Spring is here...

Although we haven't had too many warm sunny days yet, the september winds have been & gone so hopefully it will start warming up soon.
I haven't done much walking and no photowalking at all lately so yesterday I was determined to get out for a short while, went to get a haircut and took my camera looking for signs of spring, came home with only one photo! So I just took a few photos in my garden and a few of the neighbours' and called it a day.
This was dinner last night, nothing to do with photowalking but it did look so pretty! Pork butterfly steaks with apple sauce, salad and my version of Boulangere potatoes. We usually grow fancy lettuces in our solar powered hydroponic system outside but it's having an overhaul at present, I do miss being able to just run outside and pick a few leaves for dinner along with a few herbs etc.

Along the front of the house is where nothing much grows because it's the cold side and there's a large overhang so it doesn't get much rain - it does get lots of fish poo from my aquarium though! I've planted small succulents and this is one that is flowering at the moment.

I used to have these growing in abundance, they still keep coming up from seed all over the place but they are a devil to prune as they bleed sticky white milk that gets over everything! This one has come up in my neighbours garden, she hasn't found out how nasty they are yet - they do look so pretty though.

One of my other neighbours (I have 26 of them) has this lovely lavendar growing along the front of his fence, smells divine. That's my house on the right.

This is a beautiful Wistaria growing around the corner.

I have three Vireyas growing in large pots on my front lawn, this is the first one to flower.

And finally as I went inside I thought I'd take a photo of this long tall plant by my front door, I know the name of it but it's lost in the jumble that is my mind at the moment! I've had it from a baby since we shifted into this house 10 years ago, I keep having to shift it to give it room to grow!

Click on it to see a larger view.
I still have lots of photos and movies I took in the snow in Australia to post yet, oh boy I'm never going to catch up!
Boulangere Potatoes for 4 people
Slice 650g potatoes thinly & chop one small onion. Layer in oven dish along with salt & pepper and a little freshly ground nutmeg between each layer. Pour over 290mls of chicken stock and bake at 175oC for one to one and a half hours. I divided mine between two small casseroles so they only took an hour to cook, kept one for tonight to have with melt in your mouth steak.