Algarve Country Garden 2nd.February 2008 to 15th.February 2008

Spring is well and truly here. For the last 10 days we have had a South Easterly wind, which is unusual for such a long period, and although we have had some slight rain, we still need more as the ground is very hard. I have had to water the garden over the last few days, which is highly unusual at this time of year.

The average minimum night-time temperature has been 11 degrees with a minimum of 6 degrees on 5 February and a maximum of 14 degrees on 14th. and 15th. February.

The average maximum day-time temperature has been 17 degrees with a minimum temperature of 16 degrees on 7 of the days in the period and a maximum of 19 degrees on 4th.February.

The garden is becoming more colourful day by day. The fruit has now formed on the Laquat ( Eriobotrya japonica ) and will have to be thinned soon to make sure of bigger fruits. I have also taken out the Banana shoots which bore fruit last year, and cut out all the dead leaves in readyness for the new season. I have also been clearing the weeds from the fruit orchard now that all the all the dead leaves have fallen.

The Freesias are now coming out and other bulbs such as Daffodils,Tulips and Crocuses are in or almost in flower. The Osteospurmum are also in full bloom whilst the Gazanias continue to flower.

The Ceanothus thyrisifloros repens continue to flower, but the Almond has now finished. The Cosmos are growing and producing more floers and I transplanted two trays of them from the gravel paths where they had self seeded.

The Sweet Pea shrub ( polygala*dalmaisiana ) is also in full flower and I also noticed that the first Bee Orchid is in flower when I walked down the garden .

Algarve Country Garden 24th.January to 1st.February 2008

Another good week for weather here on the Algarve. Temperatures have been holding up well and we have had sun most days, although it has been a bit hazy at times. The average night-time temperatures has been 8.5 degrees with lows of 6 degrees on 29th,January and 1st. of February.
The average daytime temperature has been 17 degrees,the highest temperature of 18 degrees wer on 28th,29th, and 31st. of January.

The Almond blossom is now almost fully out everywhere, the trees being covered in blankets of pink and white blossom. It is a real joy coming up the road to our house between the Almond trees.
I had to show you a picture of the blossom and the tree in my own garden pictured in the early morning.
The prostrate rosemary plants are also in full flower and covered with bees. another plant which is coming into flower is the Senicio petasitus. It has beautiful furry leaves and the flower stalks are red with sprays of golden flowers on the top. The don't appear to have any scent, but the bees love them.

Other plants that are now coming into full flower are Osteospurmum, and also Vinca Major 'variegata' whose violet flowers offset the green and gold of the leaves.

The Mimulus are also coming back into flower and I have some Daffodils whose buds are almost breaking.
I have been pruning the Passion flowers, as there are lots of new leaf buds coming, so I don't suppose it will be long before the first flower buds arrive.

Finally I noticed that I still have a flower on one of the Canna's, which is the first time this has happened in the time we have been here.

Algarve Country Garden 14th. January to 23rd. January 2008

Spring seems to be here. Earlier this week on the way to Portimao there were about 100 storks circling overhead having arrived back, and we saw our first swallows of the year ( about 4 weeks early.)

The temperatures over the last 10 days have been as follows. Average minimum night-time temperature 11 degrees, the coldest temperature being 8 degrees on 15th. January. The average maximum day-time temperature has been 18.5 degrees with highs on 21st. and 22nd January of 21 degrees. ( All temperatures quoted are shade temperatures. )

Although this blog is normally about my garden, you may remember that last week I mentioned the dwarf wild irises ( Iris planifolia ) which are growing just down the road. I couldn't resist taking a photograph of them, which is the opening photograph this week.

You may also remember me saying that Cosmos seedlings were already growing. Well they have also started to flower. The Gazania continue to flower and although I have pruned many of the roses back , others like this miniature yellow rose are coming into flower.

The rubber plants ( Ficus elastica ) are producing new leaves, and the Lantana montevidensis is almost in full bloom. The second Ceanothus thyrsiflorus.var.repens has started to flower, which is at the right time, whilst its sister plant continues to flower, as it has for months.

