Back in June I wrote about the agave that was beginning to flower in the garden of some friends here in the valley. Initially a huge stalk – looking rather like a giant asparagus spear – grew from the centre of the spiky leaves. As the agave dies once it has flowered, it’s probably as well that the stalk’s growth and subsequent appearance of the flowers takes place over the course of several weeks.
Yesterday morning The Boss and I went to check out the progress of this Mediterranean plant. The Boss took his iPod to capture some images to send to our friends (currently back in the UK) and I used my Nikon’s zoom lens to focus on the detail of the lofty yellow flowers.
The once-sturdy leaves at the base of the plant are now beginning to droop, as all the energy has gone into producing the spectacular flower. What struck us most was the huge number of bees swarming around the blooms. The property has some old hives and the bees often fly over to visit our finca’s bird baths, but we haven’t seen many for a few days. We know little about bees (except that The Boss doesn’t react too well to being stung) but, from what we’ve observed, they love anything that’s yellow. They’re certainly loving the agave flower, but for how much longer? Only time will tell . . .
A daylight
glimpse of the moon as well.
High in the sky.
Hi Jan, I note from a previous blog that you initially bought your finca as a holiday home, did someone keep an eye on it while you were not there? We have just bought a small house on the island as a holiday home and I wondered what arrangements could be put in place?
Hi Jackie! Thanks for reading my blog. Yes, we bought our place as a holiday home in July 2002, moving into it in April 2004. We are lucky in having ‘attentive’ and kind neighbours, who informally kept an eye on the place. Our property is right on the edge of the lane and very visible – a good thing when it comes to security. We did have padlocked gates and padlocked bars across all doors and windows, which acted as a good visual deterrent and luckily never had a problem when the property was unattended. I guess your own requirements depend on the location and availability of good neighbours. We took the time to introduce ourselves to our neighbours (mainly Mallorcan) soon after buying the place.
There are companies on the island who specialize in looking after empty properties, but I have no personal experience of any of them, I’m afraid. If anyone on Mallorca has any other advice or suggestions for Jackie, please share!
Jackie.
I completely agree with Jan. We bought our finca in the southwest of Mallorca in 2003, initially as a holyday home, but since our retirement seven years ago we spend most of the winter there. We hade a break in after a few years and they emptied the house! They even took the mattresses. We blamed it on the riffraff that were working on a finca nearby, owned by dubious man, as our finca is slightly isolated with no other traffic. Our nearest neighbour (English) noticed the break in and contacted the insurance company and also cleaned the house! After that we realised that we needed better protection as they entered though the bathroom window after removing flimsy bars.
We when, like Jan, installed heavy bars and padlocks on every door and window. We have had no problems after that. Booth our English and our Mallorcin neighbours keep an eye on our finca when we are back in Sweden and we keep an eye on theirs when they are away.
Anders
Sorry! It should have been southeast Mallorca and not southwest. Not very far from Jan´s place I think.
Anders
Oh, Anders, I’m sorry to hear about that experience. But thank you for sharing this with us.
Thank you both for your comments.