Thursday, December 22, 2011

I'm dreaming of a green Christmas...


I Love my new garden!
I went to the 'garden centre' on the bank of the Nile at Kitkat with Ellie on tuesday and we bought lots of plants to celebrate christmas with some green around us! I have tried to chose plants which will be a bit hardier than the last lot which died when they were killed through over fertilising them (it wasnt me!). I was so so sad when all my plants died. Now i am very very happy to have a lovely garden to look out onto!

Second day of my new balcony garden and i have a new flower already! That was a lovely thing to wake up to today!

Nasturtiums! I have been wanting to get these on my blacony ever since my friend Sarannah mentioned growing them in Luxor. They make me think of my mum. She always loved having them in any garden we have ever had.

My first attempt at a cactus garden... they will hopefully survive the temperatures it reaches in sunny mohandiseen. It wasnt cheap to buy though. Thankfully the man at the plant place was so sad that all my previous plants had perished (especially when i explained how it happened so he knew I hadnt killed them myself!) that he gave me really good prices for these ones.

It was lovely chatting with him about the plants and he was asking the names of them in my country and I was asking them in arabic. Ellie was laughing at me 'nerding out' about plants! Not that I remember any of them though, apart from this one, the large cactus on the left is called 'kersha' which is the name in arabic of the stomach lining of an animal, ie tripe!

My happy turtle with his 'umbrella tree' shell...

This cactus type tree is going to be our substitute christmas tree this year. We have a gathering of 8 friends planned for christmas day, turkey and everything... really looking forward to it.

This is an attempt- I have never had any plants indoor here in Cairo for the fear that ants will follow them into the flat... but i am going to try with this one and see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

Happiness is easy to find when the simple things like my lovely plants make me smile. Wishing you lots of simple pleasures in your life too.

5 comments:

Habiba Dance said...

Beautiful garden Lorna, hope you have a lovely Xmas, Sxx

Mariette Frisby said...

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year from Vegas! :)

By the way - Lovely garden!

Pleasant Gehman/Princess Farhana said...

Hope your Xmas was fantastic!

Your cactus plants will probably do GREAT in Mohandeseen... I live in LA and the climate is very similar to Cairo, and i have a yard full of cactii. they love the sun! Don't over-water them : ) And be really careful about the needles!!! You don't want any of the tiny ones in your fingers, they're really hard to see and even harder to remove!

Pleasant Gehman/Princess Farhana said...

Hope your Xmas was fab!!!!!

Cool, you have cactus plants, they should do great in cairo! I have toms of them in my LA yard, the climate's about the same. Don't overwater them & be careful of the needles!!!!

Sarah said...

Hello, Lorna! I was searching for articles about life in Cairo and google search directed me to this blog. So far I found your stories about life as a foreigner in Cairo quite intriguing and eye-opening. I as well am planning a major move to Cairo in March not to work as a dancer though (haha, sadly I have two left feet) but to study arabic intensively. I was wondering what the living costs are like like over there as I don't plan on working during my stay. I am a college student and don't have much disposable income. Do you think $10,000 would be a sufficient amount to cover essentials like rent, utilities, food and transport? Please advise.

By the way, I love your blog!