Irises on May Day

Happy May Day everyone, here in Italy it is a holiday; all holidays are celebrated on the actual day rather than always on Monday as in the UK, this gives the opportunity for a ‘ponte’ (bridge) so that any holiday next to the weekend or even a Tuesday or Thursday give the chance of a few days holiday by only actually taking one day off as official holiday from work.

Joy of Joys – Wisteria

When we were searching for a house we saw one that had the most amazing wisteria covered terrace. The stem (I want to say trunk) was so thick I thought the plant must be hundreds of years old. I know now that they grow so quickly that 100 years was probably unlikely.

Plant of the moment – Acca sellowiana (Feijoa)

Common Name: Pineapple guava

Acca sellowiana (Feijoa)

Euphorbia rigida – Plant of the moment

This afternoon, unlike the weekend, is sunny but not actually all that warm.  The weekend was icy cold with rain and wind and Monday morning I awoke to what looked like frost but was either frozen ice crystals or strangely transparent hail.

Euphorbia rigida

The first Euphorbia to open its inflorescence is E. rigida.  I really don’t understand the name of this variety because of all the Euphorbias I’ve seen this one sprawls the most!  But I like it for its strange habit and the colour it adds to the garden so early in the season.

E. rigida

In my post for GBBD (Garden bloggers Bloom day) it wasn’t showing the characteristic orange true flowers, now it is fully open and showing its cheerful colour to the world.

A closer look

The true flower is orange