jueves, 25 de abril de 2013

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

If you are not American, you may not be familiar with the story of 8-year-old Virginia, who wrote a letter to the editor of The Sun newspaper in 1897 asking whether there was a Santa Claus.  And the Editor's reply?  A resounding "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

What neither I nor Virginia had never known was that Santa Claus lives in Tarragona, Spain!  Yes, it's true, and I have proof:

Who else but Santa could have sent me such a lovely package?



The only thing it was missing was a big, red bow!
All organized with plant name markers and seed envelopes.

Thank you, thank you Santa!


lunes, 15 de abril de 2013

Bloom Day, April 2013

Apparently, on the 15th of each month, many gardening bloggers publish photos of what plants are in bloom in their gardens on that specific day, known as Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  While I do not consider myself strictly a garden blogger (more like a garden don't-I-wisher), I find it interesting to compare what's blooming here in La Mancha compared to, say, Texas or Sweden.

Here's what's happening in my garden today:

Lavandula stoechas   

Lavender is one of my favorite spring-time flowers because of it's color, shape, disease-resistance and scented leaves.  Today, however, the wild Spanish lavender is still not in bloom, but this garden-center variety is really spectacular.  I love the transparency of the upper crown of petals.

 

Daffodils
 
The daffodils are doing very well this year since we've had so much rain.  I have no idea what varieties these are, but the ones in the bottom photo are minis.  You can see they are smaller than a salvia bud.
 

   My pear tree.  I planted this 7 years ago and we've only gotten 3 pears out of it.  Our hot summer winds seem to dry the fruit up, but I don't have the heart to cut it down... yet.   

Durillo
 
Remember the raspberry-pink buds on the Tinus?  Well, now they've open to tiny white flowers.
 
 


       
On the kitchen porch, there's a mixed pot with snapdragons and purple freesia in bloom.
 
 
 Brassica napus and Anchusa
... and the rest of my garden is run amuck with, um, wildflowers.