Tuesday 2 September 2008

Knock knock....who is there?

SPRING is in the Air!





GLORY of spring Wisteria

Mesembranthemum is coming forward too;

The grapes on the pergola are pruned; waiting...

Purple Petunias together with soft gray french lavender;

Darling rosebuds; a very vigorous climbing rose, flowers in spring only;


A tiny Orchid shows her attributes in spring.



A new daylilie border planted out; ready to grow;


Eranthemum is a native plant of India. It is attractive to bees; butterflies and birds. After flowering I prune it back severely. This plant grows best in the shady part of the garden.

In spring Kalanchoe tomentosa makes 50cm long flower stalks crowned with gorgeous bells, felt like in a dark red-brown colour. It is quite an odd colour for the flowers as the plant is gray with dark brown stitching around the leaves.

The fresh fronds of a native Maidenhair;



The lovely soft flowers of Azalea "Mrs. Bolton" heralding spring;


Fantastic Grevillia Bansksii showing off its nectar dripping flowers;

Begonias start to flower in spring; This is a rhizome Begonia with attractive, huge leaves.

This Bromeliad is a spring bloomer...


and this Dendrobium Orchid as well;


Believe it or not:
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. Meditation divine and Moral, 1664


Organic tip of the week:
I buy fairtrade organic coffee;
Fair Trade Certification empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace.
Fair price: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.

Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.

Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace.

Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues.

Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.

Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.






Thank you for your visit;


not so fast, here is the recipe for "Spitzbuaba" (Little Rascals)


200 g butter
125 g Icing sugar
1 egg white
1 teasp. Lemon juice
1 pinch salt
350 g flour

Method: whip butter and icing sugar until fluffy; add all ingredients and knead to a dough; let the dough rest in a cool place for 30 min.. Roll out dough approx. 3-4 mm thick. Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter;
In one half cut one to 3 holes with a tiny cookie cutter.
Bake 200 C 8-10 minutes.

Filling; the best raspberry jam ; spread over the bottom half, place the one with the hole on top and sift generously icing sugar over the finished cookies.
If possible use all organic ingredients.

They are very “morish“!

Copyright:T.S.
Photos:T.S.

27 comments:

Webradio said...

Très jolies fleurs !

Très ensoleillées Tes photos...

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

webradio; merci pour votre visite et commentaire; il est apprecie.

Ingrid said...

Good morning,Titania -
a very nice post this day.
In Germany the summer says "Good-
bye" - autumn is cooming very soon,
today there was fog over the gardens and over the wood, leaves are changing their colours.
I also buy fair-traded products,
in my school we have a little shop
to sell ...
and Spitzbube? You have German,
Schwäbische roots? Wurzeln?
My family loves Spitzbuabe!
Greetings
Ingrid

HappyMouffetard said...

Lovely to see the spring flowers - as ingrid says, we are moving into autumn in the northern hemisphere. It was a cool start this morning, but the summer flowers are still bloominf strongly.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Thank you Ingrid for your visit. Yes I have "Wurzeln" some in Switzerland, Austria and some stretch all over the world. Yes, we all love "Spitzbuaba"!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

happymouffetard thank you for stopping by.
I always think the northern European summer is short but most beautiful. Autumn is much more pronounced in the northern hemisphere with all the beautiful coloured leaves. This was the first winter were I sort of really felt the cold, so I am really glad for spring, The "Highs" are now in the south no cold days anymore.

Anonymous said...

It is fascinating to see spring arriving for you as we slip into Autumn in the UK. It brings into focus how physically distant we bloggers are from each other yet how close we seem to be when commenting.

Helga said...

och nee, Du zeigst den Frühling und bei uns ist Herbst. Das Wetter ist trübe und ich muß die Sonne suchen. Auch die Blumen machen sich schon für die kältere Jahreszeit fertig. Dafür färbt sich das Laub bald herrlich. Ich liebe dieses Farbspiel.
L.G.
Helga

JGH said...

Enjoyed my visit... Your garden is so full of color!

Love the meditative quote, too.

Unknown said...