The Almond tree is almost in full blossom and is covered in bees, this too is slightly early as February is usually the month for almond blossom.

I have been cutting back and thinning grasses such as the Japanese blood grass and Festuca Glauca, and digging over the beds, but the ground is very hard and we still need more rainfall before the end of our winter season.

Algarve Country Garden 2nd. January 2008 to 13 th.January 2008

Two weeks into the new year, and they have been quite cloudy weeks. The average night-time temperature has still been warm at 12.5 degrees,with a low of 6 degrees on 12th.January. The average day-time temperature has been 16.5 degrees with highs of 18 degrees on the 8th. and 9th. of January. We had about one inch of rain on 3rd.January, some light rain on a couple of days in between and had heavy rain this morning which gave us about another inch. I managed to get this weeks pictures between the rain showers after lunch today.

Things are starting to move in the garden and in the countryside round about. We have seen clumps of miniature irises along the roadside leading to our house, which are very early this year.

The Almond tree has a couple of flowers on it and its buds are swelling so I don't think it will be long before it comes into full flower. I intend to photograph it each day so watch this space.
The Arum Lily (Zantedescia ) is flowering again, this time at the right time of year.

Whilst weeding one of the flower beds I noticed that there are lots of Cosmos seedlings sprouting up. They too are very early.

The Rosemary bushes (Rosmarinus officinalis ) are also full of flowers and are still attracting the bees.

Near the bottom pond the Hebes are also coming into flower, providing new colour for that area of the garden.

In the bed near the swimming pool the Carnations ( Dianthus ) are still providing colour and there is still one flower on one of the Canna plants. I have also got a Diascia which has now flowered for a year.

Another flowering wonder is the Ceonothus Thyrsiflorus.repens. which has been flowering now since October ( see posting of 16th. October2007 ). Its sister plant hasn't started to flower yet, although they both flowered at the same time last year. The sister plant however is shaded, so perhaps that is the reason.

Finally I mention my Lemon / Orange tree. When I first arrived here it was a leafless tree which I was going to dig up. I noticed a bud on it, so I gave it a chance and it developed into a healthy lemon tree with a fine crop of lemons. Then last winter I thought it had been caught by the frost because some of the fruits were an orange colour. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that there were lemons and oranges, growing on the same tree. I suppose one or the other had been used for root stock and the tree has partially reverted. Anyway I have kept it and it makes a good talking point.

As always all the photographs used have been taken during the period of the blog.

Algarve Country Garden 22nd. December 2007 to 1st.January 2008

First of all may I wish everyone a Happy New Year. The fine weather on the Algarve has continued for the remainder of 2007.
The average minimum night-time temperature over the past 11 days has been 9 degrees, the minimum night-time temperature was 8 degrees.
The average day-time temperature has been 17 degrees, the maximum day-time temperature was 20 degrees on Christmas Eve. the sun has been shining every day, however it did cloud over in the afternoon of New Years Day, and we had some overnight showers.

Their is still colour in the garden. The miniature Bottlebrush ( Callistemon ) has quite a few more flowers following the recent rains.

Gazanias of various golds and oranges add patches of colour to the winter garden.

Along the path to the bottom fish pond one of the various unknown varieties of rose is coming into flower with large showy 6 inch blooms adding brightness to the shady area produced by the Pepper tree. Further along the path and up the steps to the top part of the garden and there is a patch of Day Lilies coming into flower.

Turn back and cross the small bridge and walk between the Bay hedges and one of the French Lavender ( Lavendula stoechas ) is almost fully in bloom, with a bright yellow Oxalis flower also getting into the picture.

Walking back along the path to the pool one of the Sparmannias is also flowering, its gold and white flowers attracting bees which are still busy gathering pollen.

Finally back to the front of the house where a Cenranthus ruber adds a pool of deep red colour in the foreground along the drive, and the Agave attenuata adds its striking shape and colour to the area beneath the Umbella pines.

