Having just returned from Austin, Texas I can thoroughly endorse the hospitality of the people of Austin. True, we did get into trouble, regularly, by taking photos, but hey – we’re tourists, that’s our job! And now it’s your turn – a bunch (now there’s a good gardening term that also sounds appropriately Texan) of [...]

Today has given us all of the joys of Winter. The wind has been ripping and roaring and it’s not difficult to imagine lions romping around – disporting, as my neighbour would say – in the Tea Garden. I went out to make photos the Bowen Cemetery at lunchtime and found that despite the rain [...]

My projects for May were: Plant bulbs – now getting increasingly urgent to get the last of them in I did manage to get the last of the bulbs in place. I’ve planted tulips (assorted), purple crocus, daffodils (assorted), dutch iris, cyclamen, muscari, blue hyacinth, gladiolus byzantium (the cerise ones), narcissi (assorted), and some white [...]

The darling buds of May here don’t mean blossoms, rather coloured leaves giving the clear impression that Autumn is here, and Winter is on the way. There’s a lot to do in the tea garden at this time of year. I’ve already brought in the very tender house plants – the anthurium and the spathiphyllums [...]