In a Vase On Monday - Better late than never

This is another little sample of material from the garden.  I am ashamed to say that these are from three weeks ago.  I have some new flowers steeping in some water...but I and they became overheated and its better just to allow both of us to cool down a little.

I have been so busy...gardening, decorating, going out, exploring, and blogging about our Crete Holiday, that it is only now that this arrangment makes an appearance.  

Better Late than Never....

I usually come back from holiday with some ideas as to what I may do differently.  I suppose one has hours of waiting, or travelling, and it gives one time to think, and plan.  I love linen...and have a drawer with some lovely unused items, and had decided to get them out, wash and use them.  I found the duck egg blue linen towels...not vintage, but brand new.  Here is one washed and ironed, and with my vase there are also three eggs from Paul's hens, one of which is blue. 

I love foliage, purples and greens and shape, and here are some of my favourites from the garden:
Flowers and leaves from Tiarella mint chocolate, Leaf of Geranium Blue Sunrise, with dark red leaves of a Heuchera, flower from Saxifrage umbrosa variegata, queen anne's lace, and two stems of the yellow winter flowering jasmine: Jasminum nudiflorum.

The white bloom which bees just love is Centaurea Montana Alba.  This was one of the prunnings from the total haircut the plant got.  It is shooting back nicely now, and I am looking to the second of several flushes the plant will give this year.  Its been very hot and dry, and looking back at my vase for a similar week last year, its interesting to see what was in the garden:

Just over a week ago, we joined Somerset Wildlife for a walk over their farm at the tops of the Mendips.  Chancellor farm has orchids which were so plentiful in the meadows, that it was literally a problem where to stand.  There were also scented orchids, but far fewer of them.

Just over our wall within the area which has many wild flowering plants, the Mouse-Ear Hawkweed is quietly putting on a fine display.

I am joining forces with Jean, and our aim is to have some areas in the Main Wells Cemetery and the old church yard at St Cuthbert's, where the wild flowers can be appreciated.  We saw this plant when we visited  on Saturday..and in the field had perhaps misidentified the plant.  Looking at the close up of the back, with its reddish marks on the back of the outer petals, has helped me to cross check and confirm its identity.

If it wasn't for the creator and stalwart of this meme who posts every week, for us 'occasional' contributors to join in, maybe I would not keep such an interesting record of what is going on in the garden.  Do go and see what she and other have posted, and perhaps join in too.

Day on the Lassithi Plateau

Travelling up through the mountains by coach  we had views of the hills cloaked in their 'springtime' evergreen shrubs and I could pick out the dry river beds by the ribbons of oleanders with their pink blooms.  We stopped at a view point and although early in the day the heat haze had started to form.

Ruins of threshing floors and derelict windmills for grinding the corn  signaled that we were going through a pass.  These are ideal spots where chaff would be blown away on the stiff breezes, which also turned the sails.

This is just one of the many types of Phlomis growing on Crete.


We started our walk at the edge of Lassithi Plateau. Just looking at the handful of windmills with full sails left me with a sad feeling that all the other windpump, and it is reckoned there were ten thousand, are now defunct.  Instead diesel powered pumps bring up water.  It is relatively cool at this higher altitude.  The plateau gets covered with snow during the winter.  With its very fertile soil, its no surprise to hear that  this area has been farmed for centuries, since Neolithic times.

Even with strong sun the fields were being irrigated with a fine mist which seemed to evaporate before it could hit the ground.  I've been thinking about this, and maybe it was to keep the recently sown crops cool enough.

This butterfly probably a speckled wood stopped long enough for me to 'capture' it.  All around there were birds.  Hopefully I shall receive a list from Dee Doody of the ones we saw.  We watched a very rare bird of prey...but I did not have my note book on me!!

After walking across the plateau, and through the village of  Psychro, we started our walk uphill towards the Dhiktean Cave.  These days I seem to get confused, unless I can pinpoint places.  I found the different spellings and names particularly difficult:  Psychro Caves, Dhiktean, Dikteon...how many more names/spellings can there be for the Cave where according to Greek Legend Zeus was born? 

 I had to keep up with the party, but I was tempted on several occasions to hold back to enjoy the wild plants and flowers along the path.

Above the mouth of the cave, large fig trees grew from cracks in the limestone rocks.

As you descend into the cave, there are interesting formations, along the walls, as well as stalactites and stalagmites.