As always all the photographs included in this article were taken during the period covered.

Algarve Country Garden 13th. to 21st. December 2007

Well, it had to arrive, and it has. The rain. It started on Tuesday afternoon, 18th December and since then we have had some torrential rain, thunder and lightning and it has been windy. The average night-time temperature has been 10 degrees, with a low on Sunday of 4 degrees. The average day-time temperature has been 16 degrees. We have had five inches of rain ( 125mms), so you can see it has been quite damp.

Whilst I was out getting some logs from the woodshed this morning, there was also a brief visit from a very unwanted visitor, a Heron, however it saw me and took off again immediately.

We did have a brief respite from the rain during this morning so I did manage to get one or two pictures, however the colour is disappearing from the garden, but I am sure that when the sun returns the rain will bring lots of flowers etc on.

The Clementines are now ready to eat and I am giving bags of them away. Also we have plenty of Lemons coming on the tree. We have only been without lemons for about a couple of weeks in the 10 years we have been here.

There are still some roses in bloom, which do add some colour to the garden.

I also noticed in my trip round the garden that the dwarf Bottlebrush ( Callistemon Little John ) has started to flower.

There are were also numerous puddles of rainwater in different parts of the garden, however many have now disappeared. There is also quite a lot of tidying to be done following the high winds, especially pine needles. My next door neighbour had one of his ornamental trees blown down, but I think I have been lucky.

Anyway I wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas and hope you continue to follow the happenings here in Portugal.

Algarve Country Garden December 7th to 12th 2007

Weather has continued to be mainly sunny, although the temperatures are dropping at night. Sunday 9th. was cloudy with some drizzle, however since then the sun has been shining. I had an email from a friend in Canada, and whilst we we having temperatures of 20 degrees, they were having temperatures of minus 20 degrees, with 4 feet of snow. You see the Algarve does have it's benefits. Anyway average day-time temperatures here have been 18 degrees, and average night-time temperatures 10 degrees.

No unusual birds in the garden this week, just azure wing magpies, hoopoos, robin,blackbird and a passing group of redstarts.

The cooler weather is starting to have effect however,with some plants starting to die off. The tops of the Japanese blood grass (Imperata.cylindrica "Rubra") have died back at last and I have started to cut them down. Also the Angels hair (Stipa.tenuissima ) need thinning out. Both these grasses and the Festca .glauca have been very successful, the latter two reseeding themselves each year, and the former increasing by sending out underground runners.

The banana is also dying off, however it usually lasts until we get a frost. I took off the fruit recently, and will have to cut down the fruit bearing stalks. Because it is mainly ornamental I leave more stalks on the plants than I would if using them for fruit alone.

We still have quite a lot of colour in the garden, and things like Gazanias, amaze me with thier almost constant flowers. They also self seed and seem to cross pollinate, for I am always finding different variations.

Another plant which is prouving to be invaluable as ground cover is the Cotoneaster.horizontalis. It seems to be able to cope with the heat and what cold we have and is thriving.

Another success have been the box (buxus). I bought 4 small plants about 6 years ago, and have been training them into balls. although they are slow growing I am very pleased with their progress.

When I was at the top of the garden this morning I noticed that the Prickly Pear (Opuntia.robusta ) had a couple of flowers on it. They are at least a month early, along with many other plants.

Another success have been my Bay ( Laurus.noblis ) hedges. The hedges are all from cuttings which I took from the Bay balls, mentioned in a previous post.

I have two ornamental pools and a spring with a small rill in the back garden. They have quite a lot of fish in them, however some time ago they were discovered by a Heron, so I have to have them netted. They do however attract all kinds of wildlife and insects to the garden.

Finally this week a number of roses continue to produce flowers. The one featured is a Tom Robinson rose. Tom used to be my neighbour, and gave me many of his roses. It sits not far from our back door and is called Woodlands Lady.