Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Finally Some Rain

Finally we have had some good rains and the soil is moist and black and ready for planting. We have our winter veggies in and are using the last of the summer crops. Having made quince jelly and paste, I am now attempting Feijoa jelly and paste. I still have quinces in storage and have to stir myself to use them up - or give more away, but the Feijoas are more urgent as we have a bumper crop and they do not store for long.

Autumn was less colourful in our garden this year. We did not get our usual show and the leaves did not hang on for as long as usual. Now it looks very wintery outside with most of the trees quite bare - except the oaks. They seem determined to be the last to undress for winter.


Manchurian Pear

I love the colour in these pear leaves.
 
Unfortunately all too soon we had a carpet of leaves


The persimmon has beautiful leaves and lovely orange fruit.

 I found a beautiful glory vine on the side of a nearby road. Please excuse the ugly cables in the shot.




Thanks to the rain, some of the perennials are taking on a new lease of life and are putting on a brave show. I'll have to get the camera out when it stops raining - never thought I would be able to say that this Autumn.

Liz Needle

Sunday, May 5, 2013

More Bali Beauty

My garden is still in the doldrums. Today I finally planted my daffodil bulbs - somewhat later than planned, but they should be OK. Mark has been busy planting garlic and a whole swag of winter veggies.

The quinces are all picked and I have made quince paste. We had to pick them early because the birds were getting at them. They are currently laid out and I am waiting for them to ripen a bit. I did make a beautiful quince upside down cake which Don is sneaking at every chance.

Now the Feijoas have snuck up on me and I picked up a bucket of fallen ones today.  I guess that means more jelly and jam.

Meanwhile I have some more Bali shots to show you. Flowers abound in Bali and many of the blooms that we struggle to grow successfully here, grow everywhere in Bali. Flowers are a very important part of Bali life and are used etensively in the daily offerings that are made to the household god.  Huge baskets of loose flowers are sold at the local produce markets and the Balinese purchase fresh flowers for their daily offerings or buy readymade offerings.




The day after we went to the market there was a big Hindu religious ceremony and everyone was buying flowers.  This woman is making  bouquets to be used in the ceremony.



And these are some of the floral arrangements on sale.

Of course many people grow their own flowers, especiall Frangipani which grow wild. I am not very conversant with tropical flowers, so I will leave you to enjoy them without my comments.











And my favourite, the Bauhinia tree.


I would be more than happy if anyone can put a name to any of these.

Liz Needle