In full Bloom

Our beautiful Hyacinths are now in full bloom,

the colours are out of this world,

the small flowers that make up each bloom so exquisite.

Its scent fills the air as if a perfume bottle has been left open.

It's a feast to the eye, so delicate yet sturdy.

Every time I look at it, I feel it calling to me to write some verses

on its beauty...maybe I will...

Hyacinths in bloom

Above is a picture of one of my hyacinths ready to bloom...

and here is one in bloom. I have never taken care of hyacinths before and I think they are beautiful flowers. The bulbs will bloom in future seasons with proper care. I have done some research on the net to learn more about the bulbs and the lovely flowers they produce. Funnily enough on the first page I found an article about Hyacinth Bucket (which she pronounces as Bouquet), the character portrayed by Katherine Patricia Routledge in Keeping Up Appearances. We always enjoyed that show and its re-runs : )

My husband bought me these three bulbs in a basket which I am keeping in my kitchen for the time being since there is good lighting there but I may transfer it to another room later on. Hmm, maybe I could use the flowers in full bloom for 'one of my Candlelight suppers' as Mrs Bucket would say LOL!

P.S. Sorry about the picture not being very clear.

Survival of my Garden in Pots...

My garden is a variety of plants on the rooftop, in our balcony

and on my kitchen windowsill as well as around the house.

Having some greens and foliage gives me a sense of being in a garden, well sort of : )

The above is a collage of pictures of my surviving plants,

ones that I had indoors, and some of my outdoor ones too.

It has been a hot and humid summer on our island

and we have survived, so did our plants but only just!

Remember this picture earlier this summer...these were foliage that I grew from seeds and was so looking forward to summer flowers...well from this it went

to

this ..... don't know what happened here but it seems either the seeds I used were not good quality or else like everything else the plants suffered from our intense summer heat.

And I am just now at the end of the season enjoying these tiny flowers from this one plant (from the only two that survived)...you will notice I put up a kind of trellis at the back as earlier on some of the plants were sprouting tendrils and I so enjoyed seeing these climbers trailing up until one fine day they just shrivelled up and died : (

Most of my plants suffered the scorching heat of the day, the dry winds...I have tried to save what is left by repotting or adding top soil, we'll see...

I managed to save one bulb of my trio in the Nolina family, fingers crossed this one will survive.

I had a couple of cuttings my Mum gave me which I had in water for several weeks and one of them even sprouted roots...






I have now potted them and they seem to be doing nicely.

And here are my herbs, chives on the left,

basil on the right,

and...

rosemary on the left and mint on the right.

I am getting these indoors for the winter and hopefully they will do better on my kitchen windowsill : )

The Latest from our Rooftop.....and Father's Day!

With lots of care and patience, regular watering and a little or a lot of sun and some wind too, my little flower container has produced some fine foliage from the seeds I planted a while ago...I am very happy and I can spot some little buds showing already. I'm hoping they will survive the strong winds that have been blowing over our island these past couple of days.

Can you see the bald spot on the right side...still can't figure out what had happened there but a couple of seeds have sprouted so you never know there might be some late blooms!

Since yesterday was Father's Day, what better way was there than to spend some quality family time together? We had my in-laws and my Mum over for a Bar-B-Q and my husband cooked a delicious meal for all of us. Hmm, I hear you say why should he be cooking on Father's Day? Well, he loves it and always does a great job of it, definitely better than if I tried...I made potato salad and a fresh green salad with tomatoes. We had water melon for dessert and later we enjoyed a lovely cheesecake our daughter made. It was very windy but we managed to at least have our meal up on the rooftop and dessert downstairs. Thanks everyone for lending a hand, also to our son and his sweet girlfriend. We all had a great time.

~ I hope all the DADS in your family enjoyed their special day ~

And as a memory to those Dads who are no longer with us

and of course, especially

In Memory of My Dad...

I see your face,

Your precious smile,

I hear your guiding words

Always worthwhile...

You were forever there

To lend a hand,

Against injustice

You'd take a stand...

'Living the day'

Was your favourite saying

And you'd remind us each day

To be thankful when praying...

I'm so glad God chose you

To be my own special DAD

And when you left us

I was so sad,

But in knowing you're happy

In God's garden of Love,

I ask for your Blessings

From Heaven above.

Doreen Scerri © 2009

Strange but true! What's happened here...?

I have been taking care of my seeds and seedlings, protecting them with plastic and watering them every night so I was really surprised when I noticed that the seeds on only one side of my container were growing...what happened to the other seeds on the other side? This is so strange! I noticed from this picture that the soil seems more moist on the side where the seedlings are...could it be that the protective plastic or the position of the container caused this to happen? Maybe a bird found its way through and had a feast but why on one side only?

Well, so many questions? Any answers or suggestions will be most welcome ~ thanks!

MAY...I garden...

May...spring...the outdoor life, what lovely thoughts!

After the long rainy winter and the hibernation that goes with it, I feel all set to be out, stay out and enjoy whatever space is available for relaxing outdoors. Our rooftop is one of them. Yesterday evening my dear husband and I spent some time re-potting and planting. Since we do not have a garden we try and make the best of pots, pots and more pots! Unfortunately our roof is not sheltered and it gets so very hot in summer that not many plants survive in the peak hot months. But some plants do thrive and we do enjoy some 'greens' around our barbeque area in the evenings so it is well worth the effort. I do hope the seeds will come through and flower, I'm keeping an eye on them...we even covered them with a plastic sheet to prevent the birds from eating them!



We re-potted our Basil, hoping it will grow well and abundantly...I love having a herb garden and mint, basil, rosemary and chives are our favourites......mint or basil are delicious on Hobz biz-zejt, that's our traditional summery bread treat/appetizer which is slices of crusty bread with olive oil, tomatoes, salt and pepper and other ingredients like sliced onions, capers, anchovies, etc depending on the individual taste...and great after a swim!






We ran out of potting soil so we will be getting some more to finish off our planting and re-potting. My husband says he is now going to revamp our barbque next so we will be getting busier and getting more of the outdoors again soon.