Travel with Angela Lansbury: Roses

Showing posts with label Roses. Show all posts

Friday, August 22, 2025

New Garden Or Balcony Overseas Or When Moving House - finding plants, gardeners, and disposing of plants

Condo Living

A balcony is a basic requirement for us overseas in a flat or a condo. Not only for fresh air and a view. Also for entertaining and growing plants.

Angela Lansbury on the belcony in Cashew Heights, Singapore. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Singapore - A Lot of Allotments

Some condos have allotments. The nearest will be the dearest to rent.

If there is lots of land and the condo has no allotments, but everybody has small balconies, you can ask management if they would allow allotments in various areas of the property. The management might make an annual charge for this.

Where I lived in Singapore, they installed a water tap so you can water the soil and plants and wash down the path. The water was also used to wash the nearby cars parked in the parking area.

Plant Heights

In a garden (back yard to Americans) trees can provide shade and privacy.

Flowers and plants can be decorative.

Rampant Roots

But note how high each plant will grow and allow that distance from your house walls, paths and any extension you may build in the future. Also keep it away from the neighbour's house. If uou don't, it will uproot your walls, block the darins and darken your windows and osscure your view and provide cover for burglars.

Our fig grew roots towards our concservatory, under paving. When we saw a riased paving stone and lifted it, we discovered what was lifting and cracking the wall of our conservatory.

Fruit Trees For Fun and Fruit

In a garden an apple tree is a good investment. You can buy aple trees which grow three types of apple for variety or to save space in a small garden.

A plant in a pot can be taken with you when you move. If you have promised the new owner or landlord that you will leave the plants, yyou jight like to take a cutting. Note that many countries ban the import of soild, soil on roots, roots, or any type of plants, as well as trapped insects and reptiles.

Plant Ruining Phyloxera!

Why are they so fusssy? You could have a plant containing phyloxera, a teeny beetle which attacks vines and grows unsightly pimples on the leaves. (This wiped out the vines in much or western Europe by attacking the roots. We had it land on our vines in the UK in 2024.

Roses And Rosemary - Prolific Plants In The UK

In the UK we planted standard roses. Half standards are cheaper and smaller. I looked for roses with perfurme and bought from a garden centre to check they had a scent.

My gardener suggested I buy rose feed after a few years.

I planted rosemary which grew well.

Rampant rosemary, which we add t meat main dishes. Photo by Angela Lansbury

I was envious of a friend on Toastmasters International Zoom meetings who told me about all the tropical fruit in his garden in Belize.

Belize, Central America And The Caribbean

My Belizian friend told me he needed no gardenng expertise. He just threw seeds and pips out of the window after eating fruit, and plants grew.

Tropical Countries

In Singapore we found aloe vera was a novelty. It grew prolifically. Go back to your home country for three months in the summer, in our case UK. We came back and found other plants died but the aloe vera had doubled in size.

Small orange trees make jam (if you have oodles of time).

Tenants & Balcony Plants

You have to watch that the plants are not growing up the balcony walls. You might think that the landlord or landlady would be glad to have a balcony garden. No. They might demand that you remove your mini tropical jungle, every plant and pot and aything growing over the baalcony walls and wash sparkling clean the balcony walls and railings and floor tiles. The new tenants might want the whole area free for tables and chairs. Or they might have tenants, workers.

Resident And Tenant Groups on WhatsApp

You can get rid of surplus plants and timber cut from trees by offering to other people on a ondo or street whatsapp group.

Gardener Needed

We found a local reliable gardener by asking on our street wahtsapp group in the UK.

Surplus Fruit

In the Channel Islands surplus fruit might be put outside near your garden gate with a sign saying free fruit, please take. You could also leave a box for payments, if required.

Some areas of the UK will fine you for littering if you put free stuff on the 'pavement'. (UK word - the USA equivalent is sidewalk).

