Hello all
Update from Fuerteventura, Spanish Canary Islands.
We're all well here, thanks goodness. Only 45 cases on island in total, all recovered, including one guy who had been in Intensive Care almost from the beginning, 12 weeks in all I think.
Our lockdown is easing in stages although I think we're going too fast. The island relies on tourism for most of it's income so I can understand that they want foreign flights back in but we'll (me and OH) be going back into strict lockdown voluntarily until we see what happens. Many of our shops are still closed, the ones that are open have very strict rules on what/where/who/how you can use them. We can use the outside terraces of bars/cafes that have reopened but such restrictions on inside space that no one is bothering going in.
Our beaches reopened just over a week ago, with strict social distancing, and day 1 was packed with locals who are not working (well spaced out). These are people who normally work hotels, restaurants, airport, tours etc.
I've got masses done in the garden but not as much as I thought I would as I went at it too quickly and strained my wrists and now an elbow and sciatica.
My orchids suffered too much attention in the first week or two but I've learnt to leave them be now and they seem quite happy. Some of my phals are showing new flower spikes emerging from spent ones so that will be a nice bonus. This surprised me as I thought they needed a drop in average temps to induce flowering and our weather has been getting hotter and hotter. My vanda has shown no sign of flowering although it's change of venue to a brighter room has lightened the colour of the leaves which I understand is good. However I now don't get a pale band at the bottom of the new leaves so I'm not sure if it's actually happier.
In my garden I had to drastically prune many plants including a number of giant bougainvillea in order that our garden walls could be repaired. I'm delighted that they are regrowing rapidly, in some cases before the builder got to their section! I've also grown a number of milkweed plants this year and successfully hosted a number of Monarch caterpillars and subsequent butterflies - a fascinating process. My milkweed have all been attacked by oleander bug and none of the non-chemical remedies I've tried have done any good - anyone got any tried and tested remedies?
The banana plants are massive but no sign of flowering. I tried to lift and move some of the pups but their roots have gone in cracks in the rock bed and won't be shifted. Several pineapple plants are growing - I'm really excited about them! My Monstera Deliciosa (Swiss cheese plant in England) is very happy in the garden, the latest leaves are over 1m long and wide! it is in the shade of the bananas, a dragon tree and a large hibiscus and gets irrigated by the dirty water system every night.
Sorry, seem to have waffled on rather a bit!
Regards to all, keep safe, Rav.
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