Monday, October 12, 2009

Flowers and green

Usually, I have to browse other people’s blogs for a glimpse of green trees, pretty garden flowers, and other mementos of nature that we had been deprived of during our 5 years of living in a third floor apartment with balconies so sun-blasted it was a minor miracle that I managed to keep any plant alive. But now, we have our own bit of green. I went out and snapped some photos the other day as it rained… it looked so cool and inviting that I could not resist. I meant to post these earlier, but we have been fighting a flu here the past week and I’ve been a bit too tired to write. We’re recovered finally, and so here I am.

Here comes the rain.

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The view from my kitchen sink… I’m thinking that a pretty potted plant would go nicely in that little hole in the wall.

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The wall on the property border/patio. It’s pretty enough anyway, but I love the vines and plants decorating it.

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Another view of the ivy.

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Of course, we must have bougainvillea. There are a number of plants of different colors along the walls.

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The wall and patio, heading to the grass. Another aspect of this garden that I find amazing, is that this is probably the first time we’ve moved into a house with an established garden, that hasn’t been neglected for years and years. We’ve either had NO garden, or a garden that had to be dug out of jungle and/or otherwise rescued. This garden is happy and healthy, and when the gardener who’d been working here before asked to keep his job, you know we said yes!

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I should know the name of this shrub, covered in tiny daisy-like flowers… and I think I do… but I am not sure. My gardening skills are very rusty!

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I should also know this one – I want to say that it is some variety of jasmine. Or related, or has a common name that has jasmine in it whether it’s related or not… but I could be totally wrong. I need to study!

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There’s even a bit of fresh soft green grass for cooling our toes in! I think next year, I will get the kids some seeds to plant in the little bed at the end of this strip – in front of the trees. I saw some zinnias, other cutting flowers (easy to grow), and sunflower seeds at the store. Both kids had been asking for roses, but we’ve found that there are at least 12 established bushes in the garden already. Can’t wait until they come into season again next year. 

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oh, and yes, the patio in the photo above is wet… I was wandering around getting rained on as I snapped these photos. I came in right before the skies truly opened up, but it was refreshing, and as I miss living in the rain, it simply felt good to feel the raindrops hit my skin. 

6 comments:

MsTypo said...

That green stuff isn't covered in an inch of dust. WOW! You guys aren't that far from us yet it's like a whole different level of desert living over there.

Lydia said...

Oh, rain. RAIN!! How I am going to love living there!

Connie said...

There are enough similarities in the terrain, that I find the greenery, cool breezes, and occasional rains to be very nice surprises! These things you simply expect in some climates... here, you can walk out and enjoy the pleasant confusion. What? Oh! Wow! ... happy sigh..

Limningedge said...

I too, am surprised how green it can be. We have bougainvillea here as wellin many colours.
Very intersting.

Expat Mom said...

Here in Guatemala, bougainvillea is everywhere and I love it! It adds such a splash of color to the world.

Your garden is beautiful and you have so much space to enjoy being outdoors!

Connie said...

My dad used to always maintain gorgeous gardens and amazing vegetable plants. I love it! We've never moved to a place with a garden in such a healthy state. It's a real treat. Just the other day I discovered that I have rosemary plants (shrub size) outside of our front door (took me awhile as we don't use that door much!) Mmm!