So last week, I was thinking we had quite an impressive show by the gate from the echium and native hibiscus...

​So this morning I tried to stand it up again and see if I could save it with a bit of support for a while but that didn't work - the main roots were broken so it had to go. 

The new look is going to take a bit of getting used to! (As you can see, it's a very wet day.)

We've finally give up on what we lovingly (or laughingly) called our lawn but what was really just mown weeds! It's right at the top of the block behind the pool and unconnected to the entertainment area where it would be useful. To make matters worse, the ground is so rocky with poor and very thin top spoil in this area, that grass wouldn't grow well.
​So we decided to take it back to the original garden plan of having trees in this area but this time, rather than natives, we've planted four olives (two kalamatas and two manzanillos) and a fig tree to go with the orange and mandarin planted a couple of years ago.

When it's windy, we're all listening out for falling trees. When it's the strongest wind for eith years, something has to give and sure enough, another two big trees next to the house came down.
​Fortunately, they fell away from the house and the only damage was to crack the brick paving and break the fence wire . It's too late in the day to do anything about it now, so the cleanup job will have to wait a couple of weeks.