sue in Milan here
has generously given me an award for excellent blogging as she enjoys reading this. I faffed around a bit learning how to put it on the blog and there it is on the right, just under my new widget of the cat. Thank you, Sue. Wish I could send you some duck eggs as a thank you, but unless they're hard-boiled, don't think they'd survive!

By the way, Yin and Yang cannot decide whether they like this interloper widget, who miaowws, purrs and moves her head when the cursor is moved over her. I think she's cute.

GORGEOUS GAZANIAS.

Such dazzling colours. We intended to get tomato plants today, but they didn't have "rogesta", a type recommended by Gonzalo. Then we saw these and couldn't resist.



We've decided to move the deep pink bourganvillea from its pot under the pergola and resite it against a sunny wall. I dug a hole as deep as I could before el jefe would have to take over to dig deeper and popped away to get a bottle of rain water. My little helper, Yang, was busy filling in the hole by the time I returned! Just in case the pink bourganvillea doesn't take, we've bought a white companion and if they both survive will look lovely together.
Mathilde called me through to admire the deep, almost black, geranium I gave her last year: she'd planted it out and it was twice the size. Gonzalo then invited me to have some lemons, showed me his new cold frame with green peppers 1M high, celery, leeks and so many veg you'd think he was feeding the whole of Chiclana. I scrambled back through the fence with a huge bag of lemons, a sweet little red kalanchoe plant and some new-laid hen and duck eggs.

HYPERACTIVE GARDEN.

We're running to stand still at the moment as there's a lot to do. Happily, the weather is kind enough to allow us to get on before the really hot weather arrives and we flop around like beached whales.

Becky is back from her travels in Mexico . Welcome back.

For her first grandchild, here is December 12th birthday.



Sorry, Becky, doesn't look a very inspiring entry.