The latest ideas are to make it obligatory for new buildings to have gardens on rooftops to provide leisure areas and cut down on the cost of importants, finanacial cost and environmental concerns.

Those green walls you see are on trellis at least a foot away from walls. Plants against windows might allow insects to get near dwellings.

Natural Insect Repellents

To keep insects away from the ondoors you could try various natural repellents, such as lemons, lavender, cayenne pepper, cinnamon. On Facebook I am inundated with links to YouTube videos of how to repel insects around doors and windows.

Singapore Safety - Insects and Misting

What harm do insects do? Mosquitos bring malaria and dengue fever in Singapore.

In our condo in Singapore, misting took place every Friday.

Singapore also had been breeding new types of mosquito to limit numbers and the disaseses carried.. After an outbreak, health and safety Inspectors check every unit in a condo to check that you do not have standing water, from watering plants in saucers, or even plastic bags and boots on balconies trapping rain water.

Stay safe, healthy, happy, and furitful!

Please share links to useful posts.

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Wine, weddings and legends at rustic Restorant Legjenda in Shkoder, Albania

A tunnel of greenery leads to the rustic Restorant (restaurant) Legjenda (of legends) in Shkoder. Photo from Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Opposite the Castle of Rozafa, in downtown Shkoder, just before taking the motorway into or out of the city, you see the entrance to romantic and amusing Restorant (Restaurant) Legjenda (Legend).

A tunnel of greenery leads you to the gardens. They are filled with amusing statues surrounding the restaurant. You can inhale the aroma of the flowers and hear the birds singing.

The rustic restaurant has stained glass windows.

Paintings of the Legend

Inside the rustic restaurant is a mosaic bar.

Along the back walls are frescoes, intriguing panels and paintings of the legend of the castle. Three men. What are they doing?

Restorant Legjenda in Shkoder, Albania. Table laid for dinner with candle and fanned napkins. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Romantic though they look, the story is a bit grim. Three brothers were building the castle and had no success. Did it keep tumbling or crumbling? They consulted a wise man. (I would say an unwise man.) He told them that the first wife to bring them food next day should be walled up inside the castle and all would be well. They should not warn their wives.

Two of them, the oldest, did warn their wives. The third was honest (or stupid) and did not warn his wife.

She was apparently resigned to her fate, not the least distressed. Her only worry, or her chief worry, was for her young child. Her wish was that she should have one half of herself outside the castle wall in order to hold her child on her knee and breastfeed her child. Another version said, an eye, a breast and a hand. Up in the castle, a stone relief shows her half encased with parts of her body showing though holes.

(I was hoping for a twist, some happy ending. Maybe some kind soul can update this story.)

The legend says that the child survived, grew strong, fulfilled his mother's hopes and grew to be a brave and successful soldier. (Not killing his two uncles, or better still the wise man?)

The moral of the story? People often ask why three Albanian brothers were so stupid? Once answer is that only the third one was Albanian, and he was the only honest man.

Albania has a notable Nobel Prize nominee writer still alive. But he wrote a grim story about Italians coming to find their dead comrades after WW2. So there's no point in me, or you, writing to him, asking for a rewrite of the legend with a happy ending. If you can come up with a modernized happy ending, let me know.

Apparently the Brothers Grimm and Goethe heard this story. The brothers Grimm grimly, but happily, repeated it in translation. Only Goethe complained about the nastiness of it.

I was troubled when I heard the story. I am still troubled by this legend's unhappy ending, days later.

I think I have the solution. I shall rewrite the story. Here goes:

The Legend of Razafa Castle

Three brothers were building a mutual home, a large castle with many rooms, walls, and turrets at the end. The three borthers were all married, but the youngest brother was the first to have a son.

The two oldest brothers were jealous, and they carefully numbered all the stones to be sure each brother build his section of the castle. But each day they found yesterday's stones had all gone.

