Mary, Mary quite contrary .....

How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells, and pretty maids all in a row .... (a quaint nursery rhyme).

Following firmly in the footsteps of the famous Mary, and being a little contrary myself, I have taken the plunge and once again ventured out into the world of horticulture. After spending a whopping 500NT$ (ok perhaps nearer a 1000NT$) at the flyover flower market (oh and B&Q) I now have what I describe as a garden.

In a small area of balcony I have removed the 10 tons of rubbish that was once there and put my assortment of pot plants, which include plants of many colours, shapes and sizes ... if I knew my eggs then I would be able to tell you all the latin names however, I am not up to that. On showing a photo to a dear friend he exclaimed 'man, you are so gay! and you call that a garden!'. In answer to the first, yes I guess I am and to the second yes I guess it is, given I live on the 12th Floor and have a small balcony and rolling hills and fields are beyond my reach. Whilst I would love to turf my overhanging balcony bit (you know the part that's there to stop my escaping in the event of a fire) and fill it with 10 tons of soil and earth, I can't. So for now I am happy with my fraction of a ping potted plant garden.

On erecting? placing? arranging? (whatever it is I did) my garden, my beloved cats (Mimi is showen above) decided it was time for a late lunch and began to consume which ever plant was nearest to them. After lots of 'sushing' and a dose of smelly 'cat keep off' they got the message and stopped eating. They now see it as a great place to hide and spend many happy minutes trying to squeeze in between all the pots and knocking them over! Thankfully in the few days my garden has been taking root they have not poo'd or pee'd in any of the pots .... but perhaps I just have that to come .... I will post another picture soon, in my world of gardening, plants have a big tendency to wilt, wither and cross over to the great garden in the sky ....