In Autumn the ornamental grape and wisteria vines on my verandah were a visual treat — a rich riot of warm colours.
The vines are bare by winter, allowing the low sun to enter my house.
No matter how severely I trim them back, come Spring they always take off with such vigour that here we are at the beginning of Summer with fully drawn blinds of many different shades, shapes and textures of green.
‘Pray enter a refuge from the glare and heat of summer’, say my front steps, leading to a doorway in the vines.
They do not lie. Once on the wide verandah, which is my summer living area, the contrast is extreme, the shade is dense and cool, the very light is green.
And to think these passive solar blinds are free, with guaranteed annual installation!
Up the north-eastern end of the verandah, morning summer sunlight is welcome, so the free blinds are allowed to be of more lacey material.
The climbing Crepuscule rose is finishing its blooming, just as the ‘Chilean Jasmine’, Mandevilla Laxa, is beginning — highly perfumed white clusters on delicate twining stems.