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.