Weekend Walkabout: Throw It and Grow It

Well, sometime in October, I had some extra sweet potatoes, and I didn't feel like roasting them.

 

What do I do in such circumstances? That's right, gardeners, throw it and grow it! Here's one of the sweet potatoes now, with one of my "plant spirit sculptures" to encourage it. I did this about a year ago with another batch of sweet spuds and I harvested them- yum! There's always something new in the garden. This year I will try to grow Japanese Shiso.

For some random weekend photos, here's a lovely dawn from this last week. And here's some more lovely scenery from this fall in Italy (Lago di Garda):

Red Boat, Lago di Garda, Italy, MRobb, 9-2015

Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy your walkabouts!

Winter Walkabout: Garden Wrap-Up for 2015

It's been a fun year for gardening, most of the time....
My plant poster and motto for 2016 is:

And to prove that gardening is indeed beautiful and beautifying, a few more photos from my photosynthetic travels this year:

Citrus Orchard, Lago di Garda, Italy, MRobb 2015

Infrared Bougainvillea, Italy, MRobb, 2015

Koi and Turtle Pond, Heller Garden, MRobb, 2015

Mountain Saffron, Northern Italy, MRobb, 2015

And of course, some mesembs!

Bodacious Babytoes! MRobb

The Glorious Giardino Botanico Fondazione André Heller

I call it the Heller Garden, and as it's full of British tourists (garden fanatics like me) this time of year, I'll continue to use the English name.

On my recent trip to Lago di Garda, Italy, I was accidentally sent to the most beautiful small garden I've ever seen. I'd been planning to visit the University of Milan's herbalist garden, because I'm an herbalist-in-training, so that made sense. My friends had no idea there even was such a garden so they took me to the garden they knew about, the Heller Garden, and left me there for the morning. Best mistake ever!

Heller Garden, Rodin Pond, MRobb, XPro, 2015

The Heller Garden was originally the house and garden of Napoleon's dentist, but was bought and completely revamped by Austrian artist Andre Heller in 1988. Mr. Heller brings in works by all sorts of artists, famous and not, and places their works throughout the garden, which is crisscrossed by walking paths, grottoes, bridges and ponds, and lots of other surprises. Here's the Poet's Pond:

Here's an inviting bench in the bamboo forest:

I was delighted to see that both orchids and Tillandsias are featured in the garden. Can you spot the Tillandsia xerographica, and the Spanish Moss?

And can you spot the blogger??

I'll be showing a few more scenes from this delightful place in the next few weeks. If you are ever at Lago di Garda, be sure to visit the garden. I'd recommend going right when it opens, as the light is perfect at that time, and it's not full of people yet!

Some New Ceramics and....

I have been gearing up for the start of the new school year, which is coming very early in 2015. Not much going on in the gardening world, though the orchids continue to bloom- the top one is a Guartonia, so I am told (and, OK, I did show this on July 10, but it's still blooming, really!):

I've finished some new stoneware designs that have worked out very well. Here is a bowl and a couple of plates:

MRobb, Plate and Bowl, 2015

MRobb, Plate, 2015

And I'm trying to do a simple painting each day; I've been managing a couple a week....

"Hills with Green Sky", MRobb, 2015

And I'm finally finishing up some photos from 2009! These are of Lago di Garda in Italy:

"Lago di Garda, Italy, Autumn 2009"- MRobb

A little creativity can really help one get through the more stressful times of year!