Actually, it’s a Hippeastrum. From South America. Indoor bulb. Amaryllis (Amarylli?…) hail from South Africa. Outdoor bulb. But they generally run under Amaryliss and you have to fight your way…
There are red grapes with white flesh. That would be Pinot Noir plus a few others. That’s one of the varieties they use to make champagne. Which is…basically a white…
The last hollyhock blossoms…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – dig at your peril in Mainz. You’re likely to stumble across a Roman boatyard with the remains of 17 canoes.…
Indian Summer in Mainz
Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting,…
The Ober-Olmer Wald is a 350ha patch of woodland that was – until 1991 – used by the US military for training. These days, it’s criss-crossed with walking, cycling and…
Alternative title: “A bit seedy” Odile‘s in Gonso
The other day, we featured a balcony full of rampant petunias threatening to take over the whole of a highrise block. The City of Mainz is going one better. It’s…
Petunias have their place (which is not, by the way, in an onion patch…), but they appear to be a tad invasive on this balcony in the Neustadt. The neighbour…
One and a half bubbles out of plumb? Silly as a 10 bob watch? Not the sharpest knife in the drawer? Or dumb as a bag of hammers? That’s what…
The land adjacent to the rivulet that is now the Gonsbach has been flooded and enriched with alluvial soil ever since this region went from being a sub-tropical swamp to…
The Germans are quite good at euphemisms. not to mention double entendres. The university’s Botanic Garden Summer Festival featured a number of stands selling plants suited to specific conditions –…
…to San Francisco…the Mainz University Botanical Garden Summer Fete, Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair…” Diana, Lotte and Tabea took Scott McKenzie’s advice and availed themselves of…
Actinidia deliciosa, aka Chinese gooseberry or kiwifruit, feeling very much at home in Dätwl’s vineyard courtyard in Wintersheim
….if not innernationl [sic] We have Corsican mint, California poppies, Australian daisies and Greek yogurt. Not to mention Iceland poppies….
Not that much of a stranger if you’re from New Zealand, actually. Metrosideros thomasii – pohutukawa. Aka the New Zealand Christmas tree. Waiting for us, courtesy neighbour Birgit S, on…
Chalk on slate. Online shop. Talk about diametrically opposed….
Who’s there? Lilac. Lilac who? Lilac anything if someone asks your age
Anemones from a different perspective
Which is – I suppose – how the pansy got its German name: little stepmother (Steifmütterchen) I kid you not. Look it up if you don’t belive me…
..er..POPPY syndrome. If you know New Zealand, you’ll know the Tall Poppy Syndrome. You can be successful. Just don’t get TOO successful. If you do, the media and vox populi…
The reason that Klein-Winternheim has mass plantings of daffodils on the major access routes is because my late cousin Graham (died 2 years ago in his early 60s and it…
…and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me Serious seeds at the Oppenheim Garden Market yesterday
Some strange stuff turns up at our place, vaguely reminiscent of familiar blossoms, but “they’re new” and “not really that expensive..” Compared with a Ferrari, that is…
When Mum (born in the UK) moved from sub-tropical Auckland to temperate Nelson, she said “It’s great to have seasons again” I’d agree, but it doesn’t have to freeze overnight…
Isn’t it always the way that the herb (or “erb” for our colonial cousins) that you use least grows like a weed? Oregano officinalis. Pizza. Tick. Homemade tomato sauce. Tick.…
…to a blind horse Paeonia suffruticosa, this being the seedpod thereof.
The Schillerplatz’s mass-planting of Impatiens hawkeri aka New Guinea Impatiens – basically a Busy Lizzie with a college education
Bought 6 zucchini flowers on the market on Friday (€4, dip them in tempura batter, fry them in hot oil until they’re crisp, serve with pureed roasted red peppers) and…
Mainz Daily Photo 