This is the current state of our hedge, if you can call it a hedge. Since at least 4-5 months it has been left to do what it wants to and so we called the gardner last week as Mr. and Mrs. Angloswiss are not longer as fit as they were and cutting hedges is no longer possible.
Today the gardner arrived and they are busy with their hedge cutters in the back and front garden. We live in Switzerland and it is an unwritten law that hedges must be hedges otherwise the neighbours will begin to talk. Our garden is also looking a little neglected, but with builders trampling everywhere it is difficult to make a prognosis. The lawn is not what it used to be, but there is no point doing thing in Autumn. We will have to wait for the Spring.
There is a gardner involved in the renovation work and it is decreed that he will bring everything back to its original state before the builders arrived with their destruction programme, although I very much doubt it. He cut down a privet bush because it was obstructing the builders path, he completely destroyed one of my flower beds and removed a hosta bed. Miracles no longer happen in my part of the world so I have no great expectations. At least my own gardener knows what to do.
I showed a photo of the strange growth on my basil plant yesterday. I have now taken some more photos and naturally asked the gardner what he thought. He confirmed he has never seen anything like it and it has nothing to do with the basil plant, but probably grew out of the earth. He says it must be some sort of creeping plant. It is all very mysterious. I looked to the sky buy found no strange lights or comets, perhaps it is all in the imagination.
Yesterday we went on our normal shopping trip and I noticed some strange cloud formations. There are signs – strange growths on a basil and clouds that are forming strange shapes.
And now I must move on. There is a guy standing outside in a cloak with a hood hiding his face, with a scythe in his hand and I do not think he belongs to the gardening team.
Enjoy the day, I will not – I should clean the bathroom which is not my favourite housework.
See you around.
A very good post and nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!
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🙂
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Don’t let the guy hiding his face in Pat whatever you do….so long as he keeps his distance all will be ok….have a good day…
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He is now helping the gardeners. He has a very sharp scythe. I offered him a drink but he said he has swallowing problems, poor man.
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Lol…just stay on his good side..
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Somehow I don’t think he has one.
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Definitely extraterrestrial.
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As long as I see no triffids growing in the garde.
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Ha.
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This basil development is getting scarier by the day….. hope it’s not some worm thingie!
Great cloud formations – I took some 30 photos lately on travelling trips by car & ship, on foot, outside our house and out of windows in Switzerland, Lake Geneva section, Lyon, Paris, Orléans….. I could fill probabably books with them all, fascinating and ever changing!
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No worm, it does not breathe – at least not recognisably. I think it is more into the direction of parasite vegitation, not quite an orchid, but it seems to grow into the stem of the basil. I find it fascinating. The gardener also said he had never seen anything like it, and probably came from the earth. It has nothing to do with the basil.
Taking photos of clouds has become a bit of a hobby. I no longer get out and about so much to other places due to my MS, but clouds always change.
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It looks like our backyard hedge. It got so huge this spring, NO ONE can cut it. They would need a crew. With ladders. And really BIG chain saws! So it may yet take over the entire area.
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It’s just plain privet and it was trimmed in a couple of hours, the front and back garden. This will be the last time this year. Next year, when the renovation work is finished, there will be a complete tidy up in the garden.
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Ours is about 10 feet tall, covered with wild grape vines, and possibly 10 feet wide, too. It is huge.
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That sounds more like a forest.
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I wish I had a photo of similar growths in one of my house plants. Regarding clouds, at the risk of being an oldie who repeats herself, I just love the Cloud Appreciation Society and the cloud book written by the society founder.
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The growth is an exception and I am still searching for something similar in Internet. I am on the mailing list of the Cloud Appreciation Society.I would join, but at the age of 70 you no longer join as quickly as you used to. I may keep an eye open for the cloud book, sounds very interesting.
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It is called The Cloudspotter’s Handbook: The Science, History and Culture of Clouds by Gavin PretorPinney. I love his sense of humor. For example, on page 36, he has a picture of “Jupiter and Io, 1531 by Corregio–the seedy world of sixteenth century cloud pornography” It is unusual to find a book with science, history and humor all in one.
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Thanks for the information. I will see if I can get it from Amazon
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This made my morning. Thank you for sharing!
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Glad you enjoyed it
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The growth on the basil is the rare parasitic plant known as ‘dodder’. It is pretty nasty stuff!
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The growth on the basil is a rare parasitic plant known as ‘dodder’. It is nasty stuff! I do not mean to send this message twice if I happened to do so. It just did not seem to go through the first time.
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I am now receiving your messages as they arrived during my night and I have now cleared them. It looks very much like dodder. I bought the plant in the local store and luckily it is in a pot in a separate place and not in the garden where it could spread. After taking a few more photos I will probably throw the basil away. This has really got fascinating and I am so glad of your help.
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I am sorry for all the redundancy. I am new to this.
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No problem. Being in Europe, Switzerland, our clocks are later. I am really glad of your help with my strange and for me unknown plants.
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Oh my! Switzerland! It is tomorrow morning there! Well, good morning to you. . . and good night. It is about a quarter past ten here, and time for me to retire.
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Actually I am still hugging my bed and writing on my iPad. 🙂
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The growth on the basil is the rare parasitic plant known as ‘dodder’.
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Thankyou. Now I at last know what Is attacking
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Okay, this is getting weird. I keep sending messages, but they do not seem to go through.
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Now I am receiving them it is because they are your first comments on my pages and I have to click allow. Thankyou for commenting
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Goodness! Wouldn’t you know; we now have our own mystery here with mistletoe, the ‘other’ parasitic plant. It has disappeared. It is nice that it is gone; but we are wondering if there is some disease or pest that we should know about.
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I saw my first mistletoe growing on trees in Switzerland and have quite a photo collection. Especially in Winter you see it on the bare branches of the trees. I don’t think there is a danger of it disappearing here. Although a parasite the trees are surviving.
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good observations….nice write up
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🙂
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