They went to visit an old wise man who lived nearby was also building a house, for his himself and his little grand-daughter, much more successfully than they were. His house was almost finished. They asked him the secret of success.

He said they should give him just ten stones, three bottles of wine, red, white and then next morning, wall up the wife who first visited them with food.

That evening, unbeknown to her husband, the devoted third wife decided she must help.

In the morning, before breakfast, at dawn, the third wife, escorted by her two chastity guards, went to consult the wise man. In his grand house, she noticed that the stones which had vanished from the castle every night, had built the grand walls of his palace.

She asked him to accompany her back to the castle, with her two chastity guards. One the way she fell, ripping open her gown. (Or when she entered, the old man attacked her and she screamed.)

The chastity guards / body guards demanded that the old wise man should give her his black cloak to cover her modesty, and, in exchange, gave him the torn purple woman's gown.

When the group reached the castle, the two brothers jumped on their supposed sister in law, silenced the person in the black cloak, and put the person behind the walls.

Meanwhile, the young wife, pretending to be the old man, hid in the grand palace of the wise old man. With her child, the little son, who played with the old man's grand-daughter..

That night the walls were safe. After a week, the brothers decided to visit the old wise man to thank him. They entered his home, searching, and were astonished to see the numbered stones. Then they found the young woman, and were overjoyed that she was still alive. They took her and her son and the little grand-daughter back to their castle.

They were angry with the old man but when they went to kill him, his grand-daughter, burst into ters. The youngest sister's son raised his arms to stop them.

So they, relunctantly, forgave the old man and returned him safely to his house, But they took back all the stones needed for their three brothers, three wives, and umpteen children in the castle.

On the gate of his house they engraved the words,

Do not believe any unscientific predictions, stories or legends you hear here.

What happened years later? They had returned to the castle, and released the old man. He had gone mad, from old age and the shock of the incarceration.

But his grand-daughter married the son of the youngest brother!

Now a road runs between the Rozafa castle and rustic Restoran Legjenda in Shkoder. The river still runs both sides of the restaurant. The greenery forms a barrier between the noise of the cars on the big, busy road and the quiet oasis of the restaurant. You can hear the birds singing. But ...

Sometimes at night, it is said, you can hear the sounds of a wedding party. Listen, and you might hear an old man singing, merry on three bottles of wine. Sometimes you can hear the sound three brothers and their three wives laughing. Sometimes you can hear the merry, laughing tourists in the restaurant.

Story by Angela Lansbury, Wed 28 Jun 2023. Copyright.

I feel much better now that I have rewritten the story with no deaths, a happy ending, the good and innocent rewarded, and some humour.

Here is the address of the restaurant. Rruga is Albanian for road. The code for Albania is 355.

Food and Drink

The restaurant is very popular for weddings. I tried a very good freshly squeezed juice.

Vines and Wines

They make their own wines from vines growing in neat rows in the garden. The roses on the ends of the rows are not there for decoration but an early warning sign of potential problems with the vines because roses are even more susceptible.

Bar Restaurant Legjenda

Rruga Agron 1

Schkoder

Albania

tel: 355 699 33 20 24

355 69 40 777 40

Useful Websites

Rozafa Castle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozafa_Castle

Lake Shkoda Nature Reserve

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Shkod%C3%ABr_Nature_Reserve

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Valentine's Day worldwide, DIY cards, edible cards, heart shape cakes, chocs, edible flowers, or Dinner for two S338 at the Tanglin Club, in central Singapore, and Love sculpture photos

Expect prices to go up for Valentine's Day. What could you enjoy. A live band, and roses, at the Tanglin club.

A meal with matching wines.

Heart shape decorations.

Toastmasters Clubs for aspiring speakers and business leaders, including teachers, sales people, life coaches, have the theme of love.

Singapore has a sculpture with the letter LOVE. There are many more in the USA, Canada, and Asia.

Couples used to have their wedding photos taken by churches and waterfalls. Other romantic locations include bridges and flower gardens.

