Temples

no photos of the tombs as not allowed, these photos are of Hatshepsut and Habu temples Luxor,
Hatshepsut temple,

Habu temple

we had lunch in a roof top restaurant over looking the Nile, we were on the west side of the Nile so this is looking across to Luxor on the east side,

back at the hotel they had made a swan of my towel,

 

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.

Fryal garden Aswan Egypt

my little trip abroad was to Egypt, a holiday I saw over 20 years ago and wanted to do as within the holiday were 5 days on a felucca on the Nile, I didn’t get 5 days only 2 days but it was worth it and I’m happy after so long that I have finally had a felucca trip, so moral never give up on your dreams and wishes,

the holiday due to being in Egypt was also full of ancient tombs and temples, too many for me so I didn’t go to the later ones in the holiday but took a walk around town, in Aswan I found this botanical garden early the last morning in Aswan, it wasn’t open as it was before eight in the morning but when I returned just after nine it was open, the only plants with labels were some of the trees so if anyone can give any idea what a plant is I would be grateful,

I think this is a lilac it looked so beautiful with the early morning sun on it, it was labelled and I am posting details where there were labels as they were written, I want to do a search for them but haven’t had time yet,
Family Verbenaceae
Vitex agnus castus

I was fascinated at seeing a (I think) bougainvillea flower close up as the brightly colour part seen is not the flower it seems, the flowers are these little tiny beauties inside the bright ? I don’t know what the bright bit is called,

the red stood out so much against the green in the morning sun,

I love daisies and these interested me as they have this lovely ring of tiny flowers wintin a flower,

these trees covered with the bright orange blooms were every where, not just in Aswan but Luxor too and along the way between the 2 cities, I had thought they were a member of the pea family and the gardens had a few of the trees labelled,  
Family Legumiasae
Poinciana regia

these shrubs were every where too and the flowers seem to change colour as they age,

this tree reminded me of laburnum I don’t know if it is, there were only a few I saw when in Egypt, it is the great long black pea pods that caught my eye,
Family Leguminase
Cassia fistiula

I think I am right thinking this is bougainvillea there were lots every where and they are all beautiful, I loved the way this one has draped it’s self over the rock,

now for a bit of foliage, this beautiful little purple plant was growing around the base of a tree there were just a few tiny, tiny mauve flowers if you look close you can barely see 2,

I found the markings on these leaves beautiful,

the shrub above was planted alternately with this pink and burgundy shrub which is very effective, sorry the photo is not so good the sun was getting higher and brighter reflecting and washing out colour,

just loved these,

now for a few more trees, loved the texture, like plaits,
Family Arecaceae
Hyphaena thebaica

I was amazed by this tree as I have never seen anything like it before, it is big and I kept walking back trying to get more of it in, sadly it looked like it was dying, there was very little leaf or sign of new growth,
Family Bombacaccene
Ceiba panlandra

there were in Luxor and Aswan lots of clipped trees and here in the garden I had a chance to get up close, they are bay trees, I am not sure if the same bay I use in cooking but they did look like the same, with these 2 I liked that some had a single stem other had multiple,

just loved the pattern as I looked up,

again just loved the pattern of branches,

a view of the Nile from the garden in Aswan looking north,

I had put my camera away and was leaving the garden when I saw my favourite animal so had to get my camera out, Egyptian cat,

just loved the expression cat bliss,

 

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.

back home

I’ve been away for nearly 3 weeks and had a lovely time, more about that later, a few weeks before I went away I asked my grandson what he wanted for his birthday, his seventh birthday, he said a minecraft creeper teddy, ………………….. never heard of it, join the club,

so what do you do when the only toy shop in town has never heard of minecraft and when you do an internet search all that comes up (well all that is related to what you are looking for!!) is tee shirts, bracelets, hats and hoodies, what do you do, you visit your fabric stash and make one …….

I was a bit concerned that A he wouldn’t like it or B older brother would be upset he hadn’t got one,

out come, birthday boy loved it and older brother wanted me to help him make one, everyone’s happy ;o)

 

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.

an evening walk around the garden

the weather suddenly went calm this evening when it was still light so I took the opportunity to walk around the garden with camera, just out side the door,  

looking across part of the damp meadow and tweenie garden to the trees,

the damp meadow, I’ve been taking photos of the damp meadow from this same spot and intend to for the rest of the year to build a record for me of the changes,

the triffid like leaves of gunnera have been zapped by the north wind,

roseroot is starting to bloom,

the primroses have been flowering for a while now,

the mystery plant in the alder terrace garden has it’s first flower and it’s red campion, so some campion seeds grew and flowered the year sown others have waited until the second year,

marsh marigold it’s just getting going,

I don’t know the name of these narcissus, as they have squashed trumpets I call them the squashed narcissus,

I love these little daffodils some of them are twins, 2 flowers on one stem,

spring flowering heather is blooming well but the plant is a bit old and tatty now, the bees love it and during the day it practically hums,

some of the white bluebells are out,

I love these green to yellow wild double daffodils too,

some plants disappear never to be seen again others breed like rabbits as with these big yellow daffodils I planted singles along under the privet hedge 10 years ago now look,

oxslips have been flowering well,

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.

little surprises in the garden

I have been taking photos and saving some for posting on my blog since the beginning of the month but haven’t got around to posting so here goes with the first group, some nice things I’ve found happening,

