MY BALCONY IS IN FULL BLOOM !



       Finally, my gardenias and hydrangeas (ortansias) bloomed! I had been waiting for them for quite a while now (remember "Spring is here...at my balcony!").



The gardenias smelled beautifully !

...and the hydrangeas looked so good !

I took these photos 3 weeks ago and now I am sad to say that my hydrangeas have lost their color and started to wither and dry up.

I know they can't last forever but this happened so soon!

                                          Does anyone of you know why this has happened? And what I can do in the future to avoid it from happening again?

 The only thing I can do now is to cut them and make a nice (long stemmed) bouquet of dried flowers to put in a vase. It looks good, believe me!

My latest purchase: basil

      Basil is one of the most common plants that one can find in a Greek home. It is an easy to maintain fragrant plant that needs watering everyday and apart from using it in Greek cooking, it is also a natural insect repellent especially for mosquitoes!!!