If you are not a member of the Tanglin Club, ask around your friends and colleagues to see if anybody is a member.

If you are a member of a club in another country, it may have reciprocal membership with the Tanglin Club. For example, in London many including the Cavalry and Guards Club, in Australia RAC clubs and several city clubs, the USA, China and many more countries and clubs.

Any club you are a member of is likely to have valentine's Day dinners, or decorations in the lobby or restaurants which provide photo opportunities.

Alternatively, have dinner a day early, Feb 13, and have cards and flowers and chocolates saved for the next day. Make up a rhyme and print it off with hearts and flowers.

Historical Pictures

Valentine's day stocking with red hearts.

Valentine's Day in Spanish, Feliz dia del Amor.

St Valentine shrine in Ireland.

There's another in Italy.

Valentine's day chocolates from Japan, including heart shaped chocolates.

Valentine's day balloons from Mexico.

Current 2023 Pictures

Hallmark pop up musical card with lights, about ten dollars minus a cent. In the USA kerbside pickup is available.

Valentine's Day started as a Christian festival and is increasingly commercial and celebrated widely. In American teachers and pupils receive and send valentine's day cards and schoolchildren make cards for their teacher and their parents.

Muslims are not supposed to copy non-Moslem festivals nor to drink alcohol, but (according to an answer in Quora) it would be fine to send flowers to your wife on Valentine's day or give a gift to your child on their birthday - and if it is on Valentine's day or any day.

Sweets and Edibles

You can make edible cards and gifts. cut shapes in marzipan, icing,

Rice paper. Edible decorating colours and piping pens. Or a piece of paper, removable.

Or edible flowers.

Savoury

Try cutting bread and toast, or fried or poached eggs.

If you have more money than sense, oops, I meant time, you can spend 80 dollars on a bouquet of flowers, a small teddy bear and half a dozen chocolates.

Since we already have the bears and chocolates, we can do this ourselves and spend on a gourmet lunch or dinner the next day.

Useful Websites

Photo Opportunities

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Love_sculptures

Clubs

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/events/social-events/valentine%E2%80%99s-day-dinner-13february2023/individual-registration.html

https://www.tanglinclub.org.sg/reciprocal-clubs/reciprocal-clubs.html

Cards

https://www.123cards.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiArY2fBhB9EiwAWqHK6iqxOaOt2QB94RBZYg_5ugYEiL7MOyEKytO22lt0pYwM1XX-oU75PRoCaKMQAvD_BwE#google_vignette

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

https://www.hallmark.com/valentines-day/valentines-day-cards/

DIY CARDS

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Valentines-Day-Card

Flowers

https://www.marksandspencer.com/for-the-love-in-your-life-vase-bundle/p/flp60614876

EDIBLE FLOWERS

https://www.amazon.sg/Cupcake-Toppers-Wedding-Birthday-Decoration/dp/B0829KMVDY/ref=asc_df_B0829KMVDY/?tag=googleshoppin-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=404214624474&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11772662749942218768&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9062509&hvtargid=pla-1543662888924&psc=1

https://www.redmanshop.com/shop-by-category/baking-ingredients/edible-decor/edible-flower

https://www.floweradvisor.com.sg/occasions/singapore-valentines-day?t=0-2-1-1

https://www.floweradvisor.com.sg/occasions/valentines-day-sg-fa25280 (Baby bear, flower, chocolates, 83 dollars Sing.)

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Edible Flowers For Birthdays? What to see, grow and cook around the world

Edible flowers on chocolate cake. From Wikipedia.

If you go to the Botanical Gardens in Singapore or the open air gardens along the riverside outside Gardens By The Bay you can see many plants and trees which are used as food or medicine worldwide.

I first became interested in edible flowers when I was sent a birthday cake made of flowers, ordered from family in the UK, for delivery to Singapore. But you could not eat the flowers!

