Back down to earth

We have seen Granny's garden from the air http://salsgardensanctuary.blogspot.com/2008/11/ireland.html
Now it's time to have a look around at ground level. This selection of photographs were taken in different seasons and over a couple of years.
As I adore pale pink in the garden, I have put those first. Clematis I think.

A selection of mixed shrubs including Rhodies and trees for colour all year round.

Clever planting here.

Back patio with a fish pond. A naughty bird keeps coming and pinching the fish! Naughty bird.

A well manicured lawn surrounded by shrubs.

Beautiful Rhodies feature well in this garden.

Autumn in the front garden.

Thank you Granny, for showing us around your much loved ( it shows) garden.

Passionfruit (Panama Red)

I planted this passionfruit vine just over six months ago. Mainly to cover an ugly fence, but then there was the added bonus of having the fruit too. While living in the Blue Mountains many years ago, we did try the yellow banana shaped passionfruit, but that one only gave us lots of vine and flowers, but never fruit. So you imagine my surprise when only a few months goes by, and we have this already. The very first fruit ripened and fell to the ground, unbruised and ready to eat. As you can see above, there are many more to come, and that picture only shows about 1/8 of the vine. The neighbours on the other side of the fence are thrilled too.

Cut in half to reveal it's fleshy, sweet and tarty pulp.

I Googled passionfruit to find some history of the plant and it is THANKS to New Zealand Passionfruit Growers Association for providing it.

The purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) is a native of the rainforest margins in the Amazon region of Brazil and perhaps also of Paraguay and northern Argentina. It has adapted to the cooler sub-tropics and the high altitude tropics.
There are many other passiflora species spread widely around the globe and about 50 species are native to New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and South East Asia.

The flower...

Passionfruit acquired its name from Spanish missionaries who thought parts of the plant's flower resembled different religious symbols. The Jesuit missionaries who accompanied the Conquistadors to South America saw in its striking flower a means of illustrating the Crucifixion; the 10 petals and sepals represented the apostles, the crown of thorns was seen in the filaments, the five anthers represent the five wounds, the three stigmas were allied with the nails used to pierce the hands and feet of Jesus and the vine's tendrils were equated with the whips.

Flower image courtesy of Google images.