The beauty of April

There's a saying here; April April, Sie machst was Sie will. That means; April April, she will do as she will.

That's what happened in the last 4 weeks of April.

There was sun, warmth, storm, sleet, snow, icy rain, frost. In short, all 4 seasons weather was all jumbled up during the month of April. I garden in the alps region. You can see from the pictures featured in here how little sun I'm getting. It has been a very tempermental month, lots of cloudy days but time moves so fast when you're having fun, at least that's what everyone kept telling me, and I definitely had some fun out in the garden. One day I'm in tee shirt, the next day I back into my old ski pants trying to move some plants and the next day I'm in my rain jacket builiding dams to stop overflowing from the pond.

Working and toiling in the garden in the the cold wind and rainy weather with the thick layers of clay that stick to the garden wellies is also very challenging and that bit is not very funny. The achilles tendons are stretched to the maximum while negotiating the 70 degrees slope while at the same time trying to avoid getting hooked by the grabbing thorns and prickles from the canes of the rose bushes.

Walking about on the steep sloping part of the garden after the rain is also very treacherous and adventurous experience at the same time, especially when the wellies are getting heavier and heavier as they collected clay with each step that I took. Every now and then I had to scrape off the thick layer of clay from the wellies. It felt like walking in a pair of heavy moonboots.

The garden is alive! From the ground up, suddenly everything is green and colourful and smelling grrreat.

Wisteria is slowly opening up its pea like flowers

If I am down to just

only one

spring blooming tree in the garden, it must be the Lilac or Syringa Vulgaris.

Nothing beats walking into the garden when the lilacs are blooming. After the rain washed off the pollutants from the atmosphere, I can feel my lungs expanded and my spirit lifted as I inhale the fresh air filled with the wonderful fragrance of lilac that waft in the air.



(left) Syringa Vulgaris

and mahonia, when used as a long evergreen hedge around the garden, will perforate sweet smelling honey fragrance to the outdoor living space. The only thing about Mahonia is that the leaves are prickly and it suckers like crazy but that means free propagation for making more mahonia plants to make the hedge even longer. Mahonia can take in a lot of shade, even under dense trees. Very easy to grow even on impoverished soil.

There's so much documenting to do, lots of photography subjects but it is always very cloudy and the usual overwhelming endless list of things to do. I should also mention that I am still struggling to clean up the mess created by the third party scrapers who consistently victimised and abuse this blog. My blog abuser is taking a huge chunk of my time. I created this blog because this is one of the simpler ways in my small effort to stay in touch with my gardening friends who follow this blog and other readers too. It will be very sad to lose this blog to the hands of the irresponsible people, but everyday it is like struggling to remove the dandelion that kept sprouting out in the middle of the lawn. Removed one and another 2 more popped up. It seems like a never ending story. This is just one of the other things that made me missed the moderated forum. How I missed Pete with his excellent ways of keeping the bad elements away and nobody scrape my words posted over there. If only that bleeding H had behaved in a more tolerable manner.

So I chose to blog up my garden in a way I feel comfortable but the blogsphere is not much better. There are more bleeding H out there constantly harrasing and harming this blog. Why do God create too many bleeding H in this world??

Life is certainly not a bed of roses. Just when I think one part of my life is doing well, another part of life start to crumble and screaming at me to start doing something about it quickly before it really begin to fall apart. Multi tasking is very challenging and I fully respect those one man show multi tasker who succeeded in their effort keeping all their projects afloat like a breeze.

The roses are coming along nicely. At least there's something to cheer me up despite all the hick ups. There are lot of buds everywhere and they are getting bigger and fatter everyday which is very exciting and I'm full with anticipation. Some buds are already showing hints of colours, but since the temperature suddenly dropped to single digit, that probably slowed them down a little from unfurling the petals.

The surrounding is looking much more alive today as spring strengthened its foothold in the garden. I'm looking forward to the month of May as this is one of the most beautiful time of the year when everything in nature became most productive. If you've read my earlier post some 2 weeks ago, I did wrote that there are so much colours around me at the moment, I really mean that because there are so much explosion of colours from ground level up to the tip of the tree branches.

Right now, every spring blooming trees and shrubs are showing off their true colours. Apples and cherry fruiting trees and shrubs are all in bloom, so are the weedy dandelions and wild daisies.

