Flora

 

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. 

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