I’ve discovered a pair of flower sellers in the Karlovac open air market that speak English. Unfortunately they don’t sell vegetable seedlings but thye did advise me to wait a coupl more weeks before investing in any tomato or pumkin plants, cool! Similarly I discovered a geezer at the flea market who sells flowers, shrubs and trees speaks the language of Marlowe – that one was for you Dad! – pretty good too! I was tempted by this dude cos he was wearing a Rage Against the Machine shirt and trousers just like mine which is not the usual attire for market vendors in Croatia. I was so enamoured in fact that I spent (£30) way above my plant quota for the day on just three plants!
Still lets get the obligatory cat picture out of the way first and then there is a pictorial resume of almost all the newly planted things.
Sid stares out of the studio flat window past the flowers at the strange creature reflected in the glass. Its not Sids best pose but I rather like the composition and the special effects / reflections that adorn him.Ha! only a day later and I cant remember the name of the two flowers I was assured by the Karlovac market stall holder – Yes I found one who speaks good English – would develop in to a little bush and should reappear for a few years… This one’s situated outside Sanja’s studio to help inspire her creative juices when composing punk rock songs about pretty flowers and the like.This pretty thing has been strategically placed on a spot that was dug up the pipe when we were looking for the water leak and the grass has refused to regrow there ever since. So lets see if this – forgtot the name – flower does any better!Now this little beauty is called a “Diabalo” or something like that and of course I couldn’t resist. I was looking for plants with some colour and this has that for sure! It should end up as fair sized bush, but then again the guy who told me that didn’t know I was gonna need a mallet and spike to help create a decent sized hole in the stony ground for it, so we’ll see!A long time ago I took a bunch of cuttings from a Privet hedge in the East of Zagreb. Last year I put a few out along my front border fence, two nights later the snow returned and all my little babes bought it! I had four left and they have remained inside on my window sill for another year till now when I am pretty damn confident that the winter is over. So here is the beginning of my Privet hedge that will one day prevent nosey neighbours from peeking in to our yard, ho ho!This little may not look much as yet but its just settling in and one day will bloom into a Passion flower vine that will transform an otherwise boring wire fence. Oh yes it will!Who says old paint pots arent worth keeping, eh? Just take a look at these beauties.How to make one of your fave mugs live on…. and the same with a boring plastic food pot too…. These are on the kitchen window sill facing north so they might not fry in the midday sun as plants on the opposite side of the house tend to do in the summer.This luscious looking lemon balm plant came from friends who have a very ecologically sound garden/estate growing in the commuter belt of Zagreb. I hope to get more plants from them in future as they indeed hope to begin to make some filthy lucre from selling them. This is positioned on the east side of the gazebo ready to be picked fresh and scrunched into a jug of cold spring water perhaps…Looks like a weed dunnit? But this little plant once it has got past it’s puberty stage will potentially be of great benefit to our peace and tranquility. This is a young Evening Primrose plant and I’m really hoping that it may offer up that powerful E.P. oil soon! Like maybe before next month! Please!This rose had been rather neglected and unpruned and I’m rather pleased that only a few weeks after being pruned it already looks healthier and if I’m lucky some of the cutting I took will sprout roots and be ready to plant in the autumn.I’ve been debating what to do with the long grassy area onthe south side of the house and now I’ve decided it will not become an outdoor badminton court after all! Nope, there will be bushes here, including this one which I bought from the guy at the flea market this morning and so of course I can’t remember what it’s called but I do remember that the leaves change colour in a continuous cycle of green to red, exciting eh! And it will grow quite big if I let it, bit like my paunch!Here at the beginning of a new path, one that winds its way through the old clover patch is a Japanese Quince courtesy of my green fingered friends in Brezovički near Zagreb. It might not look much yet but you should see what they told me it may grow to be….!The Japanese Quince is only about 30 cm tall at the moment but as long as the dear leave it alone and I remember to water it it should end up as a 3 meter tall shrub with brightly coloured flowers! Come on!More of the clover patch path with two replanted fruit trees visible, strategically planted along its way. There are loads of little fruit trees popping up from the roots of the established trees and I’m quite pleased that they seem fairly happy to be cut free from there parents and escape to far off places… sounds strangely familiar!Is it an oak? Im not sure but there are a bunch of these little things under the canopy of the big oak so maybe. If its not I will brutally rip out the imposter and replace it with the real thing when I am sure of its veracity! I like oak trees.So this dramtoc looking young tree is one of the most expensive I have ever bought. And yes I did haggle, but I only managed a paltry 20% discount. And I can’t remember what it is but I think its a loquat or Kumquat or maybe a Persimmon! I guess we’ll find out if the fruit grow and ripen, at present they are just little green balls. This beauty sits at the bottom of the clover patch path where the old lower field begins. It should be plenty big enough to be seen above the long grass but I gotta put a fence around it so the dear don’t ruin it.
and then there was that weird mist one morning when I was up unexpectedly early.
Early morning mist is common at this time of the year but this solid bank of fog was so densely packed in to the valley I thought it worth a picture.
and then there was the day I got all “organised” and serious about being a host.
It’s time to spring clean! Get those blankets out and aired, dust off the tables and chairs and do the rest of the boring – but necessary – side of having guests.
and then there’s the car. I used it way more this week than I usually do. One trip was aborted when my reason to go to Zagreb was cruelly cancelled just as my excitement at going to eat vegan burgers and watch Holywood films in a real cinema was reaching a fever pitch! But I had to visit Karlovac three times this week by car and not one bike ride as yet! Shameful!