I wanted to order a cake from edible flowers, or make my own cake with edible flowers. I made a note of possible edible flowers. I learned edible flowers which you intend to eat must be ordered only from suppliers of flowers suitable for consumption. That means no pesticides. So no plants) from garden centres, nor picked from roadsides.

Then friends on my cookery group in whatsApp replied to my query about edible flowers.

Then I found in Wikipedia flower pancakes from Korea. These delights are prepared and eaten at festival times.

A colourful purple flower with a touch of greenery.

Hwajeon from Korea

Wiki reveals:

The word hwajeon (화전; 花煎) is a compound noun made of the Sino-Korean word hwa (화; 花), meaning "flower", and the Sino-Korean word jeon (전; 煎), meaning "a pan-fry".^[5] The synonyms kkot-bukkumi (꽃부꾸미) and kkot-jijimi (꽃지지미) are also compounds of the native Korean word kkot (꽃), meaning "flower", and bukkumi (부꾸미), meaning a "pan-fried rice cake"; or kkot (꽃) and jijimi (지지미), meaning "pancake".^[6]^[7]

Varieties and preparation[edit]

Hwajeon is made of edible petals from seasonal flowers. Typically, rhododendron, pear flower, goldenbell flower, cherry blossom, and violet are used in spring; rose is used in summer; and chrysanthemum and cockscomb are used in autumn.^[1]^[3]^[5] In winter when flowers are scarce in Korea, alternatives like mugwort leaves, waterdropwort leaves, rock tripe, or jujubes are cut into flower shapes and used instead.^[3]

Hwajeon from Korea. Picture in Wikicommons.

Here a piece of greenery in a v shape makes the cup shape base for a small flower bud shape. If you want to make a savoury design with greenery, here is an idea.

Basil

begonia

carnation

chives

chrysanthemum

clover

cornflower

dandelions

fuchia

hibiscus

lavender

pansy

Rose

sunflower

tulip

What can you do with the petals?

1 Add to iced drinks (in ice cubes)

2 Make a hot tea infusion

3 Add to decorate a white chocolate bar

4 Crystallize (egg white and sugar and heat to dry)

5 Place in gelatine or jelly

6 Decorate on top of cakes

7 Add to salads

8 Garnish cheeses (in layers of gel)

Wiki gives more details:

A number of foods are types of flowers or are derived from parts of flowers. The costly spice saffron consists of the stigmas and styles collected from the inside of a type of crocus flower. Broccoli, artichokes, and capers are all technically flower buds, albeit immature forms.^[2] Other parts of the plants than the flowers mentioned in this list may be poisonous.

Flowers reported as edible include:^[1]

American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Arugula (Eruca sativa)
Basil (Ocimum basilicum)
Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
Bergamot (Monarda didyma)
Black locust (only flowers). The flowers are used as tea, and in pancakes.^[6] Flowers are consumed as fritters in many parts of Europe.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]
Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica)
Broussonetia kurzii
Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea)
Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile)
Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
Chickweed (Stellaria Media)
Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum spp.)
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus)
Cosmos (C. Sulphureus) (C. Bipinatus)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Dianthus (Dianthus spp.)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
English marigold (Calendula officinalis)
English daisy (Bellis perennis)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Geranium (Pelargonium spp.)
Hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) but not any other honeysuckle. Its berries are highly poisonous.
Lavender (Lavandula spp.)
Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)
Lovage (Levisticum officinale)
Mangrove trumpet tree (Dolichandrone spathacea)
Markhamia stipulata, similar to the Mangrove trumpet tree flower and sometimes confused with it.
Mint (Mentha spp.)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)
Passionflower (Passiflora spp.)
Pineapple sage (Salvia elegans)
Red clover (Trifolium pratense)
Rose (Rosa spp.)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Sesbania grandiflora, the most popular edible flower in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Squash (Cucurbita pepo)
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Violet (Viola odorata)