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Four rats down

This week: Beguiled by plants; More plantings; Released back to the wild;


A sleepy Split harbour on a sunny October afternoon
A sleepy Split harbour on a sunny October afternoon

Island life is nice, but it also has its frustrations.

For example, trying to buy anything even slightly out of the ordinary. Last weekend I needed some 6mm ∅ wall plugs for the walls in my Konoba.

They are for some small pictures, so they are barely load bearing, however they are for a the soft lime mortar between the stones. My local hardware stores didn’t have any 6mm plugs, and in any case, the larger diameter ones they had were the wrong kind for soft wall materials.

You can now buy “Intelligent” wall plugs. No, these are not plugs which have had a university education, rather they are made of different materials which react to the wall material they are inserted into and either fold, knot or expand, to provide maximum load transfer from the screw to the wall.

Intelligent, multi material wall plugs
Intelligent, multi material wall plugs

As I already had a number of things that I needed from the mainland, I decided it was time for a trip across to Split.

I haven’t been since February, so a visit was probably overdue anyway.

Visits to Split are a full day event. I was up at 04:00 on Tuesday, on the 05:30 ferry and got back home at 16:30, tired, but having bought almost everything that was on my list.

There was a huge cruise ship arriving as we docked. The Tui Marella Explorer was arriving from Italy, half way through a seven night cruise to Corfu with almost 2,000 passengers on board. I would cross paths with some of them later in the day.

The Tui Marella Explorer
The Tui Marella Explorer

First stop was Bauhaus where I found the Fischer intelligent wall plugs I was looking for, followed by a stationers and art store, a real “hypermarket”, the opticians and back to the ferry port.

I then had a walk into the old town of Split. The sun was out and the temperature was pleasant. Warm enough for a nice ice cream.

The old town of Split
The old town of Split

In the green market, I was looking for some broccoli plants, but there were none. They had lots of other plants, but not what I was looking for.

On one market stall there were some large purple figs. I asked the stall holder for the variety and he told me they were “Ferrero Rocher”. I bought a punnet anyway, thinking that with some seeds, I can probably grow my own.

Large purple figs
Large purple figs

My fig trees are summer fruiting. Having a late variety would be nice.

When I looked up the name, I think it is made up. Probably not surprising because the “Ferrero Rocher” brand is a registered trade mark. But I will still see if I can germinate some plants from a few seeds.

The figs have a deliciously rich treacle flavour.

After a mainland shopping trip, I always have a day or two of jobs to catch up on, and that is what I have been doing.

That is of course until Saturday afternoon, when it is time to sit back, reflect on the week’s progress, select a few nice photographs for the Blog and then focus on the week ahead…


Beguiled by plants

I am a sucker for impulse purchases in garden centres.

When I was at Bauhaus this week, I wandered into their garden centre area. This is an outdoor area, surrounded by a high wall but otherwise unprotected from the elements.

There is one shelf where there are the “waifs and strays”, plants which have been damaged, neglected or are past their best and where everything is discounted.

I was a little surprised to see several raspberry plants which had clearly not see water for some time.

I have not had much success with raspberries, trying a number of varieties, but only having any success with black raspberries because of my poor soils and summer heat. At just €3 each, I came home with a couple to try again with. What attracted me is that these are early fruiting varieties.

My thoughts were that perhaps I can persuade them to fruit before the summer heat and I can then just keep them alive with irrigation.

As I was leaving, some cerise flowers caught my eye in the “bulbs” section.

Curcuma - Siam Tulips
Curcuma – Siam Tulips

I didn’t recognise the flowers or leaves, but they looked nice and I was thinking about some autumn colour. The label said “Curcuma”, a name I vaguely recognised but couldn’t place. However I decided to buy one anyway.

When I got back home I looked it up. The plant is known in English as the spice Turmeric.

I perhaps should have thought more because in Croatian it is called Kukuma, so fairly close.

Far from being an outdoor plant here in the Mediterranean, it is from tropical Thailand, Laos and Cambodia as is known in English as the Siam Tulip.

Even so, I enjoy a challenge so will plant it in the polytunnel border. The problem is being a tropical rain forest plant, it like lots of moisture and humidity – something seriously lacking here in summer!


More plantings

Close to one of the big shopping malls in Split is the Jadro Garden Centre, a huge sprawling oasis of beautiful plants, shrubs and trees.

The Jadro Garden Centre
The Jadro Garden Centre

It is one of those places where it is easy to spend a lot of money very quickly!

I had gone there to try and get a replacement Acacia dealbata for my mature specimen which abruptly died last spring.

Mimosa acacia dealbata flowers
Mimosa acacia dealbata flowers

At the end of January, just as the days are starting to lengthen, the Acacia bursts into flower and is covered in bright yellow cotton-wool balls of colour.

Although the plant is in the Jadro catalogue, they didn’t have any in stock.

What I did see though were some bright yellow flowers on a small shrub. The label said it was a Cassia floribunda.

I know the Cassia family, the Fabaceae and it is a cousin of Mimosa and is also known as the Senna. There are places on the old donkey track behind my home where Sennas are growing wild.

This Cassia is a sun lover, tolerating dry and impoverished soils , but it is also sensitive to cold winter winds.

A sheltered corner planting
A sheltered corner planting

I have planted against the wall by the donkey track, in a spot where it will be sheltered from cold winter winds by a substantial Ivy and wild pistachio tree.

Flowering from June to November, it should bring a much needed splash of colour to this mostly green corner.

Cassia flowers
Cassia flowers

I also came home with some bags of spring bulbs. There were mixed mauve and white Crocus and cream Narcissi.

Before the rain on Thursday, I planted them in the flower bed outside the kitchen window.

Planting spring bulbs
Planting spring bulbs

I’m hoping for lots of early spring colour when they flower.


Released back to the wild

My youngest feline Živa was quite agitated earlier in the week, calling me and wanting me to follow her.

Out on the terrace she had found (or brought) a young Balkan Whip Snake, Hierophis gemonensis, which was curled up in a defensive ball.

Živa lay down in front of it, waiting to see what would happen, so I scooped it up in my palm.

A snake in the palm is worth...
A snake in the palm is worth…

At once it started to move between my fingers. These are another “Gardeners friend” eating pests like grasshoppers. It felt really cold to the touch so checked it over and it had no injuries.

As the day was cool and cloudy, I suspect it had not really warmed up which was why it was still until it felt the warmth of my hand.

Soon our native reptiles will be hibernating for the winter, seeking a sheltered spot in an old wall.

Balkan Whip Snake
Balkan Whip Snake

To help it along, I took the snake and released it in the sunshine between some stones and watched as it slithered quickly away.

The felines have brough me four dead rats this week too. I’m more than happy when they catch and kill rats, especially the large ones!

Another feline find, this time by Tigger was a large, 8cm green, yellow and blue Hawk Moth caterpillar.

When I saw them both, they were in the courtyard, so I am unsure where Tigger actually found it.

Death's Head Hawk Moth caterpillar
Death’s Head Hawk Moth caterpillar

Once again, I picked it up, which the caterpillar was not happy about, and took it down into the orchard where there is still a lot of cover and food to release it.

This is the African Death’s Head Hawk Moth, Acherontia atropos, an endemic species in Southern Europe.

Death's Head Hawk Moth
Death’s Head Hawk Moth

I have only very occasionally seen a moth, but have found the catrerpillars several times before. The moths are large with a wingspan of 12cm, with contrasting yellow and black markings and the signature “skull” on their back.

During the year I see a number of different Hawk Moth species and they are all large and spectacular to watch feeding and flying. NCG