Flowering current Ribes Sanguineum

Ribes Sanguineum or known here as Johannis Berries shrub is at the moment looking really cheerful.

Weather hasn't been that great and I was running around quite a bit too so I did missed photographing them beauties during their best blooming period. Some trees and shrubs that bloom in spring such as magnolia really made a very short show. After 2 weeks, they don't really look that photogenic. One that I always miss the best time to capture their beauty is the magnolia tree Heaven Scent.They are difficult to photograph on dry sunny day and they look awful after the rain.

Magnolia Sieboldii

Magnolia Sieboldii blooms tend to brown immediately after the rain.

I really didn't have much time to sit down and dream about anything at the moment. There are just too much things to do, running around between what pay the bills and what takes away the pain after paying bills. I'm off to the garden now. Tomorrow is a public holiday and that means a long gardening weekend.

I guess this is what "work on your dream" means...you keep moving....

________________________________________________________________________Copyright © Rosesarerae All Rights Reserved

Prunus Serrulata Kanzan

Much has been written and raved about this Prunus Kanzan, so I'm just going to share my personal experience having this tree in my garden. I agree with the others who said that this is one of those very showy ornamental spring blooming cherry tree. I really like the frilly double blooms.

This Kanzan tree was only 2 feet tall when I planted it 4 years ago. Today it has reached 9 feet tall (3 metres) and will be even taller when fully matured. I look forward to that because this tree has become one of my favourite tree in the garden. It is one of those well behave plant; not throwing branches in all directions. I have never prune it, cut it or shape it. I didn't do anything to this plant since it was planted. I didn't even water or feed it with any fertilizer. One thing I know about cherry trees is that they have very long roots underground and very draught tolerant.

The blooming period is a little short, about 2 and a half to 3 weeks, depending on the weather and the leaves only appear after the flowers started opening. The young leaves first unfurl bronze coloured and then slowly turning green and remain such throughout summer, providing a nice shade during the hot summer days. In autumn, the leaves turn into a stunning burnt orange colour.

Like most cherry trees which I've planted in the garden plus those wild bird cherries that sprout by itself like weeds in the woodland, I think they like my heavy clay soil. During the early days, I was constantly worried that this Kanzan tree will not make it through the first winter because I had planted it in the most exposed south facing part of the garden. The Prunus Amanogawa did no make it in this location. It died after a very hard winter but I have replaced it and this year had something like 20 blooms on a 2 years old Amanogawa young tree.

I find Kanzan a little bit tougher and able to take in the most bone biting desiccating cold wind during winter months. This picture was taken a few days ago showing the leaves are already out and the blooms are looking a little tired from the temperature that is raising up to high teens.

Primula Eliator

This is another Primula Eliator whose name I don't know. If you happen to recognise this one;
I would appreciate it when you can drop me a line or post the name in the comment box.

Primula Eliator Brownred

Like many others in the primula family, this Brownred primula eliator can thrive in a lot of shade.

I did planted mine in a bit too dense shade, that the reddish brown colour tend to darken to almost black.





Thanks to the whites that framed the petals, otherwise it would not have stand out in the dim lights but since it is a polyanthus with several bloom on a single stalk, it can be quite an eye catcher. The flowers are quite small and easy to get lost amongst the deep green foliage.


With a bit of sun reflection on sunny days, the red tone shine out from the brownish petals quite nicely. Maybe I should consider giving them a bit more sun shine.

Primula Veris - Seeing Heaven in Wild Flowers - Part II

This Primula Veris is commonly found growing wild in the meadows or road side. While waiting for the pooch doing his run one day, I pulled out a few plants that was growing wild in the field close to the woodland garden and planted them near the walkway entrance which receive 3 hours of sun in late afternoon. I wasn't sure if this primula would take off but being a shade loving plant, they immediately felt at home in their new position. They are so easy to grow, requires zero maintenance, and I only see them in spring when suddenly they bloom their heads off.

Growing up with an english mother, she call this flower cowslip, but living in a german speaking country, this flower is called schlussel blume, directly translated meaning key flower because they are the key to spring. In some parts of Europe, it is also known as Himmel schlussel, meaning key to heaven.

In herbal medicine, this flower is used to make tea which can be used as a sedative, or to make cowslip wine. I've never tried them.

