How much will you miss outdoor gardening in the next few months?

It's worse for us than it is for you! Moving on from the first to the fourth of the seven sins, I don’t know if we can survive the poisoned envy caused by our current interlude. Having been informed this morning (28/11/2024) by video call that her vegetable patch was one big sheet of translucent ice, Mrs Lao went viridian when she saw this bouquet of fluorescent cabbages flowering in the late November sun:

 

When starting this thread ‘How Much Will You Miss Gardening …?’, I had not thought that gardens other than one’s own would provide so much solace, even though it implies seeking them out, sometimes far afield.

Our search for warmth (sorry, @CarolineL), provides us with a re-evaluation of gardens and their resonance vis-à-vis the houses they adorn, particularly where, in Islamic design, there is a kind of sacred conversation via a cyclic va-et-vient when, through windows and doorways, the gardens’ symbols and motifs enter the houses and palaces, filigree themselves onto the ceilings and walls and then, in a reversed process, re-invite you, through the same windows, into the initial outside spaces, the columns evoking tree trunks, their capitals providing the bases for branches and crowns, and the tiles offering blooms of open flowers. It is a blessing that the Alhambra’s crowd-control and well-timed visits allow sufficient leisure for such contemplation:

 

For a rainy day, although not necessarily:

When, one Christmas, our children asked to do something along the lines illustrated in the first video, we thought they would soon lose interest. How wrong we were.

Particularly illuminating is the way she takes the geometry outside the initial circle, creating patterns in as-yet-unsuspected fields. It is rather slow but, once watched (or, better still, emulated), you’ll never again look at a flower or the section of an orange in the same way:

analysis of islamic design youtube - Recherche Google

This one, by Eric Bourg, more colourful, requires no personal involvement, just sheer illuminated enjoyment:

analysis of islamic design youtube - Recherche Google

 

An unexpected sight in Cordoba with the ubiquitous pebble mosaic floor design taken here to new heights! Never seen anything quite like it: this “escaping” palm tree with its swollen roots pebble-decorated over and above the call of duty!

 

An imaginative sculptural ensemble of carved topiary and sandstone in Cordoba:


An exceptional floor mosaic restoration and transfer in the Alcázar Hall of Mosaics:


An aspirational garden reaching for the skies:


Shielding from the sun in the coolness of a garden bursting with oranges in December:

 

I like the orange grove Otherwise, all these photos of tiles and mosaics are giving me horrendous flashbacks to our renovation period with it's associated grouting Never again!

 

Your last photo would be a perfect entry in this month’s photography competition @LawnAndOrder. It certainly cheered me up on a day like today!

 

How could I not think of the distress that could be caused by grouting?! It seems so utterly obvious now that you’ve mentioned it. Should there be any further references to this pesky epoxy, rest assured that I shall put in (pride of) place an unambiguous “Trigger Warning”, such as “This post may contain silicates which silly cats may find upsetting”.

 

That is so nice of you! I must confess to being torn by this picture. We have just spoken to one of our sons who yesterday vacated his university accommodations for the Christmas break and had looked forward to playing tennis today with his brother, together again after a long time, only to be confronted all day by furious winds and cold driving rain … when, at the same time, we had been enchanted by this warm, golden son filtering through the lush green canopies to light up the oranges, like so many little Spanish lanterns … It really does make me sad that our home environment can, for so long, be so hostile. But there it is. The rigours and exigencies of geographical restrictions! But be of good cheer @Plantminded, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow … is another summer!

 

"Some may find some (ob) scenes of grouting distressing"

Not (quite) knowing how serious you are in your reference to grout-distress, I would like to think that I hope you were mostly in jest, as it would be tragic if such a condition impaired the potential joy you would derive from the World Heritage treasures held together by grouts, silicates, and cements of all sorts! Believe me, I more than sympathise with builders-fatigue (at best), or (at worst) builders-induced rage tantamount to unadulterated murder! Having had an awful lot to do with builders over the years, I have experienced both ends of the spectrum in vast amounts. I also, when involved in trying to create outdoor builds myself in the garden, partly understood their difficulties trying to juggle too many simultaneous balls in the turbulent (and often rain-soaked) air of their precarious schedules balanced on the pins of attempting to stay financially afloat, whilst trying to please everyone AND their father (or mother). Perhaps your grout-poisoning is similar to Mrs Lao having once been poisoned by a mussel; she adored Moules Marinières which she used to prepare in myriad ways until … bang, one fine day turned into an almighty all-night nightmare; she subsequently could not even look at a mussel for some seven years … So, on the grounds that the poison is also the cure, herewith below these beautifully framed amphoras (should the grout offend, let the ground console):

 

You do it on purpose, don't you?
That's a coincidence about the mussels. I had exactly the same experience perpetrated by a limp oyster. The reveillons for several years afterwards were conducted with regretful refusals of the molluscs although luckily gambas and lobster were still acceptable
I suspect that the Moors and Romans used the old 'slap it on and spread it around, then wipe off' technique. I used an icing bag and my thumb for 250m2, a kitchen and 3 bathrooms

 

That's a beautiful way to describe your favourite child.

 

Well spotted Freudian slip, attentive reader! I won't edit it, it's too cute! Thank you for that.

 

As a weekend gardener, I keep going all through winter. The days are short and some days get washed out or (occasionally) frozen out, then there are the days where I have to ferry my kids around.

With the free time that's left, it takes me the whole winter to carefully mulch all of my beds, weeding and cutting back as I go. Ideally I'd rather leave the cutting back to spring, but there's too much else to do then, and I like to be able to see what's pushing through in the springtime.