The Palm Moth
Many of you, by now, will have become intimately acquainted with the rhynchophorusferrugineos, or red palm weevil. As if our palms didn’t have enough...
Turning the Pages and Seasons
Our local fiesta, Noche de las Candelas in early September is, in part, a pagan type festival looking for good weather during the grape...
Dreaming Spires
The last place I lived in England was Oxford, that “City of Dreaming Spires” as the poet Mathew Arnold dubbed it; walking around the...
Pollen Planning
Pollen performs a simple function – reproduction – but for many humans it leads to misery.This year, pollen levels are likely to double or...
Cost-Cutting Trees
Torrential rains, snow, the hottest summer and autumn, the wettest couple of weeks – we’ve had all sorts of weather and all sorts of...
Lots of Christmas Cheer
Pacharán, or patxarán, is a very well known Spanish liqueur – one of my own favourites – and it is especially popular at Christmas...
The March of the Palm Beetle
In 1994 the palm beetle, rhynchophorus ferrugineos,or picudo rojo in Spanish, arrived in Spain. I last wrote about it in November 2007 so I...
Jumping Plant Lice
I’ve had several enquiries in the garden centre recently about infections to eucalypti, and particularly e. viminalis, which is the type most commonly grown...
Blowsy Beauties
Bougainvilleas are passion. Passionately colourful, passionately vibrant - reflecting their life in Spain. They remind me of flouncy flamenco dresses, frilled and ruffled, gorgeously...
