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The climate and the rich red soil here at the Base is ideal for all sorts of flora. Trees seem taller and greener and there are all sorts of plants I've only heard of but never seen.
Of course having 24 hour gardeners really helps. The old gardener on his little tractor has been here for years. He knows this land.
The automatic watering system comes on every day and every night. When I'm going down for coffee at 6pm I have to skip out of the way or get drenched.
I don't know where their water comes from but there's plenty of it.
This is a bay tree which produces those fragrant bay leaves you use in cooking. I've never such a tall one. It's 4 or 5 metres
The olive trees are bending under the weight of their harvest. Most of the olives are huge but all is not well in this fertile land.
It's blowing a gale once again. The sea has white horses (or white sheep if you're Greek) and the olives are falling fast.
The ones I picked up have black spots which mean they've been infected with dakos.
They can still collect the oil but it's not extra virgin.
The smaller olives in the photo above are wild olives
These tall shady trees are all over the resort. I don't know what they are but I'll find out
They produce these tough brown seed cases. I've taken them home before but they didn't sprout. I'll try again
This is a bay tree which produces those fragrant bay leaves you use in cooking. I've never such a tall one. It's 4 or 5 metres
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I would love to grab some of those bay leaves! One of my Greek friends brought me a large bag of bay leaves from Greece. They are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteReal Greek daphni!! It's so fragrant. You've got a good friend there
DeleteThat bay tree is amazing! And the one with the brown seed casings is an Australian Bottle Tree, according to the Google. It says you can make coffee from the seeds.
ReplyDeleteI googled the bottle tree and agree those seed casings look so like the ones I photoed. But the leaves are different. The bottle tree has long leaves. This tree the leaves are more rounded. I shall go and have another look to make sur
DeleteIs the olive disease commone? I do hope it doesn’t decimate the olive oil industry.
ReplyDeleteI’ve tried getting native seeds to germinate. Aussie trees are not the easier to get to grow. I did. Have one batch that germinated but unfortunately afew days later the whole lot just died. Apparently this is common. But like you, and most gardeners, Ill try again
Most trees are sprayed for this disease. It's strange these trees weren't.
DeleteMy sis in law sent me a site which instructs on germinating seeds. I shall look there and see what I can do to have a success. Cross fingers
That Bay Tree must be ancient, with a trunk that size. My Bay Tree in France is named Jean, after the nice lady who gave it to me about 40 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how old it is. At least 20 years I'd say. It's very healthy looking, still growing!
DeleteWe have a bay leaf tree. We keep it in a tub or else it grows to 5 metres . I gave darling niece Julie one...but it died. Needed water!!
ReplyDeleteDear Julie ☺️
DeleteInteresting you grow it in a pot. I may try and find one here to grow. Our neighbour has a big one but nowhere near as big as this.
5 metres!
The difference in size between the cultivated and wild olives is striking.
ReplyDeleteExtraordinary isn't it. K says most of the trees are old and have been grafted with new varieties. He could be right. Apparently they do collect all the olives for oil but I'm really surprised that some have that disease this year
DeleteAt least the disease is not xylella. Maybe all that extra heat and dryness contributed to plant stress. Windy here this month too - equinoxial 'gales' perhaps.
ReplyDelete