Arab Baths in Palma de Mallorca

 Whilst visiting Palma on the island of Mallorca, we had a visit to the Arab Baths in the old town.  Dating to 10th or 11th century, these are the only arab baths remaining in the city. as well as the preserved baths, the former orchard is now a delightful garden.The former bath house, there would have been a rectangular pool in the centre which has been filled in.Looking up into the ceiling...

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Heatwave!

Growing up in the tropics the warmest temperature I've ever experienced was 34C (93F) in the depths of summer (albeit paired up with oppressive levels of humidity). Who would know then that I would experience 40C (104F) of all places in the UK? That's what just happened Tuesday last week when the heatwave that was all over Europe peaked here.Thankfully from there temperatures have since dropped down...

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Front Garden Update

No gardening blog year would be complete (I know we did skip blogging a year or two) without us giving an update on our tiny front garden at least once. It all started in 2014 when we finally sorted out our front garden and several changes have happened since. Fast forward to now, the plants are much bigger and we have added more pots to the mixAgave salmiana is the star of the bunch, for obvious...

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Mad About Mangave Update

Last year we posted about out little collection of Mangave displayed on our top patio. Time for an update but first a little rescue story:Mangave 'Mission to Mars'Last weekend we spotted Mangaves on the clearance corner of our local nursery, sold for £1 each. There were several available but we only picked up three from the bunch. They were from a batch of Mangaves that were in their main sales...

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When Self Criticism leads to Better Things

 A few days ago the photo below came up on my Facebook timeline, from around 2015/2016 (I think)...It's quite a significant photo in the sense that it led to the more familiar succulent pot display we do nowadays on our top patio.The display above was fun to do, and perhaps quirky enough that it actually made it to a gardening magazine. However, it also made me cringe looking at it shortly after....can't...

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Scheffleras from Taiwan

Let's have a quick look at a special group of Scheffleras with no ID growing in our utility/propagation area. Their background is explained below.A few years ago we visited Taiwan and had the chance to look around a few towns just outside the capital Taipei. The island is very accessible by car via their excellent road network but you can easily get a glimpse of rural life from nearby towns just...

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