Its the lovely blooms that caught my eye.  The first picture here us Centaurea raphanina ssp raphanina, an endemic of Crete.  Its stemless and has the most intricate bloom.

Orchids dotted the sparse vegetation along the path.

Here a very hairy yellow flowered plant tried to muscle in on a centaurea

The most striking plant of this hillside was one whose leaves alone could hold my interest for a very long time. Here they are fresh and completely unfurled.  Its bloom still at the tight bud stage.  I saw several examples of Drcunculus vulgaris: the voodoo lily.

This plant's leaves had started to curl and dry, but now the flower is fully open.  

We drove through some of the very pretty villages, where cherries were starting to ripen, and walnut trees had only just come into leaf.  

On the way back we stopped at Krasi.  What an enchanting place.  Here stands the oldest and largest plane trees in Crete, said to be around two thousand years old.  

I could feel its energy, which I felt drawn to.  Its one of the finest trees I have been close to.  It felt full of life and long may it live.  Just across the street are the village springs where water clear and cool seeps from the mountain.

We strolled along the lanes, and here at the front of this Taverna my eye was drawn by the rose tree.

Most of the forecourts were places to display favourite plants.

Here a settee was placed on the road...so welcoming....is that a hand woven rug?

Dare I knock...but I have no Greek...What would I say?  But then I see a very old lady all on her own, sitting in her garden in the shade, and I just smile, I receive a  smile and then a wave, I wave back, and she smiles some more.  We have said all that was required...she an I.

A short walk to Lychnostatis Folklore Museum

I do like Ethnographic Museums, and usually find plenty to enthrall me.  A short walk down the hill and along the seashore from our Hotel in Hersonisos, is the Lychostatis Outdoor Folklore Museum.  (This link gives views of the Museum.)

There is an entrance just off the sand, and with the main entrance on the road side. By the entrance booth, there is a pretty shaded garden with local fruit trees and plants.  We stopped to watch a film about the Museum, in itself quite a period piece and worth sitting through.

In one area of the grounds is a large carob processing machine.  The trees flourish in many parts of the island.  I started to take an interest in carob when we first visited Cyprus, and have enjoyed it on our Mediterranean, Morocan,  Madeira and La Gomera Holidays.  I love the syrup, and during a coffee and cake break at the Museum, Mr S opted for a cup of 'Carob coffee', and he had already made himself some back home with a packet brought in Museum Shop.

Most interesting was the typical small farm house.  I'm sure the wall at the back of the hearth would have been blackened, however the pots and pans, irons etc had been well used.

I liked the sleeping arrangements...up some steps with the area underneath filled with a weaving loom.

The roof was packed with prickly bushes to stop mice, and foodstuffs such as this cheese balance on a cool airy suspended shelf.

Bottles protected with woven straw

And running water too, what a luxury...but first you have to fill the tank from the well.....

Up the stairs by the fireplace there is a room set out as a Cretan middleclass home with some wonderful handicrafts.  It is set out as an upper chamber with bed and lots of lovingly made items.

Its with great pride that Cretan parents provide each their daughters with trousseaus of hand made items for her new home.  As explained to us during a culture talk at the hotel, mothers spend years preparing for this.  I wonder whether these two beautiful blouses from 1910, were ever worn, or just kept as heirlooms.

The embroidery details on the circular cloth were simple, yet so elegant and stylistic.

There are ample examples of the fine work as shown by these cushions.

This wonderful example of weaving from 1875 still strong colours, shows many patterns.  I could not help taking lots of close up details..and will not doubt be inspired at some later date to incorporate some into an embroidery or knitting project.

Every aspect of making yarns, from silk to wool seems to have been undertaken in Crete

There were some really beautiful throws and blankets in Elani's weaving and plant-dyeing workshop.

Another area which was well presented was the Herbarium.  Crete is certainly blessed with a multitude of important aromatic herbs.  It was obvious on entry that all the herbs had been recently collected in season and were hanging up to dry.  The little building was cool and airy but still dark when the door was shut.

I'm not sure what this gate taken somewhere else in the Museum grounds would keep out?  Its a lovely collection of old worn timbers, and a rusty old hand made lock.  Nice installation!

Threshing floor...we found several up in the mountains built on passes where the winds would help with the winnowing.

And of course an old olive press

There were other interesting areas...to fit it all in, arrival at opening time is a must!  However there are other excellent museums on Crete...