Unexpected

Good and bad, several unexpected events have occurred this past year: the death of my father, my change in riding disciplines from hunt seat to dressage (if you know anything about riding, this is HUGE), pneumonia (twice!), and my eldest son’s acceptance to a university in Massachusetts to study aerospace engineering (Go, Danny!! Miss you.).  Equally unexpected is my desire to post a blog entry after so long.  However, I’ve found that there is very little online information about gardening in central Spain (specifically, the continental Mediterranean climate or Köppen Csa at 2300 ft), and my favorite Spanish go-to blog, El Jardín de Bemi, has been closed.  So, I am hoping that my meager experience might be of use to someone, somewhere.

I have just returned to my garden after two months in the US.  When returning home after vacation, gardeners are often anxious to see in what condition they will find their garden.  I tend to prepare for the worst (what if the drip irrigation system has failed?) yet hope for the best (will the wisteria provide lovely shade on the back patio?).  Of course, I have hours and hours of weeding, dead-heading and pruning ahead of me, but this year’s garden survived surprisingly well.

The front garden, after a 2-month hiatus

Unexpected, though, was the growth of the parthenocissus tricuspidata on the front retaining wall, which has grown more than 10 ft (3 m) in two months. 

Parthenocissus tricuspidata will have a date with the shears after turning red. 

Likewise unexpected was the recovery of my young quercus ilex, which has never done well in 5 years and has had sooty mold (capnodium) this spring.  It is now covered with its first diminutive acorns.

Quercus ilex

I was shocked to see how this 2-year-old walnut tree has grown 4 ft this summer, doubling in size!  Looks like someone found a nice crack through the granitic mass below. 

Walnut tree

And the delicate 6-year-old olive trees that are planted in just a few inches of soil over granite?  One is finally producing olives!

Olea europaea

My experiment with a tradescantia pallida clipping in a full-sun garden box has also done surprisingly well.  I’m hoping it will do as well as its mother plant in semi-shade.

Tradescantia pallida

But, let's be honest: with a view like this, who's looking at the garden anyway?