My Christmas cactus

Last year in December I bought a Christmas Cactus as a gift for someone.

Before I could give it, all buds fell off so I kept it.

Over Spring Summer and Autumn I left it outside in the garden.

In September I noticed that it is forming many buds.

When it got colder in November I took it in.

Watching it every day with joy the buds got bigger.

Today is a very happy day!

They are opening:

 

 

What wonderful display, a beautiful red!

I am so overjoyed.

 

Flowers do make the world laugh!

Quince jam

Quince is ripe during this time of year.

It makes my favourite jam and jelly – I love the taste and smell.

So I decided to make my own jam again this year.

 

I could not find the Jam sugar anywhere

so I used Pectin powder and normal sugar.

It came out rather well and tastes delicious. 

 

Here is the outcome for a delicious breakfast,

well more than one. 🙂 

 

 

Passion fruit Autumn leaf

Autumn colours are all around outside.

The trees are gorgeous.

Indoors I have my own little Autumn as my passion fruit plant

had a sweet yellow Autumn leaf.

Maracuja

and then it fell.

still gorgeous.

Enjoy the colours of Autumn.

 

‘Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower.’

Flowers Galore

Here are my favourite flower pictures I took recently

All taken by me in Norfolk.

Again we are enjoying some lovely hot Summer weather for a couple of days.

Not going out that much I enjoy the beauty closer to me.

Have a wonderful week!

Gooderstone Enchanted Garden and Oxburgh Hall – amazing gardens and walks

A trip to the Enchanted Water Garden in Gooderstone

We walked over all bridges and enjoyed the peaceful garden to the full with its’ colour

and smells.

 

Oxburgh Hall

At this time of year all gardens are so colourful and have such beauty.

We did the long walk through their forest which was so refreshing

and such a great walk watching many birds and small insects around us.

It leaves me breathless walking through.

 

More Cornflower beauty

My cornflowers are having more flowers.

They don’t only come in the deep blue as in this post 

there are more colours now

Beautiful purple,

then pink, light lilac and white came along.

They surprise me every day!

Craft trials

Time for something new:

I tried the other day to paint a stone.

It was a very porous stone.

This is my result.

It was rather hard, I’m not so good in drawing so this will be my only one.

It looks nice in the garden, I varnished it to weatherproof it.

I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought,

so I’ll stick to the crafts I do better and enjoy more.

Like knitting  a little fragrance pouch for example.

It is good to try different crafts out.

One way to find out what you truly enjoy.

 

“Give yourself freedom to try out new things.

Don’t be so set on your ways that you can’t grow.”

Paolo Coelho

Cornflowers

In March, before the virus,

I bought a bucket of soil and cornflower seeds from the supermarket,

as I like to grow things.

I was watching it carefully,

watering it on hot days.

It was growing nicely until June where it started to bloom,

and I could find blue flowers on it.

… and not just blue but also pink came along, how beautiful!

I enjoyed those Cornflowers every step on their way

to the full bloom in very vibrant colours.

Thank you for making my garden more colourful!

 

Kew Gardens Virtual Smile

Kew Gardens

my favourite garden has been closed due to the circumstances.

I miss going there so much.

They have now re -opened with limited visitors going in

and you have to book a time slot.

Unfortunately I have to take the train to get there and

I am not quite prepared to do that just yet.

So I went through my pictures from previous visits

and enjoyed a stroll through.

Here is what I found:

(pictures previously not published, taken by me in Kew Gardens)

 

Something Red

2.9.18

2.9.18

2.9.18

… it does say Red Dragon…..  🙂

Something yellow

Something pink

and something smelly

smelly

smelly

smelly

Yes, it was really smelly. What an amazing plant.

Hope you enjoyed my little walk through time, colours and the garden.

 

Please click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Pictures are from visits during the last 2 years.

 

Radishes ?

Have  you ever seen radishes on a cactus?

Unbelievable where they grow these days.

I grew them the traditional way…… in my garden

a welcome addition to my salad!

It was rather delicious !

(Picture taken by me in Kew  Gardens and my garden)