Primula Veris belong to the family of primroses, but primroses have only one flower per stalk, while primula veris is a polyanthus because it has many flowers per stalk. There are also primula vulgaris and primula elatior.
Life is not a bed of roses: Primula Eliator Brownred
All of them are closely related to the cowslip.

Bleeding Hearts

Dicentra Spectabilis or commonly known as Bleeding hearts are herbaceaus perennial that bloom in early spring. I can't help it but turned melancholic when they make their appearance in the garden. These dainty little hearts reminded me of my late grandmother and her cottage garden. The ferny folliage of this plant with their graceful stems holding rows and rows of tiny little hearts swayed gently in the breeze, able to move your heart as you admire their surviving courage and their ability to charm any sentimental souls and make a poet out of them.

My bleeding heart
hush
do your weeping in silent
such is life,
quit with that lament (excerpt from my "tribute to grandma" poem collections)

There is also a white version of these dainty hearts but I find the pink variety goes well with any Forget Me Nots or Mysotis varieties because they both bloom at the same time in early spring and compliment each other beautifully;

As blue as Forget Me Nots
my heart bleeds for you,
In my prayers and my thoughts
may God's blessings always be with you.

(excerpt from my "tribute to grandma" poem collection)

This plant is the best candidate for parts of the garden which are in light shade or deep shade. They are not very fussy, actually will also grow under direct sun especially when temperature remains cool throughout summer but I find the bleeding hearts thrive better when given a spot in shady areas, making them one of the best choice for cheering up little pockets or dark corners in the garden without taking much space. Unlike many sun loving plants which simply languished and sulked when grown in the shade, the bleeding hearts thrive and flourish without demanding much attention. The dainty little pinks hearts will also last longer when shaded from the direct sun.

Their roots clumps are very brittle, and will rot soggy in water retentive soil. In a well drain planting area, this is a very easy plant to grow. They behave quite similar to those spring bulbs. After they finished blooming , the ferny leaves slowly turn yellow and and shrivelled as the summer temperatures gets warmer. If planted in sunny spots the leaves will dry out by mid summer in sync with the tulips and daffodils foliage. That doesn't mean they are dying but they kind of go into dormancy, gathering energy and fattening their roots clump underground and come back again the following spring.

I usually clean up the dying leaves and marked the spot where the dormant roots are located to avoid accidental shovelling. Like other herbaceus plants, I divide them in autumn and plant them in different types of shades. In spring, those clumps that receive a little bit more sun light tend to produce blooms earlier at the break of spring compared to those growing in total shady spots, emerging a little later. Planting them in various degrees of shades kind of lengthen the bloomings season.

I don't really care much about fertilizing them, maybe because all my plants are grown in mix border or mix planting style, so basically whatever and whenever I feed the shrubs after they finished their summer blooming, that is all the nourishments these herbaceaus plants received. All pictures was taken in 3 different kind of shades.

To be or not to be, that is the question....

I have so much gardening articles to share with my friends but at the moment I am feeling so de-motivated to post them because someone out there is continuously using my blog along with my name to advertise his websites, making me appear as if I am selling something.

I can assure you, I am not yet into enterprising.

Let's make one thing clear. Roses are rae is a combination of my mother's name and my name, so Mister opportunist website pay per click out there, you are victimizing and harassing more than one person here.

Why do you think the font on this blog is that big Mister? That's because my mum's eyes needs to see them big and clear without having to put on her magnifying glass all the time.

Do you have a mother Mister? Would you sit back and watch your mother being disturbed, tormented or harassed from unreasonable fears by unknown people someone like you? What exactly will you do to calm down your mother's nerves and maintain her sanity?

Justice could be served much easier had you remain transparent. It would have been sweet, but you chose to make a living in a coward and anonymous way.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Your deeds carries repercussions to your own actions. When you slammed your palm onto the water, the splash will hit you first before it hit other objects.

When you put your hands into a bed of roses, you ought to be aware that there are vicious thorns waiting to enter your skin, no matter how thick your skin is.

By continuously doing what you are doing right now, putting your hands into the bed of roses, you are playing with more than 400 bushes of rose thorns and you are inviting more difficulties into your own life which is already in a struggling shape.

