The garden this morning, originally uploaded by malyousif.

The garden has been soaked with rain the past few days. The plants seem to be happy enough with it (didn’t switch off the irrigation yet, rain is still unpredictable) but the very best thing about having sustained rain like this is the thorough washing of all the plants. Now we can see the brilliant greens, reds, pinks and all the lovely textures.

I love this time of year!

Dejected Mynah, originally uploaded by malyousif.

We’re painting our house at the moment so scaffoldings are everywhere manned by 8 to 10 painters as well. Needless to say, this is a major disruption to the garden, especially that we have had to hard prune quite a number of bushes adjacent to walls.

The other sad thing is that it disrupted quite a number of nesting birds, our Mynah friend here is one of them. I think that this egg is one of theirs.

Hopefully they’ll be finished and out soon. Just in time for the growing season again so that I can take care of my poor garden again.

The Garden Nursery, originally uploaded by malyousif.

My friend Rami and I visited Anne Al-Jalahma’s "The Garden Nursery" this morning, despite the horrendous weather we are experiencing in Bahrain – thanks to the huge Iraqi sandstorm earlier in the week – the nursery itself was a sight for sore eyes and a replenishment for the soul.

It is the ONLY nursery in Bahrain that I felt is made and maintained by a gardener for gardeners. It really shows where the others are going wrong; for while the others are interested in "moving pots", ie, bulk sales with whatever the season throws at them, Anne’s garden is a well thought out collection of wonderful plants which she herself has propagated in Bahrain and have been tested in our own climate.

The gardeners working with her are also knowledgeable and give good advice as to where and how to place the plants once bought.

It is also one of two nurseries – the other being Jannusan Exotics – who actually bother to label every plant with common and scientific names. Anne’s; however, comes out on top once again as most of the plants not only have the clear labels, but pictures of the plants when mature and flowered. I am sure that if you take a picture of an obscure plant to her, she might even help you name it, as she did with a very tiny picture of a Clitoria I showed her on my mobile phone.

Overall, this is the best garden nursery in Bahrain, barring none, and should be the real refuge for all of us who are frustrated with the box movers.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I drove over a waste ground this afternoon and was faced with a huge number of these flowers growing by themselves in the wild. I had to get out of my car to investigate and was gobsmacked to find out that these bushes (and plenty of them) are capers!

There are literally hundreds of these flowers in the bushes, and as you will see from this collection, they are simply surrounded by rubbish!

Diamonds in the rough?

Well, if you look for something nice, you could even find it in what seems to be a desolate ground.

Ward Mohammedi, originally uploaded by malyousif.

I wish you all an excellent, fulfilling, peaceful 2008 and may anything and everything you attempt to grow through it to bloom!