Summer 2012 (end August)

It is end of August,  the summer is soon coming to an end. This dwarf sunflower at full bloom.   

 In a few weeks, it will look like this.

Meanwhile, it's tomato time !  First havest of the year.

Summer of 2012 (August)

Hot Summer - Temperature continue to soar.  
In such sweltering baking condition, thousands of people will wander towards water,  like lemmings on their annual suicidal migration. I'm no lemming so I stay put !! 
Summer....love it when it comes, happy to see it go. 
Too hot to tell stories so here is what's in my garden, short short....hehehe

Peonies

I have been MIA again !   BUT not voluntarily.  Freaky weather was the cause - June thunderstorms were very destructive this year. There were flash floods, hailstones and even cyclones.  Needless to say, we were not spared.  2 weeks ago, dark clouds appeared in the afternoon and within 30 mins. lightning zapped and we had power failure.  What's worse, our phone went dead and no internet connection. That's penalty for contributing to greenhouse effect on global warming.
It took almost 2 weeks to get the whole 'communication system' working again. 

I wanted to post this before the disaster - these peonies are long gone but I caught them at their peak with my camera.  The best time for viewing these beauties and experience their fragrance is between early to mid June. There are astoundingly 1400 varieties of peonies, colours ranging from white, red to yellow. To lengthen the bloom, I cut them and put them in water, in shallow plates and vases after I've shaken off ants and insects/beetles.  The fragrance filled  the house for days.

Herbal Lunch

I was out in the garden looking for mint to make a refreshing chai.  Strangely, not a leaf in sight.  It must be the weird weather, hot and dry during the day with frosty nights.   Other herbs were sprouting quite happily and since herbs are healthy, curing every kind of sickness under the sun, I decided to make a herb salad for lunch.

Spring 2012

It's April, a month of plus minus - plus minus temperatures, rain, sun or snow.  After 2 weeks of frosty nights and icy rain, the sun finally showed it's presence.  Went out to my garden this afternoon and look at these............

Crab Apples

If you don't know what  crab apples are, they're basically tiny sour apples.  Some say you can't eat them raw but I did !!  :-)  Very crunchy and packed full of pectin flavour - meaning SOUR

Black Cumin (Nigella sativa)

The flower of the Black Cumin is decorative in the garden.

Lillies

Was away for 3 days, came back and what a surprise in the garden.

They were HUGE !

Garden - Lillies & Co

Dabbling with camera in my garden

It's a good time of year now as many flowers are in full bloom - roses, geraniums, lillies, etc. Here is one of my favourite - the Lily.  The lily makes an excellent cutflower, alone in a tall vase or arranged with other flowers.

June Garden

I was busy with visitors the last few weeks and thus neglected my garden.  This cranky weather is playing havoc with nature. First it was too dry then too warm and now tropical rainstorm everyday.
Now there is even more work to be done.  But first the payoff  in early fruits and vegies.

Yellow raspberries 

 

Wild Garlic (Bärlauch) Pesto

  
These were growing like weeds in my garden - wild garlic or Bärlauch to the Germans.  It became very popular the last few years as pesto for pasta, as a  spread on bread or sprinkled like chives in salads.
 
 

 Before they start to bloom, I decided to make a pesto with the young tender leaves.






 
The pesto is served with pasta and tomato sauce.

Spring 2011

AT LAST.........SPRING

Late summer garden

Summer of 2010 is no great year for nature. Wacky temperature, extreme dry spring and/or week long torrential rain in summer. Guess mother nature is taking its revenge. Autumn is already near as days (if it's not raining) are around 20°C, nights are around 10°C. Let's hope thisa autumn will be kind.

To keep summer as long as possible, I took some shots of flowers which are still surviving in my garden.