Our Summer Garden

Our back garden with bougainvillae and areca palm

Isn't this a wonderful time of the year. The morning air is fresh and sweet with the scent of oleander and brugmansia, and our nights are perfumed with the Dama de Noche, Cestrum Nocturnum. As you can see I am still in the process of putting new plants into patio pots and have not yet finished. I'm hoping to buy a small banana plant to put in a bare spot of the lawn, where it will be visible when we sit outside to dine.

Part of our cactus garden

The back lawn is still green

There's something to say about just leaving a group of tropical plants to grow where and how they please. I haven't put a hand to this part of my little tropical corner for a couple of years and yet the plants have thrived and grown lush with just regular watering.


And one happy aspect of leaving plants to their own tendencies, is the pleasant surprise one has to find an untended corner has bloomed into a mass of lush greenery.


Of course one has to plant them there in the first place, but in this climate one never has to worry about filling up garden spaces. Things just grow together on their own creating eye pleasing masses.


This pot was a happy find in a garden shop. I can't bear to put a plant it though as it would look silly sticking out of Buddha's head, so it's a purely decorative part of my garden. Besides the blackbirds like to sit there.


The front garden is full of a mixture of roses and tropical plants. I've also planted another Dama de Noche there near the house so the scent will waft through the window around nine o'clock in the evening.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of my Tenerife garden.
Thank you for your visit. Have a good rest of the week and ¡hasta la vista!

Flamenco Dancing

I think it's hard to sit still or stop your hands from clapping when listening to the sounds of genuine flamenco. Also wonderful to see people young and old from Andalucia who have been dancing these melodies since they were old enough to walk. I once took some lessons in dancing Sevillanas, which is more of a Spanish folk dance than pure flamenco. I loved it and plan to write about it soon including pictures taken in the class.

Here is Maria Pages, a beautiful and talented artist dancing Firedance, from the show Riverdance:



But to hear genuine flamenco you must go to Andalucia and know where to find people who don't go to classes but learn the rhythms and dance steps from their families.Here is one video of a little gypsy girl dancing Bulerias, one of the forms of flamenco.
(Be prepared - this is a bit noisy!)



And one of the greatest flamenco guitarists: Paco de Lucia, in an early video playing a fragment of Solea. ¡Olé Paco..I love it!



And here he is again playing Entre Dos Aguas, in a rhumba flamenca style with a group.

I'm taking a little rest this weekend after redesigning my blog with the new template and header. I hope you like it. I'll have some new photos to show you soon.
Thanks for dropping by to visit, and hasta la vista!

CANARYBIRD

Beautiful Brugmansia

Here I am back again with my computer repaired, new hard disk and new router, so I hope to be able to post again regularly without problems. Please excuse my long absence. I've been taking many photos and hope you will find some of them interesting.


We have several brugmansia bushes in our garden, most of them white, but this peach one was cut down from a sunny spot where it wasn't at all happy, and from cuttings placed in different parts of the garden, we found the ideal place for this one. It wanted a sheltered position, away from wind and up against the house, facing west and next to a large oleander bush. Here are photos taken as the flower pods were developing:








It's now over 2 meters (6 feet) tall and puts out flowers in layers.
We're so pleased to have finally found the ideal location for this lovely bush.
As with other plants from the Solanaceae family, all parts of this one are highly toxic as well, so do be careful if you have small children or pets that chew on plant material.

Thanks for your visit, and hasta la vista!