V is for volcano

 ABC Wednesday 

*neu: Blick Dienstag

A wonderful view from the (active) Osorno Volcano   (2,652-meter /8,701 ft high) in Southern Chile by my  sister (thank you, dear sis!)  We were both there last February, she hat the right seat to capture this magnificent summer view.

Mediterranean

This is the view I have whenever I go out the garden door to get to my car, when it is parked in the street . This is the neighbor's bougainvillea, a purple accent in the -otherwise- ever green scenery. It looks particularly pretty with the morning sun, like it is the case here. Next to it you see an olive tree and a tall pine tree, typical vegetation in our area. In the background you see our hills (500m/1,600ft) and the glorious blue sky. And if you look carefully you will see a proud little tree standing on top of the hill to the right of the pic, overlooking the whole scenario. What you cannot see behind the hill are the vinyards, but that's a story for another post!

candy corn

I'm growing candy corn in my garden right now. At least this little plant reminds me of this piece of candy I have only seen in the US. It might be available somewhere else but I am not aware of that since I never buy candy except for my sugarfree coffee drops... The green stone is a kindergarten piece of art from Mr. 19 :)

It seems this is a form of an echeveria pulvinata ( click here to see a magnificent professional pic) It has always been in my garden (it came with the house, I have just multiplied it!) and it is a little plant, see how giant the pine needles appear under the tiny annual flower.


It has been windy and we cannot get rid of the pine needles, they are all over - even inside the house. This humble plant is the one producing such an extraordinary burst of color!

and because they are next to it, here are two other succulent plants from my wild garden: the green version is below. With a wonderful symmetry a dear blogfriend has taught me to admire and truly look at the details!

The second plant is a close relative which I call the dark lady. Although I have seen truly black ones of this kind! I don't know their names but I will update the post as soon as I find out about them.

This is what it looks like:

Update: thanks to our wonderful Naomi now I know it is an aeonium, how about that!!!

can't get enough of this

(seen during a walk, XXL version here)

right before my very eyes

pls scroll down for

Baby what a big surprise
Right before my very eyes
Baby what a big surprise
Chicago

Remember my almond tree in february? it looked like this:

now the almonds are starting to show...:


here is a close up:

we'll have to wait until september...or not, it depends on what the weather decides to do this year...