Got to get ourselves back to the garden

Proverbial Spanish wisdom is that 'more grows in the garden than the gardener sows'. 

As the head of the seeds and weeds department on our Finca I have returned from an enforced absence accompanied by the recently retired Carol, who deals with the identified weeds and all the heavier and rougher work with relish. Our first week's work is beginning to show results and we are claiming back the garden from nature's grasp. Carol's war on the freely spreading Fenel is being won. 

Winter has seen the demise of  our young Mimmosa tree. The bougainvilla has died back to almost ground level but is producing new shoots. Everything else seems to be prospering.

Bouganvilla

If ever there was a flower that evoked memories of the real Spain it must be the Bougainvillea. Like roses around a the door of an English cottage, Bougainvilleas are everywhere yet seldom seem over done.

The grower told me not to be alarmed it the plant sheds it's leaves in the first winter as this is a very common phenomena. He was right but we were still a little worried by the leaf drop.