I bought 10 Ash trees last autumn they are very small just about 1 year and only about a foot high (30cm), when I saw the first leaf on one tree as I had camera in hand I took this photo and when I saw it on my computer I love it, for once the automatic focus is on the part I wanted,

I am thrilled that some of the cuttings I quickly took from a dying Flowering currant have taken, it had these deep pink flowers which was why I was a bit upset when it got blown over and slowly died,

the fritillaries flowered 2 in the damp meadow, something has taken a bite out of this one,

and 2 in the front garden little bed, I never planted these they appeared last year and it’s quite a way from the damp meadow but that’s the only place they could have seeded from,

the oxlips have been flowering well, they usually do and self seed,

as have the primmies

last year I bought a Euphorbia graffithii and I love the markings on the stem as it had emerged,

one of the areas I covered with turfs last autumn had had some Rhubarb in but the Rhubarb didn’t appear last year so I thought it was gone then as I was wandering around a couple of weeks ago I saw this turf being lifted,

look what’s under,

and near by another, I’m not going to pick from these this year to give them a chance so next year could be a yummy year for Rhubarb crumble,

the Hellebore Foetidus has some seedpods forming, advice and suggestions please, would you leave it to self seed or remove when ready and sow yourself? if the later when would you sow the seeds?

 

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.

Brighton Marathon

my daughter-in-law is running in the Brighton marthon today 26 miles, I am so proud of her, she has raised over £700 for the NSPCC well over her target and has been training hard, I understand the weather is good for the runners, sunny but not too hot and not too much wind, I expect the elites have already finished! good luck to all the charity runners, if anyone wants to see a very speedy version of the route follow this link and scroll to the bottom of the page where they cover the 26 miles in just under 10 minutes,

http://brightonmarathon.co.uk/guide.php

go Jenni, go xxxx

post update, Jenni finished the 26 miles in just under 5 hours, I just can’t imagine running for 5 hours, the final total raised is nearly £900 for the NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children) a very worthwhile charity, Jenni will be celebrating her 40th birthday next month and to run a marathon before she was 40 was an ambition which she has now achieved, well done girl …. xx

daffodils and narcissus

I have an explosion in my garden this year and so I thought it needed a post of it’s own, daffodils do well here and the few I planted when I came here have grown and increased, in autumn 2010 I started digging up the clumps and replanting around the garden, last spring I replanted some in the green and last autumn I dug up more clumps, there are still lots of clumps that need to be dug up and replanted, these photos have been taken over a 4-5 week period, some this morning,
about 8-9 years ago I bought 10 narcissus jenny a creamy white narcissus which I love, the 10 have increased a lot and I still have another clump to replant, here they are in a new border which I will write more about in the summer, they are circling 2 new species roses as this will be a species rose border,

these little ones where replanted autumn 2010 and last year there were only a few flowers they are bulking up, in the top left you can see the jenny narcissus in the previous photo the other side of the New Zealand flax,

these I can see from my kitchen window and they give me a lot of pleasure, this time last year this was all just grass between the damp meadow and the trees, I finally got to work making a path and increasing the damp meadow the left side, as well as sorting the area between the trees the right side, I planted these in the green early last summer, they are the only bit of formal in this area,

under the edge of the trees and they need dividing up,

these pretty little twin daffs are in the damp meadow, I want to move them to somewhere where they can be enjoyed more, probably the front garden,

this little group is in the front garden I like the yellow daffs and mauve denticulata primmies together and there is a primrose on the left too, the rest of this bed is over grown I call it the jungle,

the bed the other side of the front garden I call this the wilderness because of all the grass that’s come back into it, theses clumps really must be dug up and replanted, I would like to put some of them under the hedges I’m growing in the fruit and berry garden in the previous post,

more of the wilderness, the previous photo is to the left of these you can make out the blue gate through the hedge in both photos, these were all single bulbs dotted along the hedge bottom 10 years ago,

the above photo was taken last week the next 2 are a closer view taken this morning,

across the path to the middle bed and jenny, these were replanted autumn 2010 last spring only 1 flowered they have bulked up well,

these were in a pot in the house last year,

a slightly long view the white narcissus in the front are the ones in the previous photo, the blue door is my backdoor but it is at the side of the house facing the front, from the little porch you enter my kitchen so making it the backdoor, this is a corner of the middle bed with the little bed I often mention beyond, as you can see here the little bed is split in 2 with small rectangle on the right and a strip on the left, I have done a lot on them over the last 2 years and I am feeling quite happy with them now,

these are in the very corner of the middle bed just behind the jenny narcissus in the previous photo, this was taken a week ago the jenny are the buds top right,

these miniature narcissus are in the little strip by the backdoor, they are finished now this photo was taken a while ago, they were in a part of the garden where they could not be enjoyed properly so I moved them to this bed when they finished flowering last spring, I have enjoyed seeing them every time I leave or enter the house,

these 2 also need to be moved to be enjoyed more I have a third fancy narcissus which is in bud,

this is the jungle along the front path, I dug up or thought I had dug up all the clumps of big yellow daffodils but as you can see I missed a clump, I will dig it up when it’s finished and replant to finish the river of daffodils in the tweenie garden, they are not in flower yet like most of the daffodils in the damp meadow so there are more still to flower, I thought as this border lines my front path (the path to the front door) I would put the fancy narcissus and the twin daffodils along here then I can enjoy them more often and see them from the front room window,

if you are still reading and looking thanks,

©Copyright 2012 Frances Caple. All rights reserved. Content created by Frances Caple for Island Threads.