.....but going...

...going...

...going...

....gone... as far as it is going.....this time.

Give it a month and the monster will be covered in leaves again and sprouting to the skies, but at least for the rest of the winter we shall have some sun hitting that end of the house and balcony.

Here today....

The Bounty of the Orchard

is only bite-sized; A few years ago we cut down some pine trees that were infested with processional caterpillars and were too close to the boundary and damaging the walls. The Council's Tree Man came around to inspect, and gave us a licence to fell on the usual terms; that we plant two trees for every one we felled. We felled 7, so had to plant 14, but he was quite happy for us to plant fruit trees, palm trees, bay trees or ornamental trees. We planted 4 Golden Cyprus, 4 palm trees and 6 fruit trees. The Nispero has flowered and fruited each year. The Pomegranate has flowered but never fruited. The Apricot flowered and fruited the first year, then inexplicably died very suddenly over a matter of days the following year. The 3 plum trees all flowered the first spring, but the Prune plum gave up the ghost after next door's cat took to using its slender trunk as a scratching post, the red Plum died off above the graft during the second year, but below the graft it continues to flourish. (The leaves look like an almond, but as I have no idea what the local stock tree is, I shall have to wait and see.) Only the third, yellow plum has flourished. I say flourished in that it has flowered each year and this year has set one solitary fruit, pictured above in all its majesty...

The Bottom...

...is looking rather dry these days, rather like a hay meadow in need of cutting, but with one very good reason not to cut; the large numbers of Centaury plants in bloom. The odd low growing plants of early spring were just forerunners of this abundance. If you click on the photo, you will also be able to see the Honeysuckle that is now in bloom.


From a distance, these two tall plants look similar, but close up it is obvious that one is a Helianthemum, and the other I have identified as a member of the Aster family; ANDRYALA integrifolia.



There are a couple of stumps in The Bottom, the remains of pine trees that were cut down a few years ago. They yielded a fine crop of beetles, both bronze Pine Beetles, and Rhinoceros Beetles over the years, but are now almost reduced to powder. The blackbirds treat them as a larder, and I watched them excavating quite a hole in the ground as they looked for ever more succulent morsels.


Finally, proof that it is not only the UK that is seeing a great increase in the number of Painted Ladies this year. There were twelve just on one side of this lavender bush. I only managed to get three into the frame, and they wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a close up...

More purple than blue

The clematis has changed from dead twigs to glory in the last few days. As you can see, it grows in a pot, and is on the north side of the house in the shelter of an overhanging balcony, otherwise it would not survive a Spanish Summer. For years, the surface of the pot used to be covered in blue pansies, and the door paint was a perfect colour match, but for some reason, the blackbirds have decided that the pot is a good source of food, and dig around ferociously, flinging lumps of compost in all directions, so the pansies are no more. I hope they are eating the slugs that have been nibbling away at the clematis flowers...

Climate change and the Death's Head Hawk Moth

Bossman brought me a present this morning. He was raking leaves beneath the Mastic tree and found this poor beastie. According to my book, they are usually Summer visitors from Africa that sometimes overwinter here in the pupal stage. According to this site, they are common throughout Europe, so take your pick. I am guessing that this specimen had been fooled by the temperature being in the high 20's for a couple of days, followed by a sharp drop to only 5ºC. It had struggled out of its underground cocoon, but had not been able to plump up it's wings.
This is the first time I have seen one close up. They are usually night flyers, large enough to be mistaken for a bat. They have every opportunity to breed in the garden, as we are well stocked with Bignonia and Lantana as well as numerous cultivated and wild plants of the potato family. My only worry is that Ivan the Bulgarian intends to lay black membrane under the gravel he and Bossman have planned for the area between the almond and the barbecue. The mesh fencing there is covered in Bignonia and Blue Potato Vine. If any more moths are pupating underground, they may never see the light of day. Not to mention the Spiranthes spiralis and the Anacamsis Coriophora that come up every year....Bugger these men and their need for tidy gardens!