Dedicated to @erikah for sharing in the love of Violets 😁
Autumn isn't a very exciting gardening season as so many things tend to go dormant or slow down growing, but I did a tiny bit of maintenance including repotting my African Violets which had overgrown their shared pot. I bought them thinking it was one plant but soon realised that I was wrong. I like being wrong like that!
I wanted to gift one of them to a friend so decided that it would be a good time to let the second one have the entire pot to itself. You can see that they were starting to get a bit overgrown at the edges. I'm terrible at trimming off old leaves.
While I was potting about (pun intended lol), I noticed that they both had the tiniest little flower buds starting which made me quite excited. I had to be really careful to not break off the buds and I succeeded but unfortunately two leaves that were the worse for wear fell off in the move. I put them in water and with some luck they'll root in a few weeks. I love free plants!
Shortly after the repotting, I noticed that the first flower had opened and it is the most gorgeous, frilly and irridescent looking flower. I know they come in all sorts of colour forms and you get ones with flat flowers and frilly flowers, of course the frilly ones are my favourites because they are fun and just a little bit different.
Unfortunately my zoom lens was giving me grief while trying to take these photos so they aren't the best, but you get the idea.
Another cool thing is that my accidental tomato plant has been flowering and yesterday I found the first little baby tom. It's only 1cm wide at the moment, but look how cute!!! This tomato seeded itself from a tomato slice that was put into the flower bed as compost. The flowers are popping up everywhere but I'm having issues with some pests that are eating into the stems...snails - the bastards!
I haven't quite worked out how to get rid of these yet, other than squishing them when I find them, but they're so damn small and there seem to be millions! The only thing I like about them is their cute snail trails that glisten in the sunlight.
The Rosemary has loved the rain we've had recently so it's been putting out new fresh sprigs everywhere which has been nice to see contrasting with the flowers of the tomato.
I'm also having to deal with white fly laying their wooly eggs sacks on the olive tree. Apart from that, we've got some flowers coming out on the Canary Creeper which is exciting as it's the first time it's flowering. I can't wait to see it when the whole trellis is in full flower.
It's strange to think that it's meant to be a dormancy period when there is still so much growth going on wherever I look. We haven't had the super cold weather kick in just yet though, so I suppose this will wane as the temperatures drop.
How I envy you for that pinkish white. I had a white one, gave it to my cousin and when bloomed, the flours turned pinkish, while mine were still white 😳
Looks like you have a green thumb Emma! Well done!
Erika 😃 I knew you'd like these, I am so happy with the flowers. It's a pity that you didn't take a cutting before you gave it away. I like the subtle pink.
Big hugs for you too 😁
Lovely plants and growths you’ve got! I miss seeing olive trees, I saw so many of them when I was in Italy lol it’s been a while but we don’t really have olive trees here sadly. I wonder if I can find a hearty type that would last the winters and see if I can get that to grow.
I hate the pests that insist on nibbling on our stuff! Get off the tomato plants ya pricks!
Thanks for coming by, I am sure you could find an olive tree, maybe you just need to overwinter it inside so that it doesn't succumb to the cold?
The pests are a nightmare, I have to get some stuff to kill them off. I hate the snails but the whitefly is the pits.
Have you tried seeing if vinegar and essential oil’s combination could help kill the pests? Could help without spraying cancer everywhere lol
We did some gardening at the weekend... In the rain! So blooming annoying that spring is not springing yet for us.
Snails are bastards. They seem cute and all but eat everything!
We had the same last year man, no spring, and it fucked up my tomatoes, and most other vegetables I had planted. Everyone was in the same boat. It really was a weird weather year. We only got several days above 40C in summer which is very few compared to normal years. I still whined about it though.
Rain-gardening can be ok if the rain is very light, but it's better without the rain.
Aye, the weather totally ruined a lot of mine. It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been consistently one way or another but we had a really mild start to the winter and when it eventually hit the plants thought it was Spring!
It was light rain gardening. I am a wuss and would have ran indoors if it got any heavier!
Yeah, plants don't know what's up...like most humans. Lol.
I'm hoping for some good results off my winter vegetable plantings from last week.
You are lucky. All we can grow in Winter is turnips and nobody likes turnips!
I once had turnip soup. Killed the person who served it to me.
Ok, not really, but wanted to.
I think killing them would have been a mercy. There are worse things that can happen to those who serve turnip soup!
Hahaha I love a good turnip! Makes a delicious soup with some mustard! Add a chunk of ham in there or brisket and you’ve got one hell of a meal! Then you’ll have enough gas to light a stove from your ass LOL
Damn, that's freaky. Turnips are foul things which should just stay dead in the ground!!! 🤣🤣
Lol in the rain? You guys are bonkers. The seasons seems so screwed up at the moment.
I'm also not a fan of the snails, they destroy your plants in a matter of hours.
We started in the sun and that lasted about five minutes! So we carried on in the rain :OD
Ah yes... it all starts as 'free plants'...
Then one day, you're utterly surrounded by cuttings that have thrived beyond your wildest dreams... You consider how hard it would be to install shelving in front of the windows... Or is that just a me problem?
Jokes aside, I think your zoom photos are spiffy, even if the lens wasn't cooperating. I really enjoy any close up that showcases the secret fuzziness of a stem, what magic 😍! Thanks for sharing 😁
That's how it happens indeed, but what a journey! I love collecting plants like that, I've planted an entire garden like that before and it was glorious.
Thanks Grindan, I didn't have great lighting but they turned out ok I think. Hope you and all the little ones are good 😘
You have a Womble in your garden.
I do, isn't it cute? I like wombles and I like the word womble too.
I had a Womble family living in my beard a while back when it was a little longer. They'd eat the crumbs I dropped and keep my beard clean so it was a good arrangement.
Hahaha your beard must have been a good nest for them. Symbiosis at it's finest I would say.
Oh yeah, they loved it. There was going to be a TV show made about those Wombles, Lifestyles of the rich and famous: Womble edition. They had to can it though, I had a shaving incident and the poor fuckers were homeless.
😆
That made me laugh. I could picture it in my mind's eye. Poor fuckers for sure. That green wizard from Lord of the Rings would have taken them in.
Yeah I felt sorry for them...and my beard.
The flowers looks so beautiful. Congrats for your tomatoes which already bears fruit. Hopefully those tomato flowers will develop until it becomes fruit.
Thanks for coming round @jenthoughts, I'm so excited about the baby tomatoes but I'm hoping that they'll grow big enough to eat in spaghetti Bolognese without the snails getting to them first.
If you find some snails put some salt to them and they will die.
Nice , you have a wonderful garden. It looks like all of your plants are getting ready to show up its beuty..
Thanks so much. I don't have many, but love the ones I do have.