The end of Summer 2011 in Cyprus may just about be in sight...

As so often happens, September, for the first couple of weeks, continued to be hot and humid in Cyprus - at least, at sea-level. It hasn't been an over-hot summer, thankfully, but there was really no reduction in temperature, despite a couple of hours of rain one afternoon at the end of August. So we have continued using air conditioning (set at 28C, of course) for an hour or two in the evenings, overnight for at least a few hours, and, if necessary, for the computers during the day.

I've also continued watering our patio plants three times per week, and was a little surprised that our potted bougainvillea is blooming - usually May is the bougainvillea season:


I had seen forecasts for rain expected on Thursday or Friday this week, but was a little cynical. However, when I woke up on Friday morning, there was a feel of rain in the air. Apparently there had been some thunder in the night, and quite heavy rain, although I did not hear it. But the road looked damp, and I could see rain on some of the rooftops. And, best of all, by 8.30am there was still a fresh breeze - the shade temperature, apparently, was still only 22C.

It rained again during the afternoon, yesterday. Not heavy rain - just drizzle, which of course is very good for plants and farms, as it soaks in rather than rolling away or causing floods. It got a few degrees warmer during the day, but didn't get too humid in the evening, and was cool enough to sleep without air conditioning at all - although it was odd trying to sleep without the 'white noise' we have become used to!

Today felt very pleasant when I got up, around 6.30am, and although I have been running my ceiling fan, my study feels reasonably cool and breezy with the windows open. The ten-day forecast for Larnaka is currently showing a possible 30C next week, one day, but no more than 29 on other days. Somehow, when it dips below 30, it starts to feel as if autumn might be coming.

Cyprus bi-coloured bougainvillea

Our bougainvillea, sitting in a pot on our front terrace area, doesn't seem to be very successful for much of the year. In May, when bougainvilleas typically flower profusely, it was rather sparse.

But for some reason, ours is doing rather well in September this year:

 

It's predominantly pink; not my favourite colour in general, but I do like the deep pink of some flowers (or, technically, bracts in this case. The flowers are the tiny, insignificant white ones in the middle of some of the bracts). The very pale, almost white bracts interspersed with the pink makes it very attractive.

Bi-coloured bougainvillea

We had a lot of success with bougainvilleas at our other house. But the cuttings I made before we moved all died. So on one of our plant-buying expeditions we chose a small bougainvillea. It had a few deep pink bracts, like the huge one at the front of our old house.

Bougainvilleas don't need a lot of care - a bit of water, plenty of sunshine, and lots of neglect. Just my kind of plant, in fact. And sure enough, although the pink bracts fell off fairly quickly, the new one sprouted new leaves and has kept growing in several directions.

A couple of weeks ago I was surprised to see that it had produced white bracts:


I thought I must have been mistaken about the deep pink, but wasn't worried. They were rather attractive, anyway, and I knew we would probably buy another bougainvillea at some point.

Then, about a week ago, having neglected the plant other than the occasional water, I was amazed to see that there were indeed deep pink bracts as well as the white ones. Indeed, the white ones seemed to have turned into a very pale pink:


But there are definitely two clear colours on one plant. Very odd. I've previously assumed that when two colours of bougainvillea were showing entwined on a large plant that it was two individual plants growing together - but perhaps not.

Attractive, anyway.

New Plants for the Patio

Since Saturday, the week has gone very quickly with Richard's mother here. She wanted to buy us a few more plants for the front patio, so he took the afternoon off yesterday and we visited our two favourite garden centres: Four Seasons, and Cosmea. I happened to have £5 vouchers for each of them, so said I'd spend those as well.

In all, we bought:

• a bougainvillea to grow up the back fence
• a couple of small geraniums
• a fig tree
• a plant called Eugenia
• a plant whose name we don't know

I know about bougainvilleas. They need a fair amount of neglect, not too much water, full sun, and pruning every so often so they don't go totally wild.

Geraniums are easy enough, too. They tend to grow huge in this climate but it's easy enough to take cuttings and prune them back. They like sunshine or shade.

This is the fig tree. Rather small at present so I doubt if it will fruit for a while, but they seem to grow in all kinds of conditions so at present it's in the sun:


Here's the eugenia. It isn't mentioned in any of my plant books so I googled and found this site - which seems to suggest that there are several varieties, most of which have flowers and even sometime edible fruit. There were several other sites too, none of which was terribly helpful. We don't know which variety we have - I just hope it's not the huge type which can grow to a height of 20 metres or more, apparently! I thought I might be able to find some instructions for its care, but I didn't. The lady in the shop told me it was good in full sun, but that was about all.


As for this plant, we even don't know what it's called. We met a friend in the shop where we bought it, and she assured us that it grew well in full sun too... so we hope she's right.

Anyone know what it might be?


I'll be watching them all carefully as the weather gets warmer; if any of the plants starts to turn black or look unhappy, I'll move it to a shadier patch.