I know you are struggling because all the websites you're linking me to are totally unrelated, and that clearly shows how hard-up your are in your effort trying to lure people to visit your websites to increase you earnings.

Dishonest earnings are more likely to harm than nourish you soul Mister. That's One thing all of us knew too well. You need blessing from others to prosper, and if you find that prosperity is a long way distance from you, that is because you need to open up your other eyes. If you want to climb the mountain, you can't do it with your back against the steep side.

Besides, I can assure you, none of the gardening people I knew, work in their gardens wearing crazy costumes, lingerie or wooden doors you're trying to sell... eh ??

GET THIS INTO YOUR HEAD: The more you trouble and distress people, the more you are manifesting troubles and distress in your very own life. You take the ball from the ground, you throw it on the wall. You think people's eyes will follow the ball to the wall, where you would like to highlight and take people's attention to, but in reality; peoples' eyes are watching the ball which you threw that bounces back and hitting you on your own head.

Have you ever thought that you are a victim to your guru who is using you as guinea pig to test the reaction of the programme he's creating?

Well, I can tell you he's not taking the damages! You had picked up the ball yourself and you had created that bump on your head by yourself. I'm not playing this game. You're on your own.

Message to my gardening friends; The mess this guy created is taking away a lot of my time, leaving very little left for my effort to compose intelligible lines and resizing pictures to share with you. Most of the time I am too tired and losing interest to update the blog, partly also because I know whatever effort I put in, Mister whoever that is, will continue taking advantage of this blog and making new web links from my updated posts and making me look like a scammer.

For most of you dear friends who knew me well enough from the forum days, would understand how important my mother is to me. She is the beacon of my life and I owe her a lot of things (even if that means putting this blog to sleep)

For those reasons, I'm not going to feed this person who is unrestrained by convention of morality. He offended my mother and he offended me. Too bad, he has to toil just like the rest of us and start his own garden to link it to his other websites selling pervert things through his own perversity. I refuse to be part of his scams.

I don't know what is the fate of this blog. To be or not to be, that is the question.

Life is not a bed of roses: The truth will always rise to the surface

Prunus Serrulata Kiku Shidare

I'm weeping for the weeping cherry tree that is blooming right now. We had an awful icy rain today. In close up the flowers don't look that great anymore after the ice drops. Nevertheless, they are still quite a sight regardless the weather.

The fact that they are in full bloom is convincing enough, that the coming days will be longer than the nights and life will be more fun with more warmth and sunshine.

Prunus Serrulata Kiku Shidare

I did rushed home today to catch the lights to photograph these. More rain is expected tonight and tomorrow and day after. After so much rain the flowers will not be photogenic anymore.

As usual, I drive with care but as I passed the traffic lights, it turned yellow and the cars infront me slowed down to a stop due to heavy traffic. When the traffic lights turned green for the other lanes, I did not make it to cross the junction. I ended up waiting in between 2 traffic lights but was in no way blocking the flow of the traffic. It is a 3 lanes road both ways but luckily I was crossing straight and not turning left of right or otherwise I would really be in the middle of everything.

As I waited, watched, and counted the seconds (I can't see the traffic lights anymore, its behind me) I suddenly recalled reading Mukund's blog when he was stuck in the middle of the junction during India's peak hours. The way he wrote about his experience was so funny, that remembering his story made me burst into laughter as I got myself into a similar situation and it was so funny to see the reaction of the drivers that passed by infront of me. They all had this weird look on their faces. They probably think I am weird too, laughing and giggling on my own in the middle of the junction. The only difference in this situation is that we don't use sign language here. Thank goodness for that.....

It's Cherry pink and Apple blossom white

I'm sure you know that song, but not all cherry blossoms are pink.

The wild sour bird cherry blossoms in my woodland garden are mainly white. Some ornamental cherry blossoms are pretty in pink but most of my edible cherry blossoms are white.

I have a couple of apple trees growing in the garden and their blossoms are actually pink!










The white cherry blossoms in the picture below is from my favourite cherry tree, unfortunately I forgotten the name and the identification tag got blown away by the wind some time ago. This particular cultivar was bred by a local Swiss hybridizer and the fruits are of course cherry red in colour, but it is the flesh of the fruit which makes it different compared to other cherries which are quite soft when they ripen. This favourite of mine is so crunchy even when over ripened and oh so sweet. I usually eat the cherries from this tree all to myself!

