Thursday 11 February 2016

January and February in Dubai with HDYGG?

As you may know by now I'm back in work full time and I no longer have the time to explore Dubai, but I have taken some pictures in January when the kids were visiting and realised I had quite a few that are worthy of a HDYGG post along with a couple taken out and about and in the garden in February.

The new Dragon Mart 2. This is the restaurant area.


 The end of the public beach on 'The Beach' 


 Lovely display of cacti leading from 'The Beach' to 'The Walk' at Jumeria Beach Residence.


Over looking 'The Beach' for lunch.


Spotted this plant in the desert, no idea what it is yet.


Saw another one outside school, I need to do some more research to find out what it is.


Fresh cut flowers don't last long indoors in Dubai, they are also expensive to buy as they are imported the small bunch of 6 tulips costs £6, they lasted 3 days max. The hyacinths smelt gorgeous and lasted over a week at the same price.


We've had our annual storm for January, we will get occasional short drizzles of rain until the end of March, but nothing to write home about. The sand storms are coming soon and they will cause more damage as the wind is salt laden which defoliates plants, water to trees and shrubs should be reduced now as they will lie dormant. The temperatures are ideal now to germinate seeds and I've a supply of zinnia and petunia seeds already sown.


For February I've been spending my Fridays as usual out in the desert, with Bob. It is lovely to see a bit of colour out there now it is winter, it won't be long before it is too hot to venture out there. The scenery is stunning once, but it's already a 40 minute drive to get here from home and one must drive a lot further inland to escape signs of life.





The area we visit is Al Quadra lakes which are man made, a pump oxygenates the water and drip feeds the irrigation system.



This photo is alongside the Sheik Zayed Road, we live the 1km over the 14 lane highway to the right, near the beach. The municipality keep Dubai very clean and tidy and there are flowers along all the roadside junctions.


 We had a trip to IKEA last weekend to buy garden furniture, we hadn't even parked the car before we had a row and apart from a few pots, we left empty handed.
This is the entrance to IKEA.


A few new plants were purchased from this garden centre.


 Finally I has strawberries in the garden, they aren't as sweet as I had hoped but went down well after cheese and home grown tomatoes on toast for supper.



 The sweet peas are doing well.


 And finally, the nasturtium has flowered, it's quite an achievement in Dubai for this to occur.




8 comments:

  1. all i can focus on is the beach shots. i miss the ocean....

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    Replies
    1. i love visiting the beach as much as possible

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  2. It's actually fascinating to see the variety of plants and cactii that grow in Dubai. Also admire how determined you are to nourish and grow plants in your garden. You must be dreading the arrival of the sand storms.

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    1. sand storms and summer defeat me, but i keep battling

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  3. Ah that sky, and a strawberry too - but for me the best shot is those uniform cacti - they made me smile :) #hdygg

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    1. everything in Dubai is structured, even wild planting is planned on the beaches

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  4. Loving the cacti - are they super expensive to but out there?
    Those yellow trees in the desert are beautiful,it really is a whole other world to here, fascinating.
    Tulips and hyacinths here on my table, exactly the same as yours, mine lasted a week too :)

    Thanks for joining in again lovely and for your comment - much appreciated x

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    Replies
    1. Established cacti like that are expensive, I'm truly amazed at the variety of plants and flowers i see over here

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