In January and February the garden is full of colour, a time when we see the bottom meadow at its very best. While the top meadow has more varied wild flowers, the lower one is covered in almost luminous verdant green, speckled with dazzling little yellow flowers, the oxalis. I have a love/hate relationship with this persistent little plant which is almost impossible to eradicate. It’s a bully, not a comfortable companion to other less invasive plants and in fact, it’s having a high old time all over rural Algarve. But after getting used to parched brown earth one has to admit they do make a wonderful display.
This is the setting for our almond trees which are wearing their wedding dress again, albeit less showy than usual after Alan’s severe pruning last year. Then there’s aloe arborescens thrusting their red-hot-poker flowers heaven-wards while the anoenium’s conical yellow blooms provide a halo effect. You might be forgiven for wondering how crocosmia is in flower in winter but in fact it’s chasmanthe floribunda, commonly know as African flag which produces long tubular bright orange more open flowers all winter. Oh and the first poppy is in bloom, just to remind us of the feast of red to come.
Red Hot Pokers… 
Almond Blossom 
Bottom Meadow
Dolce & Gabbana.
Talking about almond blossom, and remembering that February is a romantic time of year, (we’ll at least on the 14th) I recently read a lovely tale about St Valentine and the girl whose sight he miraculously restored. When he was martyred, she planted an almond tree on his grave, or so the legend goes, thought to be the reason why the Almond tree is used as a symbol for love and virginity. Isn’t it wonderful the way nature, art and romance is intertwined?