Well, that's because I am the only one in the house who is mad about cherries. There was a time when I was in Athens, at the end of May and it was searing hot, and everywhere I turned, there are mounds of glistening red cherries selling in every fruit shop in the city. I succumbed to the temptation, bought 2 kilos and ate them all by myself within an hour while walking around Acropolis. I know it sounds crazy and that record is still valid. Maybe I should try and break my own record.

If you see some cherry trees growing around the ruins of Acropolis today, those could be from the pits I spitted out some years ago.

Quicksilver Rising

This article has nothing to do with the fantasy trilogy by Stan Nicholls.

The quicksilver rising by me, rosesarerae is about the garden thermometer that kept going up and up and up....a little over 2 weeks ago, it was 2°c in the morning, sleeting and snowing. Tomorrow 22°c is expected, thanks to the warm air phenomena; The Foehn that pushes up from the south.

Picture left: Cercis Avondale buds on naked branches.

There are so many colours everywhere around me at the moment and it is really great to be out and about in tee shirts and shorts! Lots of pale knees was seen walking around bumping into things in the last few days.

We didn't go down to visit relatives in Italy during easter this year, and that gave me a chance to spend the long weekend pottering about in the garden. Since the day I got married, I'm always back and forth to my inlaws in Italy that I cannot recall the last time I get the chance to savour the joy of seeing so many spring blooms unfurl right under my nose.

I am also very sorry for the people in and around Abruzzo who lost their love ones during the earthquake. I hope they will soon stand up again with stronger faith, pick up the pieces, move forward and rebuild their lives. There is nothing much we can do when the earth decided to move by itself other than quickly get out of any building structures.

Get out of the building! Run for your life! It's easy to say that isn't it? 2 years ago I was working on my laptop on the dining table when suddenly I heard a very loud CRACK sound coming from the roof top glass wall. Even after I think hard about it, I cannot remember feeling any swaying, anything moving or vibrating and I really didn't connect the loud sound to earthquake but the alarm did went off by itself and the dog was barking like mad. I didn't even leave my seat. I was probably so focus working on the PC that I became oblivious to my surrounding.

An hour later I heard on the news, there was a 2.8 richter scale earthquake about 50 km away. Then I got scared. I went and checked all the glass walls, found nothing broken or cracked. I still have no idea where exactly the loud crack sound came from, but I am more organised now, just in case I have to dash out of the house within seconds. Dog leash, keys etc etc are now in the same corner on the way to the door.

The blooms from Magnolia tree Heaven Scent are slowly opening up . Somewhat their very short peak blooming period without fail always coincide with low precipitation. Rain is expected in the coming days and that will for sure spoil the show. The thick petals turn brown after lots of rain, but rain is also very much needed at the moment by all the plants that are sprouting leaves and growing at the speed of light.

Strangely, with the amount of birds I've got swooping around the garden, none of them go for the berries of Nandina Domestica or Heavenly Bamboo. The black bird stripped off the berries from Ilex shrub and finished eating them by mid January but they didn't touch the Nandina berries at all, which I find rather odd. This shrub with its intact berries really shine in the garden at the moment, especially during sunny days. They never look this brilliant during those drab grey winter months.
The ornamental cherry blossoms are also in full bloom and the bees are having a field day.

I saw this whistling trush a couple of times at the edge of my woodland clearing. I couldn't get his head in the picture because he moved twice higher up the tree when he saw me pointing the camera at him. I'm not sure if this is a he or she, but I know that this bird is looking for snails, unfortunately the snails are still high and dry hiding somewhere until the next rain soften the ground so they could glide down the slope and attack the iris patch.

Forsythia - the sun reflector

According to my book, when the Forsythia shrub exploded with the raising spring temperatures, and began dripping sunny sunshine with their nodding golden yellow blooms, it is high time to grab the secateurs and start pruning the roses.

As far as Forsythia is concern, from my taste and my experience having it in the garden, it is best grown as a solitary bush or blooming hedge. The shrub can get to 3 metres high with the same sideways spread. It can be sheared and shaped like many other hedging plants. Since it is very drought tolerant, I imagine the roots are able to go deep in search for water but I don't think the root are as invasive like the roots of salix which frequently being reported by many people that they can break piping joints when they are thirsty.

