The Eden Project (Part Two - Greenery)

Where do I start?

How much do I include?

What do I say?

Perhaps just random pictures that 'speak to me'?

Staring with a pitcher plant.

I had one of these in my kitchen in Brittany because in rural France, especially in 'The Backside of Brittany' as I affectionately call the region in which I semi-live, flies are an issue. There is no escaping that fact. Flies are big in Brittany. They're also big in Normandy, as we discovered during a holiday in the most fabulous large converted barn that I have ever seen. Seriously, it was amazing, but les mouches were a feature that must be endured. Ditto Brittany.

Not being a fan of noxious sprays, I mean, if they kill insects they're not going to be beneficial to humans, or of those strips of yellow sticky paper which I have before now, become entangled in myself, and not liking to have flies fornicating on my worktops and buzzing round my baguettes, I tried installing a fat and hungry pitcher plant. 

It was moderately successful, though not plant enough for the job but I live in hope that one day someone will breed a pitcher plant that can clear a kitchen in minutes.    

I like learning, Those who know me will confirm that. My walls are covered in certificates from 6 week courses on human origins, and Italian/French/Swedish exam passes, to my degree in Modern Languages, and all the rest like gliding, archery, swimming etc etc, proof that I like to learn.

So I like the educational stuff at The Eden Project.

Rice growing.

I should have included these guys in the previous post. I missed them so here they are now. I am pretty sure that given the right tools I could knock up a fairly decent one of these, but since I never have the right tools (witness the day I almost severed my arm while trying to trim as Christmas tree trunk with a new bread knife), I shall desist. For now.
Watch this space.

Lots of pretty flowers ...

Ah yes, food. I am fond of food. Especially that which grows in tropical places.
These are papayas.

and a satsuma...

Sunflowers always remind me of holidays in Umbria when the Ragazzi were children and I was still married. No nostalgia, at least not for the marriage, we are better off apart and much more affectionate and nice to each other when we have several degrees of separation.
But I do miss the sunflowers..

Any guesses?

Yes?

Correct! A banana flower. 

Apparently the banana plant is a herb. 

Should I go into the botanical stuff? Or let you research it if you are so-inclined? 

Love these strelizias.  When I went to Madeira, back in 1987,  I bought three seeds and duly planted them in large pots of a sand and compost mix. And I waited, And  waited, And waited some more. Nothing happened. So once day I thought I'd throw them out and I discovered that one of them had put down a large tap root and lo, it grew into a lovely plant. Patience rewarded. But to see them in all of their glory I recommend a trip to Funchal.
  

Lovely smelling flowers...

Grapes. I once picked grapes, back in 1975. In those days the grape-growers employed groups of teenagers to stay in their barns and travel round the farms picking the grapes by hand. I was a good grape picker, hard-working and enthusiastic, as is my way with any work I am employed to do, so I was promoted to a room in the house and extra rations.

Apparently machines now harvest the grapes.
Which is a shame.
I'd love to pick grapes again.

Orchids

Greenery ...

And finished, for the second part of The Eden Project.

A rather random post, for which I apologise, but that's how I feel right now. Random.
Yesterday I e-mailed The New Employer (with whom I have been employed since 2008) to advise them that there is more chance of a potato growing on a grape vine than of me going back into the Corporate Cage and the world of cyber crime. In so many words...

I have, in effect, burnt my bridges. Which is something I am rather prone to do.
Time to put Plan J into action.
Another fleeing to France, do you think? After all, it has been 10 years since I last escaped from the Rat Race and became A Mouse In France!