I shall also have to be careful to get the watering correct; over-watering and under-watering are both fatal to some plants, but I'm not very good at knowing how much is appropriate. Nor do I necessarily even remember to check how dry the soil is. Yesterday we watered very well after moving all the plants to suitable sized pots, and this evening the soil was still quite damp, so we're not at the stage of needing to water every day just yet.

Still, most of the plants we started last year - as described in this post (with photos) and this post (without photos) have done pretty well. The lavenders died... perhaps they weren't watered enough; I was surprised that the hibiscus lost their leaves during the winter, as I thought they were evergreen. But they're in bud again, looking healthy, as is the cyclamen, the geraniums, the antirrhinum, and the citrus trees.

It's beginning to feel as if Summer has started... I'm thankful that most of April has been relatively cool (for Cyprus) but on Monday the temperature reached about 28C in the shade, though it was cooler yesterday and today.

Planting the plants

This morning, I went to the Community Church; Tim and our visitor from Australia went to the Anglican church; Richard and his colleague from Egypt went sailing!

We all converged back here at lunchtime, where Tim had used both kitchens to produce roast beef, roast potatoes, two veg and the best yorkshire pudddings he has ever made - rather to his surprise, since he realised, when they were in the oven, that he had put in 100ml too little milk.

In the afternoon, we chatted awhile, watched the news briefly, and relaxed. Then Richard and his colleague started fitting some ducting for computer wires in the guest apartment, and Tim had a siesta. Our visitor worked, in some frustration, on some complicated knitting she's doing for her prospective grandchild. I got out a tapestry picture I've been working on - off and on - for the past two years. It's about half finished. Still, every little helps. Perhaps I'll get it done by the time Daniel returns, in about 18 months...

At 6pm Tim asked for a ride back to the church, where he had to play the organ for the evening service. So Richard drove him there, then we went on to our old house where we collected a wheelbarrow full of stones. We knew there were thousands, gathered from the garden over the years and nobody else would want them. While there, I noticed my newest bougainvillea looking rather sad, having been knocked down. But still alive. I know bougainvilleas don't like being moved much, but I thought I'd give it a chance as it was still small enough to dig up - and it wouldn't last long if I left it behind. Then I saw two of my geraniums, still just about alive but very dry after a month without being watered. So I watered them and dug them up too. Then I decided to take a few cuttings from the larger geraniums, which are in more shady areas and still thriving despite the lack of water.

We also filled the barrow with stones and managed to get them back in the car. Then with our visitor advising, we filled our pots and a couple of planters with stones, and used the compost we had bought combined with older soil to re-plant what we bought yesterday, and the ones I hope to revive from the old house. We also replanted the palm that was in a broken pot. And then had to do yet more mopping of the porch! Here's the results so far... it'll be interesting (to us, anyway) to see what survives.

The two lavender plants. They don't look as happy as they were yesterday, but still smell wonderful. They were rather badly pot-bound, so having a bit more freedom and fresh soil should help:


The palm in its new pot, and the two geraniums from the old house:


The two hibiscus plants. They look very healthy, at least so far:


The bougainvillea from the old house, and one of the citrus trees (with Cleo observing):


I wasn't going to do anything with our cactus which seems to keep growing and sprouting new pieces, and which was almost falling out of its pot in various places. But Richard's colleague took it out, pulled off the dead leaves, and replanted the healthiest pieces in fresh soil:


Then as there were so many bits left, he planted some more in a small trough planter:


He seemed confident about what he was doing, but admitted afterwards that he had never done this before, and had no idea if they would survive! I'm not a huge fan of cactus, but this one has survived eight years of neglect with occasional watering, so I hope it will do well with increased space and nutrients.

Bougainvillea cuttings

I tried, a couple of years ago, to grow bougainvillea cuttings. I found a complicated description of what to do, and followed the instructions faithfully: taking 15cm hardwood cuttings, using growth hormone and potting compost, putting plastic bags over the pots, keeping them damp... and nothing happened. I tried about ten, and they all died.

Then, about a month ago, I was talking to someone on the doorstep and she told me that February was the month to take bougainvillea cuttings. No, not short pieces of wood in pots, she said: just cut a biggish piece that doesn't have new growth, and stick it in a jar of water on a window-sill. She recommended trying three at a time, since usually one out of three will sprout.

I had nothing to lose, so I cut three pieces that needed trimming anyway, and they've been sitting in jars on my study window-sill. Within a couple of weeks nearly all the leaves had fallen off, but I kept them there anyway...

One of them definitely seems to have taken now. There are little shoots appearing in all the branches.



But I think the others may be taking too, since there are little white dots on the pieces that are underwater, looking as if they may be new roots forming.


It would be great if they do take properly, and can be transplanted to pots. Then at least we'll have cuttings of our bougainvilleas here to take to the new house.

We're currently hoping we might move around the end of April. The sale in the UK seems to be taking an inordinately long time, but our buyer emailed on Friday saying her solicitor is hopeful that completion might happen within seven days. I don't know if that's real days or working days, but it sounds hopeful.