So, what do you do on a Saturday morning when the sun in out and the air is smelling sweet from the viola odorata, the primroses and lily of the valley?
Yes, I put on the gardening boots, grabbed the secateurs and crashed on the first rose shrub closest to the kitchen wall. Snip snip snip, awww! wow! ...and the first slash of prickle cut through the flesh of my index finger. Blood meal donation drive. Very expensive fertilizer. Gloves! Why didn't I put on the gloves?

Off I went into the garden shed. I usually air dry them on the wall hooks. Where is my trusted old soft hide leather glove for pruning the roses? I even ransacked the whole seed drawers. Nowhere to be found. (Sensored...Swearing) you never know who read this.

Bergenia Cordifolia (left)

The Pig Squeak joined my squeaking chorus of whining. Mind you, Pig squeak is not part of my swearing. Its the common name for Bergenia Cordifolia. Don't know who gave such a name to a lovely pretty plant like this, but when the leaves are rubbed with the fingers, interestingly, it gave out a squeaking sound, though I can't really say if the sound is similar to a pig squeaking. I've never had a close encounter with a squeaking pig before, and never own a pig other than a small very very fuchsia pink piggy bank where I put in foreign coins which I can't convert to my local currency.Bergenia Cordifolia thick leaves turns red in late autumn and remain colourful throughout winter. A good plant for some colours during winter months.

Anyway, my head did went in circles, scanning the 5 winter months. Did I washed some gardening gloves during winter? Went back into the house. Ransacked the whole washing room. Found the basket full with cotton gardening gloves. Well well, what do you know...enough gloves for the next 20 years, but where is that (swearing again) soft hide leather gloves?

After half an hour digging around the wash room, I gave up. I knew I didn't wash leather stuff. They can't be in washing room. Felt very silly and cheated by my own absent mind. What a waste of time. Took the cotton glove basket back to the garden shed. Well, if there is no gold, silver will do. So I put on the cotton gloves and continue pruning the rose bushes.

A little over 3 hours snipping away trying to balance the shape of the rose bushes and getting rid of dead canes, I finally arrived at the rows of once bloomers bushes. The Alba rose, Queen of Denmark is putting out new growth. Fantastic. No dieback and the bush looked very robust and healthy. I was told Alba roses are very cold hardy. Must remember to add more alba roses this year. I moved on. Rosa Complicata had a bad blackened canes. Snipped away the dead bits. 4 steps away, I saw dead twigs. I can't remember what rose shrub that was. I snipped away all the dead twigs finding my way to fresh green parts. Snipped snipped snipped until the bud union. Every bit is brown, dry and brittle. I dug around the soil until I found the name tag. I am so sad.

Omar Khayyam is dead.


The bleeding hearts shared my sentiments over Omar Khayyam's death.

What a pity. Why and how can he die? He was doing fine last year. Then I remembered. I did moved Omar Khayyam from another spot, because he is an extremely thorny rose shrub. The canes looked like a hedgehog on a stick. The prickles are slim and sharp like a needle. No exaggeration. I'll see if I can take a picture of the dead canes later.

Naturally I panicked after seeing one dead plant. These are precious collector's roses. Not easy to find and you can't find the flowers in the florist. That much I can tell you.

I scanned around to the other roses which I moved late autumn last year. So far they all are showing some green and red bits of growth. So, what is the cause of his death? Did Omar Khayyam died from the winter cold? I must perform a post mortem. I must get to the roots of the problem that led to the death of this very ancient rose. I have to see the roots.

I abandoned Mr. Secateurs. Went and grab Mrs Spade, push her deep into the ground and heaved the stiff like a stick Omar Khayyam root ball out from the ground. Ok. Investigation case completed. Omar Khayyam died due to suffocation roots drowning from excessive winter wetness. Poor thing. All my fault. I didn't put in enough drainage pebbles in the planting hole. Very silly mistake.

Now I have a good reason to go to the nursery and grab another Omar Khayyam. I must have this ancient rose again.

