Daily Flower Candy: Iris confusa
Reading time 6 minutes
Iris confusa: bamboo iris, 扁竹蘭 As the fig, olive and bay have matured, our seaside garden has become partly shaded. Where once plants basked […]
China
Beautiful Dreamer
Reading time 1 minute
I took this photograph today in Kowloon Park, Hong Kong. A girl sat artfully at the edge of the water, shaded by a graceful […]
Daily Vegetable Candy: Mesembryanthemum crystallinum
Reading time 4 minutes
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum: bingcai, common ice plant, crystalline iceplant, ice greens. When in China, my general policy is to eat every food I am presented […]
Spring Flower Candy: Pleione formosana
Reading time 4 minutes
I will be devoting a post to a different spring flower each day this week, and they don’t come much more special than Pleione formosana. I […]
Birthday Blooms
Reading time 3 minutes
When one’s birthday falls in early January, one learns not to expect too much in the way of tropical heat or blazing sunshine. However […]
Coming Home
Reading time 5 minutes
There’s nothing like a long spell away from home to remind you of what you take for granted …. and sometimes what you might do […]
The Topiary Thieves
Reading time 3 minutes
My regular trips to China offer few opportunities to observe nature up close. By and large I’m confined to big, ugly cities few people […]
Alive and Kicking (健在で)
Reading time 2 minutes
Those of you wondering where The Frustrated Gardener has got to need not worry. I am alive and kicking in China, having just been to […]
A Walk Around The Peak
Reading time 6 minutes
Spending time in Hong Kong is no great hardship. But after a week in showrooms so crammed with Christmas sparkle that you can almost […]
Daily Flower Candy: Melinis repens
Reading time 2 minutes
Chinese factories are not renowned for their landscaping – a few scrubby trees and sickly pot plants are likely to be the most natural […]
Plant Portraits: Osmanthus fragrans (Guìhuā (桂花) or Sweet Olive)
Reading time 6 minutes
It is customary in Hong Kong for 5 star hotels to have a house fragrance, pumped into lobbies in heady clouds and sold at […]
Out of the Darkness
Reading time 1 minute
I have just endured a whole week in China. It was not the death-defying driving or the tawdry toilets that upset me, it wasn’t […]