Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2016

It's October and there is chaos in my garden.
The builder has been in for 9 days.
My front windows and door have been boarded up for 2 days.
The roof tiles went in a few hours before we had the first rains of autumn.
There is sand, dust and bits of rubble everywhere, outside.
It's going to get worse before it gets better!

Now I know you didn't come over to look at a building site, so let me show you a few shots of the garden.

This is definitely the only bit that looks reasonable. The oleander is still blooming and the red hibiscus is outdoing the yellow one that is getting too much shadow from the orange tree.

By the side wall, there are four-o-clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) and lavender.

And that's about it. They say it's going to be a cold winter.
See you soon. I'm off to explore the gardens linking to May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2016

Welcome again to my Algarve garden!

Summer has been hot and dry. Forest fires have raged for the past week, causing havoc and sadly taking lives, too. Moaning about brown patches in my lawn seems rather inappropriate, considering what some districts of Portugal have been going through.

This is the view as you enter the front gate. You can see a lavender that was half hidden behind another one last year. The oleander is flowering well. It is actually much prettier than it looks in my photo. There are large brown patches in the grass, but I'm not too bothered about that.

This is the only bed looking quite lush. However, blooms are not very forthcoming.

Here's a little bit of colour around the roses, but it's too hot for rose blooms - maybe next month.

And finally, some flowers by the carport and side door.

While here we are looking forward to cooler weather, I'm sure you'll find many longing for Spring on the other side of the world. 

Thank you to May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2016

Hello and welcome back to my Algarve garden.

Summer flew in for a short visit at the end of April. Then the rain returned and last Tuesday it seemed we were back to wet, cool, windy weather. Whatever happened to Spring? Well, I'd said it finally put in an appearance the day before yesterday. That's when I did the first bout of gardening this year! I was so out of practice that now my whole body is sore.

The recent heavy rain has ruined some of my rose blooms but there are still enough to brighten up the garden.

Aren't these tiny, fragrant, pink roses perfect?



The last of the white lilies.

I love the way the flowers open this colour and then fade to white.

After years of never seeing the Clivia flower, I have this explosion of colour in a shady area. I am so pleased.



Don't forget to visit May Dreams Gardens. See you soon.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - March 2016

Hello,

What can I say about February? 

There were a lot of grey, wet and windy days and on the days it was sunny I was either too busy or unwell.

The garden looked terribly neglected. 

I couldn't bring myself to write a post.

The only blooms then were these hibiscus and that shrub whose name I can't remember.

March has been very windy so far but spring is definitely in the air. Today I finally ventured into the garden for a little clean-up. There are a few bald spots where the lavender and rosemary were cut back or died but come April they will be all patched up.

 

This grows wild in the countryside and is also now blooming in one of my containers while I decide the best place for it in the garden.

A little blue from my lobster plant in an otherwise patchy bed.

Last year I had to divide and repot my cymbidium orchids. I was worried that some might die or at least not flower for ages and although I did lose some I still have enough blooms to satisfy me. I even managed to get some baby plants from the back bulbs. One thing I learned from that is that it takes a whole lot of patience - it has taken almost a year for some to sprout!

Hopefully next month I will have the garden in better shape. In the meantime I'll be looking for inspiration at May Dreams Gardens where Bloom Day posts take us all over the world.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January 2016

In November and December it rained on and off, sometimes very hard, though never as much as on the first of November, when we had flash floods in the Algarve. As a result, my back patio is covered in green, slippery moss and the front garden is very green. There are lots of weeds but very few blooms. 

If I let it, this lobster plant will take over the space left by the lavender that was removed last month.

This lavender needs cutting back or I might lose it completely, too.

This lavender is growing through the fence. It is the longest surviving lavender in my garden.

The rosemary is also brightening up the area by the gate.

And here is that plant that keeps giving (Christina asked, but I can't remember its name, sorry).

There are still some roses.

The twigs may give you an idea of the amount of work to be done asap.

Actually, as I end this post, I realise that my photos contradict my initial statement about there not being many blooms this month.

I am joining May Dreams Gardens late as has become my habit lately. If you haven't been there, have a look now.

See you next month!

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - December 2015

After some serious hassles when my free Windows 10 update from Windows 7 malfunctioned, I'm finally back to blogging.

This is how my garden looked mid-December.

I have been careful not to show you the grass. Fortunately, the gardener has been round with his lawnmower, so it's looking OK now. I asked him to cut back my damaged lavender but, to my dismay, it had to go completely as the old woody core was rotting. I guess all good things have to end at some point...

Next time the gardener comes, he'll be pruning the roses, cutting back the other lavenders and moving some plants. I'm afraid that I no longer have the time or the energy. 

This is just one of the plants that needs to move, at least into a bigger pot.

This is is all I have time for. 

See you all in the New Year for more gardening updates from my small Algarve garden.

 

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2015

Welcome to my Algarve garden. I don't have much in the way of blooms after a few weeks of unusually wet weather for early November.

I have a few of these scattered around the garden.

This ground cover is happy after all the rain.

 My red hibiscus is still blooming but it's got weeds for company.

This lavender is still pretty but parts of it are very woody. The other one is overdue for a major cut back, either as soon as I have time or when my friendly gardener comes in to paint my gates.

And last but not least, a bush that flowers almost all year round.

I can hardly believe that a month has gone by. There has been so much work to do for school that one day just seems to merge into the next and the weekends haven't been enough for me to catch up.  

And on the subject of weekends,  on the 1st of November it rained so hard for a few hours that there was a flash flood in my back patio and the water was just millimetres from invading my ground floor when, fortunately, one of my neighbours managed to divert the course of the water - making it cross my carport and leave through the front gates! Downtown Albufeira suffered terrible water damage that day.

I have no idea if I'll have any blooms next month, but you never know.

And there are always blooms in the gardens featured on May Dreams Gardens. They are definitely worth a visit.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2015

Hi, there. I'm late again to the garden party. These are the blooms I found in my garden on Thursday.

I think this photo sums up the look at the moment - it's a bit of a jungle. There are too many plants in a small space.  It rained at the weekend and the grass suddenly took to growing fast again. 

Thankfully, I found time to mow yesterday because it's raining again as I write this. Oh, and one of the wheels on my mower kept wobbling off so my wish that the machine would last until I had got rid of all the grass isn't going to come true. (sighs)

This lavender is doing well, which is more than I can say for the other one, poor thing. I am going to cut it right back (as the gardener suggested a while ago).

The summer was too hot for the roses but I still have a few blooms.

Now that the soil is workable again, I must find time to do some weeding.

 Under this bush I now have two pots and a tray of orchid backbulbs. I finally divided the orchids that had overfilled their original pots and am trying to get some of the backbulbs to root. I wonder if I will be successful.

And that's all I have for you this month.

Thank you to Carol, at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day.

Roundabouts - 2

The resort town of Albufeira has many roundabouts. Apart from helping to control traffic, they also serve as reference when people are asking for or giving directions. But more about that another time.

Here is one of the newer and not too busy ones, near the beach.