Gardening

I've neglected the garden recently. It must be five weeks since I had the lawnmower out last, and I haven't done much weeding either. Of course we were busy with Christmas, then getting Daniel ready to leave, then last week when I thought about the garden again, the weather was grey and miserable and I felt much the same inside.

The thought of moving house - perhaps - in the next few months didn't exactly help, either. We probably won't be here to enjoy the garden in the summer. And if this house is going to be redeveloped, or a block of flats built where I have my 'lawn', where's the point in keeping it tidy?

However we've been getting a LOT of mosquitoes in the house. We don't notice the biting - we seem to have developed a local immunity - but they're immensely irritting in the middle of the night, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ around our ears. I suddenly remembered our landlady telling us that mosquitoes breed in long weeds, particularly when the weather's been damp.

Just to convince myself how necessary the job was, I took a few photos:






Yup, weeds everywhere. The last one shows nettles, about 15cm high. Some of the garden does have grass in between the weeds, but it was hard to see. So this afternoon I got out the trusty old electric lawnmower, and set to work. It was quite hard going with the weeds being so long - and some of them very tough - and also rather damp despite the sun being on them all morning. But I did about an hour and a half's mowing, and maybe twenty minutes of weeding, sweeping and raking. I suppose I covered about two-thirds of the 'lawn' area, including the side pieces, and it does look better. Somewhat:





The weeds at the far end are going to take significant work, and there's at least another half-hour's mowing that needs to be done. I also need to do some weeding in the front garden, which is looking very overgrown.

It's strange. I do like growing plants, and I love having them around, inside or out. I really enjoy the fruit trees and I like the appearance of a house with bougainvillea or geraniums, or whatever. Making a 'lawn' of sorts is somewhat satisfying, and I always find it thrilling when the browns of summer turn to luscious green. I don't even mind doing a bit of weeding from time to time. When I get into good habits, and when the weather's mild and sunny, it's quite a good way of relaxing.

And yet... sometimes gardening feels like such a chore. Perhaps because I'm the only one in the family who's at all interested in it, or the only one who notices when it needs doing! Tim often helps with using the lawnmower and Richard does a bit of pruning now and again, and Dan used to be great at sweeping up leaves. But I always feel they're doing these things for my sake, and I'm not sure I care enough about it for the job to be worthwhile. When the boys were younger, they and their friends spent a lot of time outside so it was worth keeping it at least somewhat tidy. But we don't really go outside very often, these days. In the winter it's far too cold to sit still outside, in the summer it's too hot. And in the all-too-short April and October when it's 'just right' we usually forget.

So I'm not sorry that we're considering buying a house with almost no outside space. My only concern is the cats, who do like spending time outside (but don't care how long the weeds are).

Front garden

Despite eight years living in Cyprus, it still seems odd to me that late Autumn is the time to put bedding plants in the garden. In the UK, it's late Spring, since they flower through the Summer and die when the temperatures get cool, usually aruond October. But here, the Winter is milder and the Summer too hot, so now is the ideal time. We've experimented with several types over the years, and the most successful seem to be petunias, violas and busy lizzies. So I bought a few of them a couple of weeks ago when passing a plant shop, and on Thursday I weeded one of the front flower beds, then put in the plants. Not that anybody's noticed yet...



There's another bed in the front where I usually put a few bedding plants, but it's still covered in weeds (in between the geraniums, which are perennial here)


It's been a mild and very dry winter so far. November should be the wettest month of the year but I don't think we had any rain at all since the end of October. Rather worrying, although with de-salination plants in operation we shouldn't run out of water. Anyway, a plus point is that the bougainvillea is still blooming:

Bougainvillea again

Here's the bougainvillea at the front of our house, with the giant rubber plant showing at the edge of the picture. The bougie is magnificent at present; I only wish a photo could do it justice. It's also a bit sad that it's really only so gorgeous during May and June - the rest of the year there are still some pink blossoms, but it looks more straggly. Still, it gives us some extra shade during the summer since it remains in full leaf, and we're very thankful to have it. It's one of the stunning successes of our gardening - seven years ago it was only about 50cm high with hardly any blossoming. 

Bougainvillea

Here's our oldest bougainvillea, which always looks stunning in May. It's been there for seven years now, so it's well-established. They really do grow superbly here; the neighbourhood is full of blossoming bougainvilleas at present, in several bright colours. 

New Bougie

Tim gave me a new bougainvillea for my birthday. I planted it out the back along the new border of flowers, where I hope it will grow to disguise that awful paint-stain on hte wall.  

The bougainvillea and the scarlet geranium. With a few yellow and red antirrhinums (snapdragons) in front. Unfortunately this picture was taken in bright sunlight so they look a bit depressingly dull...  

Still, they look a lot brighter than they did last Summer - this picture shows them in August 2004 when they had just survived the summer, rather to my surprise. Then this picture shows the bougainvilla thriving in October last year, with the geranium just about surviving. Once the rains start things really grow fast here, though!