Actually been back a little while, frantically catching up and trying to cope with too much heat, too much humidity and not enough (or any) escape. Apart from work, where the a/c is about the best that can be said for the experience. So, as the previous post was all about the magic frangipani’s near-death experience and resurrection, I’ll make this a quick what’s happening on the terrace post.
Watering remains a huge problem in this weather, and I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jeffrey and Martha, who stayed here and looked after the babies. Without them, death would have been certain for almost all. So, that’s a single baby frangipani leaf above, and, for comparison, the whole resurrected thing below. Will it flower this year? Who knows.1
Then there are the tomatoes, Pugliese Green from my own saved seeds. It is a well-known fact that fruit is perfectly ripe the day after birds have destroyed it. So as soon as I saw that the naughty crows had eaten the ripest, I brought the others in.
They’re wonderful; dense with flavour, and chewy without being tough. A great blend of sweetness and acidity that makes me wish I could grow them in more bulk to try a bit more selection. Which reminds me, I mustn’t forget to save some more seeds later in the summer, and that means keeping the crows away.
And finally, a sunflower, backlit by the setting sun. There’s something really rather sad about sunflowers in a pot, all droopy mangled leaves on sparse stems, which is why I concentrated on the flower. The variety is called Black Velvet, a stupid name if ever there was one. I planted some seeds of Vanilla Ice too, but the pictures aren’t as dramatic. They were my last seeds, and I’ve a feeling that both varieties are sterile, which is a shame.
Anyway, that’ll do for now. I’m also playing with the new Post Image capability to see how that works out. Might mean I have to find an image for everything, which would not be good. We shall see.
Footnotes:- And when do the dog days start, officially? [↩]