Purple, Violet

My African Violets are stunning at the moment.  I love how vibrant this one is especially.

First Day in Hong Kong

 We made it to Hong Kong— and man, it is it tall!

First impressions are important and after being in a city without any public transportation, the amazing train from the airport to the center was awesome: fast, clean, easy, and comfy.  It took us about 35 minutes on the train to get to the Central, walking straight onto the train from the airport.  It was perfect.  Switching lines at Central, we were staying in the Sheung Wan area on Hong Kong Island.  The hotel wasn’t anything special and we were on the 29th floor, and there were lots of taller building around us.  Coming from DC, where there is a height restriction, seeing all these skyscrapers is just astonishing.

from our hotel room, looking into bay

looking out the windows in our hotel into the city

We went for a neighborhood walk in one of the earliest settled areas by the British.  We were a few blocks away from Possession Street, the original site of occupation of Hong Kong Island by the Brits in 1842.  It is also the Wholesale District, where shop after shop sells dried seafood and herbal medicines.  The whole area reeks of rotting seafood and salt and most shop owners are very reluctant to have their photos taken.  This is their business, dealing in Chinese traditional food and medicines, and they do not like all the tourists coming by with their cameras.  I had to be quite stealthy in snapping some of these shots.

drying fish on the guard rail by a busy street corner 

dried seafood shop

mushrooms and dried mussels

birds’ nests

mushrooms

 The public transport options in Hong Kong are endless: the metro. ferries, buses, cabs, and trams— our personal favorite.  Entering from the back, you pay when you leave out the front.  They have a limited area where they run, but it is all you need: you are traveling along the main road on Hong Kong Island and you pass by several metro stops.   Each ride was 2,60 HKD, or about 30¢ US.  So cheap and so fun!  The trolleys are very narrow and tall, and sitting on the upper level, you are about 2 stories off the ground.

Because of the space restrictions all over Hong Kong, buildings are squeezed in and build upwards.  Every space is planned out and used to maximum capacity.  Parks and green spaces aren’t natural, but  maintained and made to look wild.

Man Mo Temple

 We went to Hong Kong Park, a large recreational area surrounded by skyscrapers.  We wandered through the Edward Youde Aviary and the Forsgate Conservatory.

orchids in the conservatory

water iris

celebrating the 2008 Beijing Olympics

banyan tree

The aviary has about 90 species of birds (about 600 of them total) flying around this man-made rain forest.  We walked through the treetops on a wooden walkway and the birds were quite used to humans, landing on the railings and squawking at us, wanting food and grain.

crested pigeon

Swedish Dahlias

Our Swedish Dahlias are a bright spot in the front garden, as most of the green turns to brown. These blooms are from the seeds we took from the Lund Botanical Garden when we were there a few years ago now. 

So far we have had flowers from them every Autumn--red, white, and now yellow. 

Little Lemon

How very exciting: the lemon tree that bloomed a few weeks ago now has a little lemon growing on it!  I do emphasize the "little" as the budding fruit is no bigger than my pinky's fingernail.  It is there, however!  And getting bigger and stronger every day.  I will keep you posted on its progress.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you and you and you!  May it be filled with new and exciting adventures.  We are starting off the new year with flower buds on our lemon tree.  It has never produced flowers before (and in face, there might have been the time when I neglected to water it and nearly killed it).  A birthday present for Will over 4 years again, the plant is finally going to give us lemons.

So, wishing you all a lovely lemon-filled (in a good way) 2013!

Office Transformation

Since we moved back into the kitchen and Will into his office, I have been unhappy (to say the least) about how the plant shelves and stand look. While I enjoy the plants, I dislike how the shelves quickly become a dumping ground for our stuff, plant and non-plant related.

After much discussion (whining?), we had a solution and finally found a way to execute that plan.

You all know how we love our mobiles.... so, we thought: why not suspend the plants on a hanging shelf? 










We found from Pier One two pot racks that were baskets.  We purchased matching chains.  We drilled in hooks into the ceiling. We adjusted the lengths. We arranged the pots.

And viola! Suspended plant shelves!  

Backyard flowers

 The flowers are coming out in our backyard, finally.  The ones up front bloomed a while ago, but the ones in the back garden seem to be taking more of their sweet time.  We have a new flowering plant that spouted two branches of Bleedings Hearts.  Since the plant was brand new, the flowers were quite miniature.  

 Our lilac bush finally produced some flowers.  We planted it last summer and while it grew tall, it never sprouted any buds.  This year, we seem to have gotten at least one clump of delicious smelling flowers.

 I couldn't resist adding in this photo--she is taking a break from following me around as I snap photos.

 The white irises are very prolific this year.  We have about 15 stalks, each with at last 2 blossoms on them.  The two-toned purple ones are also out and the very deep (almost black) purple irises are starting to open up.   In other places, soft lavender irises are blooming.

 The roses form Fiona are simply bending over with all the buds on them.  We pruned quite severely at the end of the fall and now we are gaining that benefit.  Each plant must have one 50 buds on them.  And when they open up, it smells glorious!