The Summer Garden

sweet limes, slowly ripening

In summer, the garden seems to acquire a ripe, heady beauty of its own making.  I have done nothing for weeks yet it seems to thrive on the early summer showers and the increased light and warmth.  Plants which I had dismissed as being too ill to revive have put out healthy new leaves - and flowers. Saplings of small fruit trees which I had potted ages ago and given up on, display fruit in various stages of development - tiny sour limes, sapotas barely visible and the larger, very obvious sweet limes.

Herbs grow in profusion and as I weed and prune, I can smell each one even if I barely brush past them or when time I water them.  The Mediterranean herbs do reasonably well here- they are not as large and fragrant as in their native countries, but are still quite wonderful to see, smell and taste.  Oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme are fairly happy in the garden.  And various varieties of basil, which I like to eat fresh or just keep in a tiny glass of water in my room.

purple basil

galangal - a Thai rhizome

I also have some Asian spices and rhizomes - ginger, turmeric, galangal, ajwain (carom) that I use for cooking and all spice that has wonderfully fragrant leaves (no berries yet, but I am hopeful!).  I would like to add a creeper of pepper in the coming year.

all spice leaves

Lilies and frangipani are beginning to flower, petunias trail in between; the garden has a typically tropical beauty right now.  As I stand and marvel at it, I wonder sometimes what I have done to deserve such perfect loveliness without putting in an iota of effort in the last few months.  But this month onwards, I will - in fact I have begun from today!

flowering frangipani

stripey petunias peeping out amidst the lilies