In August I hate the garden. Everything, including supposedly drought tolerant plants like Cistus) looks dead. But then September usually brings some relief with slightly lower temperatures and some rain – this year a lot of rain.
I hope your garden is giving you pleasure at this time of year.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
So pleased that you are back and that your garden has been enjoying some much needed rain, all your different textures make an amazing tapestry. We too have had a lot of rain lately so the garden is looking very lush at the moment.
Thank you Pauline. I always enjoy your posts but don’t always comment now as I have to fill in so many fields, not really sure why it doesn’t remember me. I very much enjoyed your post this morning
Looks lovely after the rain Christina. Yes, my garden is giving me pleasure but a little more rain would help it along here too!
Even though my garden has missed some of the local rain we’ve still had a lot this September.
Relief at last! Glad your garden is a welcoming place once again.
I know it happens every year but in August I always feel like giving up.
That’s when you need to travel, visiting friends in the UK. 😉
But the crops are growing then. We do travel and we go to the lake to keep cool.
I didn’t realize you have crops as well. What do you grow?
We are almost self sufficient. Almost easier to say what we don’t grow. Particular successes this year have been the sweet peppers and egg plants, I grew some small round Thai ones this year that are great in curry as they hold their shape when cooked. I always grow about a hundred tomato plants with about 25 varieties.
That’s amazing. You must spend your summer preserving your harvest, just like my mom used to do when we were kids. Lots of work – kudos!
Yes, we dry, can and freeze quite a lot although the aim is always to eat what is in season.
Rain is magic! I expect you can almost feel the garden breathing a sigh of relief afterwards. We’ve got a chance of rain this weekend, which would be early in the season for us, but I’m not putting any stock in the forecast until I see drops on the ground. In contrast, the crew currently putting a new roof on our house is approaching it as if the rain might fall at any time. That’s stretching out the timetable but I suppose it’s prudent.
You’re so right, the garden and the countryside suddenly fill out and become green again. September is often a month when we have a lot of afternoon thunderstorms then in October the weather is sunny again but not so hot, the ideal time to plant.
Looking wonderful, what a lovely place for a wander.
Yes, in summer I don’t even want to look at it.
Lovely to see a post from you Christina, I hope you are well. Your garden looks lovely. I know what you mean about rain. We had rain at last yesterday, a lot of plants looked stressed even though I paid someone to water whilst I was away. What are the shrubs in the second and third pictures?
I knew someone would ask; I’ve completely forgotten the names. They are both called the desert plant because they reliably flower a week to ten days after rain.
I can almost hear you and your garden exhaling! Phew. Looks lovely . My garden is opening this Sunday and we are having a deluge here. Horizontal plants anyone?!
I really hope the weather improves for you.
Thankyou and yes please! I’m anticipating gales and rain and anoraks based on forecast. Oh dear!
Garden is looking gorgeous, Christina.Hope you are feeling some relief with cooler weather and rain. I am!
September for its rain and October for its pleasantly warm days are maybe favourite months weather wise. Spring is wonderful for the flowers of course but the weather is often challenging.
Looks great dusky pinks and silvery greys … like sunsets. Enjoy!
This time of year is wonderful here.
So good for us to be seeing a post of your garden again but not so good, I am sure, as for YOU seeing it begin to flourish again. I didn’t realise you grew quite so many crops either – well done on being nearly self-sufficient
I used to write about the crops but it became more or less the same thing each year so a bit boring
Christina your garden looks overflowing with life thanks to those more than welcome rains. It is full of flowers and different shades of greens: I love it, it is divine. Enjoy it with the mildest temperatures. I also hate August for the unbearable heat in Madrid. I can’t stand the heat, it happens to me like you. It is a great joy to see your new and fabulous blog, whose photos are magnificent. Sorry to comment late but this week I have my brother and his wife and dog at home, and I don’t have time to take the computer. I wish you the best Christina. Have a good weekend and the rest of the week. Take care my friend. Greetings from Margarita xx
So you think the images are better? I’m using my phone for the images and posts at the moment.
Christina seems to me some divine photos and with fantastic colors. I like them very much. A good mobile phone now has a very good camera. And if a reflex camera you don’t know how to handle the photos very well, they don’t work out so well unless you put it in automatic mode. I loved the photos. Greetings from Margarita.
Partly my old images were always reduced in size to make uploading faster, they looked fine on a small device but probably not in a larger screen.
Your garden looks well after its baking. We have just started to get rain after the driest summer I have known here. I missed doing my usual things in the garden this summer. I missed being in it, because it was often too hot. It will take until next spring to see what it has done to the trees. I have been watering some of the plants and young trees but it is impossible to even think about watering everything. Amelia
Our summers are always like that. Well established plants and trees suffer less but I’ve noticed that even in the countryside you see new dead trees every spring.
The light in your photos, especially the first one, is fabulous.
My garden is pitifully neglected this year so, no, not giving me pleasure at the moment. Yours on the other hand makes my heart sing!
I love the light, I think it is much undervalued when designing a garden or planting plan. The only light I really hate is high summer when it bleaches the
I just love seeing your garden again Christina. Those photos with the sedum are spectacular.
Thank you.
A parade of rainy then sunny days has kept things fresh and now the colors are amazing.
Christina – your garden is looking wonderful after the rain – but then it always does look wonderful (to the outside eye). I particularly searched this old post out this morning to catch up on you. And I am in awe of your energy and determination in making yourself self-sufficient. All those tomatoes – I barely cope with my 12 plants! When our rain came at the end of September I had quite simply had had enough of being baked (turned to renovation in the house at the beginning of August, like you ignoring the garden). Then, once the rain came, it wouldn’t stop and put paid to a lot of my autumn plans. Looking forward to reading more updates from you soon.