Thoughts on Far-away Places

We are finally back to normal after our holiday, and time to think about the coming gardening season. Unfortunately it has been raining since we came back and today was the first opportunity to go out, have a look around the garden, decide where to put my new acquired lanterns and consider the empty spaces where more plants can be squeezed in (quite a few of those still ...)





Garden lanterns bring me nicely to the gardens of Bali, where we spent our long Christmas holiday. Bali being a tropical island is full of amazing lush gardens which are full of interest year around.

Hotels, temples and private living compounds are all surrounded by plants. For example this temple garden on the left featuring day lilies or on the right a water garden in the Botanical Garden of Bali.
Typical planting would include Bougainvillea, bananas, fragrant jasmines, Pulmeria (Frangipani red and white)and other plants which would often be sold here as house plants, but reach huge proportions in Balinese gardens, such as crotons.


In addition to the planting the typical Balinese garden is full of stone and wood decorations - lanterns, mythical creatures, large pots etc. For example the stone lantern below, I photographed in our hotel garden.
Of course with the variety available, it would be very tempting to fill the garden with a selection of decoration but alas, shipping charges of small items make this option far too expensive, and a whole container seemed to be rather excessive.
A stone lantern of this size could have caused us problems with the airline, so the only option was to bring home two typical wooden lanterns, which were packed in a cardboard box and were light enough to handle.


The lamps are typical in shape, though the most common designs feature a grass roof. However it does not cope so well with the weather so we opted for this version instead.
Now I only have to decide where to put them, I am already regreting not bringing a couple more ....

Happy New Year !