International Report AKA a rose abroad

Thanks very much to Debby H for sending us some pictures from the south of France where she is staying at the moment where it’s been up to 34 degrees C since she arrived.

The first is of a lovely rose plant (above) and she said “This would be nothing special in the UK, but this plant rarely flowers after April or early May here. However, they had such a wet spring it seems that the rose is much happier this year.”

The picture above is of a strelitzia, the bird of Paradise plant which is looking well healthy, Debby has one in London that she started from seed about 6 years ago. It is a wonderful plant and we read that germination of the seed can be anything from 4-8 weeks to 6 months!
“The next is my prickly pear which seems to have gone bonkers growing along the ground instead of upwards as it should do.” We do love this picture, cacti are brilliant.
The above we think is a phormium tenax aka New Zealand flax.
And the picture above is of an oleander. Her own plant is still not in flower yet and we do hope it’s not long before it looks like the above.
Wonderful pictures as always Debby and do keep updating us. Have a good break out there! Ta for the “A rose abroad” headline as well.

Cool in the pool

We’ve been away for a week in southern Turkey for a well needed break and here’s some nice examples of what was about in the gardens of the village we stayed at. If only we had a little more heat over here in Forest Hill and we could grow a bit of what was on offer there including (above) a lovely selection of flowers and (below) one of the many prickly pear cactus and pomegranate trees in the village. The fruit was used by the local cocktail bar for their classic Pomegranate Martini, now that was a fine tipple!

While we were away it was very sad to hear that Holger Czukay the madcap bassist of Can, Jah Wobble collaborator and musical pioneer passed away aged 79. He was the creator of some classic shortwave radio sampling tunes that influenced the weeds related music project Madtone.  When we first heard those tunes many moons ago they blew us away! Here’s some of our favourites. RIP Holger Czukay!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIv9ewcV9wg