Pimping up the garden...

When I was sat in Wendy and Bill corner yesterday with Mum I was saying how the border, which is resplendent in the Spring with free flowering Gazanias and Poppies, looks boring and slightly sad now that there is no colour in there at all.  I have talked about clearing some space and possibly putting in some Geraniums but somehow the ones which I have in the ground do not fair at all well compared to those in pots.  Something to do with the quality and depth of soil no doubt.  So today John and I decided that we would go do some food shopping in Paps but before hand we would take a drive along the coast and out to the Floribell Garden Centre in Agia Marina to see what they had in bloom.

I didn't really want to dig out the existing plants because I know that they will come good again so I thought it might be a good idea to get some tallish pots and plant them up so that whatever was in them would give some height and interest.  The garden centre is rather more of a nursery as they grow the plants here en masse and although I wasn't expecting much to be around this time of year there was quite a lot to chose from.  We managed to get the last three tall terracotta pots and then after some discussion plumped for some bushy hibiscus to go in them in a vibrant shade of orange.

We then set off for Paps, John armed with our list and me armed with Isabel's.  John felt something of a celebrity when a lady came up to him at the deli counter and asked if he was John Wiseman.  Somewhat bemused he replied "yes".  The lady in question was called Jackie and she is a regular reader of my blog which is fabulous news and not only that she and her husband have a house in Droushia, previously lived in Somerset and had businesses there and in Truro - all sort of spooky connections really!!!  Anyway we had a bit of a chat by the frozen peas before going our separate ways.  Jackie it was really nice to meet you and really nice to know that you enjoy my ramblings and we hope that, when access to the village is easier for you, we might meet up one day in the garden of Finnikas for a drink - particularly as you also met Philippos in Paps today!



Once home I potted up my new plants and got them put in situ.  I am hopeful they will survive the winter although previously my track record with Hibiscus is dire.  Having said that Savvas and Persephone have a complete hedge of bright red flowering ones.  You can see what I mean though about the border in front of the steamers looking boring at the moment.  John has reminded me I will need to cover the soil on the top of the pots with some stones otherwise we will find Charlie balancing precariously over them using them as a loo.

On the subject of Charlie I found him in some sort of feline yoga position on the sofa today trying to get some air to his bits, Boris on the other hand was trying to get comfortable on one of the chairs Sheila and Klaus had given us and was catching the breeze by hanging his head out of the hole in the side.  Minnie was in her favourite place in the shower so all accounted for when we shot over to Das and Belindas with a stake we are lending them so they can secure their dog Lindy in the garden a little better and move her round to get some shade.

We had quite a bit of chicken left over which would have been made into kebabs yesterday for Costas and Jackie but they couldn't come so I asked Nicky and Mark if they would like to help eat them up - as the chicken had been frozen I didn't want to refreeze it (although I could have done if I had cooked it) and they had had a long day down in Paphos so they were more than happy to nip over and have a bite to eat with us.

We didn't mind that they just came and ate and then retired back home as I have an early start tomorrow - Mum has to have a tooth out and because she will need some anaesthetic I offered to take her and make sure she got home in one piece.

We had planned to watch some cricket but rain stopped play - in fact it looks like the whole of the UK got a downpour yesterday.  Cyprus announced that the UK was being moved into Category B for travel purposes from August 1st so it looks like there will be in influx of tourists providing they are confident that the air-bridge wont suddenly disappear as it did in Spain.  I do hope this doesn't mean that we will see a spike here on the island.  So far we have limited our movements to a few places with a few people, our own sort of bubble really.