09-11-2023, 12:20 PM
Our November garden is looking much better than it did last year, when everything rotted in the unrelenting cold and rain. The roses are starting to bloom, particularly Compassion, Falstaff and The Chelsea Rose, while Sally Holmes and Country Maid are covered in multi-headed stems.
The citrus trees are flowering as never before - the navel orange, lemonade and Lisbon lemon are so encrusted with flowers and bees that the leaves are barely visible; blood oranges, limes and mandarins are flowering abundantly. It's certainly making up for last year.
The only continuing disappointment is the olives; we have about ten trees of various cultivars and none of them have ever flowered or fruit much and this year it's the same. We planted them with ambitions to salt-cure the fruit but to date have managed only a few small jars of tasty but very tiny olives.
The citrus trees are flowering as never before - the navel orange, lemonade and Lisbon lemon are so encrusted with flowers and bees that the leaves are barely visible; blood oranges, limes and mandarins are flowering abundantly. It's certainly making up for last year.
The only continuing disappointment is the olives; we have about ten trees of various cultivars and none of them have ever flowered or fruit much and this year it's the same. We planted them with ambitions to salt-cure the fruit but to date have managed only a few small jars of tasty but very tiny olives.