.....and the soft hide leather glove? I found it. I was using them during winter when I went out to knock away the snow which was piling on top of the rose trees.... but I only found the left hand side. The other one is still missing. I think I know who kidnapped my leather glove. The fox had done it before. This furry 4 legged "swearing thing" thought my leather gardening glove is a carcass of a dead cow worth chewing!

Happy Easter

Usually, on the eve of Good Friday, we join the hoardes of many other birds that left their nests, queueing up the motorway heading south to visit relatives in Italy. When you marry a man, you marry his family too, and that is what I've been doing since the day I uttered the word "I do".

It is not really a fun journey driving down during festive holidays due to influx of traffic on the road. We could fly to Venice as my inlaws are from that region but hey! I need to fill the car with more roses from my favourite Italian rose nursery.

For a lot of people, besides Paris, Italy is also one of the best shopping heaven in Europe, especially those who appreciate finesse in style and couture. I'm not so much into fashion but I think Armani sure know how to dress me up. I just love the simplicity in their cutting. Everything fits me like a glove without going through the hassle to alter anything at the tailor. I don't really shop much for clothes especially when you buy quality, these things tend to last forever. The most exciting thing for me is that, Italy happen to be one of the biggest agriculture nurseries in Europe. There is one which I usually dropped by to get my plants from, and this particular nursery even supplied mature trees to the well known Kew Garden in England.

I am not at all religious, but I respect those who are. On Good Friday, the devotees observed this day by fasting, performing prayers, repentance, and meditation on the agony and suffering of Christ on the cross which is then followed by a big easter lunch on Easter Sunday (which means today is a non cooking day and I get to hang loose and spend time writing this. Indeed this is a good day)

The sweetest thing about my inlaws is that, the moment they found out that I don't eat rabbits, without much ado, their traditional menu changed. Though just a tiny weeny portion, it still is an agony time at lunch table when lamb is served instead, but I call it adapting to my growing environment. I'm still trying to get use to the taste of lamb. I know. Silly me, but I love sheep and lamb as I use to count them jumping the fence until I fell asleep (I still feel bad for being the one that made them changed their traditional rabbit easter menu to sheep and lamb) usually as I chew the roasted lamb more than 40 times, eating slowly in order not to receive a second serving chunk, I try to think hard about chocolaty desserts, before washing down the lamb down my throat with lots of wine. (chewing 40 times is very rare exercise too, because I usually eat in a rush especially at lunch time)

Nevertheless, every easter, the small kid in me received boxes of chocolates in all kinds of shapes and sizesThat golden rabbit chocolate is from my dear Fabulous Superman. He is ever so wonderful.

This year, the long easter weekend is a little bit different. My inlaws are with us and I am excited to show off my Italian cooking skills.

On Sunday morning, it will be my turn to hide those easter eggs. This is going to be loads of fun, because I plan to hide them all over the garden and if anyone fail to find any, they will have to eat their steamed asparagus with no eggs at all!

In so many ways, I am grateful that people are always very flexible and accomodating. It is also great getting to spend more time in my own home and garden during this time of year. I know if I'm in Italy right now, I will be seeing wisteria, magnolia, cherry, apples and hundreds other mediterranean shrubs and trees in glorious blooms, but in my own garden right now, I could see my own wisteria, magnolias, cherries, apple and other fruiting trees are making loads of fat buds.


The weather has been great the last couple of days.

The Paperwhites are actually fading fast as the quicksilver rapidly raise the temperatures and all around me the yellows are exploding under the sun.

I have heaps of things to do in and around the house though I don't foresee myself doing much in the garden with lots of guests to entertain, but at least I am able to walk around the garden and watch things grow.....and geez.........things sure have grown much in the last 2 weeks.

I saw the first butterfly visiting the Brunnera macrophylla. Some people say these are not the real forget me nots, but who cares. I love their dainty little flowers, and most of all, its like an old friend visiting every spring and calling me out, "forget me not! I'm back!"

This Chinese Rose Unermudliche or directly translated into english as "Tiredless Rose" is already making several buds! This is simply amazing. I haven't even put it in the ground yet. Will this rose be another one of those bloom machine? I've yet to see it this season.

Spring also has its other magic. This black bird is a resident in my garden. He has been singing his heart out every day.... I could hear his songs right from inside the house. It is a pity I don't have a video with lens that can reach this far to share with you the sweet melody of his song.










Have a great easter holidays everyone!!