Tuscany on the balcony

That´s exactly what our long-neglected balcony feels like right now.
We picked up a pair of blooming oleander bushes this weekend (at half price, too) that went into two existing terracotta-lookalike containers, plus a cherry laurel plant that now lives in a big white container that had been lingering in the cellar for years. Together with the pyramid-shaped boxwood plant and the herb garden, the place has turned into a veritable Eden.
As I did, when picking out the herbs, look for plants that don´t only look good but also smell good, there´s, at least in the evening when it gets cooler, a definite aroma of lavender, basil and rosemary hanging in the air.
Every night since our return, we have been sitting out there, with a candle in a glass lighting the scene.
What that meant was, of course, that we did not sit down in front of the TV set. We have been talking, reminiscing, planning for future journeys.
We have found out that this little piece of nature in the city is a far better place to sit than if we were going out to some restaurant where you can sit in a garden. It´s more frugal, and -an important consideration for me, at least- a lot more private.
The investment we made is, at least partly, sustainable. Cherry laurel and boxwood can even be left outside in winter, and the oleander bushes and the rosemary will get their winter lodgings in the corridor outside our door. And the containers which were, actually, more expensive than the plants in them, can be reused for years to come.
The dividend we get in terms of feeling good? invaluable.
 And if I cook some Italian food, we may well feel as if we were really somewhere in Tuscany.


Julia