Trudi...such beautiful colours in your garden. Lovely shades, those azaleas and the Dendrobium orchid. I didn't really think about the difference in seasons while conversing with you; it was as if we communicated beyond distances, and time, and seasons...But Spring now brings the realisation that there is a difference in distance and in hemispheres!
The Spitzbuaba look yummy and the Mesembranthemum is a new thing for me. Loved your post!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

easygardener thank you for your comment. Spring is quite a lovely time here when we had enough rain. Once I had a spring not even the tough agapanthus could flower because it was too dry. This year is very good, we had lots of rain over winter. Officially spring ends on the 1.of December but it is getting hot much earlier. sigh...

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Danke Helga fuer deinen Besuch. Ja, der Herbst in Europa ist eine spezielle schoene Zeit, wenn die Waelder bunt werden.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Thank you Kanak for your visit. To day we are so fast with our communication; which is great; we can forget the different time zones and seasons.

Barbara said...

Du schneidest die Reben und hier können wir bald die ersten Trauben ernten. Bei dir ist Frühling und hier hat der Herbst angefangen. Und du zeigst das Lieblingsweihnachtsguetzli meiner Familie, das ich in knapp drei Monaten auch backe werde. Und wenn wir hier dann Winter haben, werde ich deinen sommerlichen Garten geniessen können, wie jetzt deinen Frühlingsgarten. Mir sind die Fairtrade Produkte auch sehr wichtig, nachdem sie nun nicht nur in den Drittweltläden sondern auch in Grossverteilern erhältlich sind und dadurch auch das Angebot viel grösser ist.
Herzliche herbstliche Grüsse,
Barbara

marmee said...

nice tour thru your flower garden
i love the colour of the maiden hair fern.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Liebe Barbara vielen Dank fuer deinen Besuch. Ich finde dieser winter war schnell vorbei aber kalt; vielleicht taeusche ich mich auch nur; Ich backe die Spitzbuben und andere Weihnachtsgutzi im winter. Ueber die weihnachtszeit ist es jeweils zu heiss um Butterteig zu verarbeiten. Ich mag die airconditioning nicht habe nur fans. Hast du auch noch einen Rebberg? Ich wuensche dir noch einen schoenen "Altweibersommer"!
Darf man das noch sagen? Herzlichst T.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Thank you marmee for visiting.

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous color to start the day. Of course it's autumn for us, with an entirely different color scheme, but I am already looking forward to spring (after what I hope will be a very white xmas).

Watching a segment on tv this morning, I was reminded of your past post on succulents. I had no idea that the golden ball also goes by the amusing nickname Mother-in-Law's Cushion! (cusciono della suocera in italian). I think I'll get one for myself when my son eventually marries....to remind myself not to be like that golden barrel cactus! LOL

Anonymous said...

oops...I meant cuscino della suocera!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Rowena, Thank you for visiting. I haven't known this either; this is really funny. Yes, unfortunately mothers in law have acquired a certain reputation. This cactus would be a good reminder!A succulent with long narrow variegated leaves is called "mother in law tongue"! Have you heard of that one?

Pia K said...

Here everything green gettingr ready to go to wintersleep now, though the gadren is still quite luch due to the frequent rains..., and on the other side of the world it's wake up time. And it looks quite lovely!

So do the cookies:)

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Thank you Pia.

Suzanne said...

This is a beautiful post Titania. You were asking last week at Sky Watch about birds in Western Australia. I am not sure they are here, some of the birds have different names.
Have a good weekend and happy spring.

Anonymous said...

Wow, they look delicious! Thanks for the recipe too! :)

Funny that you are looking forward to spring, while we here are praying for fall to come and for things to finally cool down!

Tira said...

Tatiana: Lots of lovely plants and flowers, as always. I can’t wait to see the Darling rosebuds open-looks like a huge spectacular bunch. I completely agree with the quote, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant…” as really, many people in the Caribbean do not appreciate the nature’s bounty we have, at all, never not having it.

chaiselongue said...

nice pictures - especially the wisteria, which I love. Your spring is arriving just as we're harvesting the summer crops and getting ready for autumn in the norther hemisphere - I envy you because I love the summer but as your quote says, if there wasn't winter spring wouldn't be as good! And we're lucky here in the Midi because we have a beautiful autumn and a very short winter.

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi Mo, thank you for your comment.
Yes, those rascals are delicious. Your girls will love them.
Nicole thank you for your visit. People can get complacent when they have it to good all the time.

chaiselongue; thank you for visiting. Yes, the midi is blessed with its climate.