What do you do when the Schau is over? Travels in Mitteleuropa part 3.

     What happens when the last Stein has been drunk, the last leaflet on bio-dynamic slug control handed out and the last Tagetes wilts in autumn's first frost?        
     Gardenshows are a big part of the German garden scene, lasting all summer and (key thing this) leaving behind the legacy of a regenerated urban space. Many of the best parks are former Gartenschau sites. We tried it in Britain during the Thatcherreich but no attempt was ever made to keep them as public spaces, and in the sad case of Liverpool, the show site is now quite well-known for its grafitti daubed ruined Chinese garden.

Playground - durability all right! Had to stop myself running up it.

            How you turn a one-summer event into something permanent is a challenge, one which has apparently been met pretty well here. Of course I tend to visit the successful ones, but I have seen places with  artworks that look like beached whales, avenues which go nowhere, and perennial borders run amok. A couple of days ago I dropped in on a 2004 Bavaria State show at Burghausen. On the whole a successful transformation, 8 out of 10, I think Herr  (or Frau) Burgermeister. One series of perennial borders pretty well abandoned – why not just replace with ground cover? and some strange objects which could only be artworks, but a fantastic children’s playground – the kind of really inventive place which can be one of the best features of these events, overall a good urban green space, and a whole series of little gardens between beech hedges – nice intimate spaces (assuming the good folk of Burghausen don’t go in for too much spliff-rolling or needle-based activities, which is always a problem if you create too much quiet space in urban parks). These were all designed by design practices, a bit like Chelsea Flower Show gardens, but permanent. Some looked really good, the others … well, I am sure the designers would be horrified if they could see their names attached. There is always a real problem with these individual gardens in places where they become permanent and get maintained by the same staff – they all sink to a common level. On the whole though they make for garden vignettes you would never get normally in a public park.

Panicum virgatum grass with Aster dumosus at Weihenstephan

            Quick visit to Weihenstephan, home to the world’s leading collection of perennials, meet the new prof. of planting design, Swantje Duthweiler, whose interest in early 20^th century planting styles heralds the prospect of some interesting new takes on plant use (watch this space?).

            Now in Switzerland where I have spent a fascinating day at Hochschule Wädenswil, a teaching and research centre in canton Zürich. They have done a lot of work on perennial mixtures – randomized combinations of plants for particular visual effects or management techniques, sometimes just perennials, but sometimes including bulbs and annuals too. Some very high tech means of teaching plant ID too – you use an iPhone app. to zap a code on a pillar and your phone downloads a plant list, plant information and other stuff about the planting; meanwhile some nicely designed little leaflets give you plants lists too.

Most stunning of all though are the vertical gardens they are working on for indoor environments, including some wonderful ‘plant pictures’, exploiting the fact that a lot of tropicals perform well when growing vertically.

            A lot of fruit growing happens at Wädenswil too – it has a mild climate, being on Lake Zürich; some fascinating unusual fruit here too. Actinidia arguta makes tiny sweet little Kiwi fruit – much nicer than the normal kind, and I never realised you can eat Schisandra chinensis berries – although to be honest the flavour made me think of what it would be like if you bit into a chunk of incense – a challenge for the truly innovative cook perhaps.

            Odd how in the German- speaking world, it is public horticulture  which is where innovation happens, and private gardens are relatively unsophisticated - mirror image of back home. Our nearly all having private gardens (in the UK) has meant, sadly, a lack of political pressure for quality public space. But given the very different agendas of private and public gardening, there is so much scope for cross-fertilisation of ideas.

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planning garden chores

Buy galvanized metal wire at hardware store for hoops
Find my row cover (in the basement I think)
Find my clover seed
Buy 10 lbs winter rye seed at the hardware store (they sell by the lb)

Home Garden
Clear out cucumber and melon vines from cold frame.
Replace torn cold frame plastic
Attach cold frame covers
Transplant fall seedlings into cold frame
Plant cover crop in beds (under tomato and pepper plants)

Community Plot
Clear out old plants
Plant cover crop
Garlic: Locate new bed, transplant volunteers, figure out how many saved bulbs to plant
Transplant rhubarb to make room for new compost bin
Set up hoops for row covers over fall/winter greens

My Parents' Garden
Transplant fall seedlings
Set up hoops and row covers over fall/winter greens (they may frost Sat night)
Clear out all old plants
Plant winter rye

I doubt I will get all this done, but I have a plan.

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cold frame ready for winter

On Saturday, I cleared out the old plants from my cold frame. I removed the cucumber, melon, squash vines, and a few tomatoes plants.

Then I pulled off the ripped plastic from the sides of the cold frame. A wind storm a month ago had ripped them. My husband and I cut and stapled on fresh side sheets. I checked on the type of plastic and the sides are 4 mil basic plastic sheeting from Home Depot. Its not very transparent, but reflects the light well. The front panel was also quite brittle, though not ripped, after a summer of bright light. It may need reinforcing sooner rather than later. (I think it would be good to use a stronger plastic that lasts better next time we replace this. The sides do not need to be transparent.)

After fixing the sides, my husband and I carried out the top panels that had been stored under a tarp behind the garage for the summer. We reattached the hinges. The plastic on these panels is looking very good. Unlike the sides, this is clear (and I think thinner plastic than the sides.) I like the way it reflects our newly painted green house.

The cold frame now looks ready to fill up with plants again. I have a row of broccoli at the back left and one kale plant at the front right. These are plants from the spring. The broccoli are producing heads again now that its cool. Also I planted a some rows of lettuce and beets at the back right a couple weeks ago. The rest is open soil waiting for plants. I brought down a tray of seedlings that I've had under lights. They had a little disaster last night as they fell over onto the floor, but I think they will be fine once they hydrate and unsquish.

On Sunday morning with the top covers down the temp came up to 60*F and the plants were looking very happy. I propped them open and Skippy and I admired the frame. I bet the lettuce will do well here this fall.

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Travels in Mitteleuropa 2

TRAVELS IN MITTELEUROPA 2

Jo and I try out the exercise machines on Bratislava's new Danube river promade - a real boost for the way you can enjoy the city and the river.

The perennial revolution marches on! The Czechs and Slovaks are now doing research into public use of perennials, very much inspired by the German randomised mixing technique. Extremely interesting afternoon at the Landscape Dept. of the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra. Jo worked at Bratislava Comenius Univ. from 1993-5, so we now all about alcoholic Stalinist heads of department, reinforced concrete buildings , dead hand of Marxism-Leninism exams etc, etc. So delighted to find lovely new building,  ditto perennial border, ditto prof, and young staff well clued up on all the German research, on Oudolf, and ‘the Sheffield school’. On the subject of profs. a sure sign of age is when the professors start to be younger than you are.

Reading Prof. Hallova’s research I realise that she’d brought up an issue none of the rest of us have ever considered – that plants engage in chemical warfare through ‘allelopathy’ amongst themselves and that this impacts on planting combinations, so for eg. nepeta and euphorbia suppress the growth of asters and geraniums. I immediately think of all the Euphorbia cyparissias I let rampage in my borders. Fascinating! I think I should set up some trials back home this winter and really see if it is an impact we should really worry about in a practical sense. 

Perennial beds in every town I drove through! Plus trusty Renault Kangoo

Given that it's a long time since I’ve driven round Austrian roundabouts it is just amazing to see how much perennials (in the 40-60cms height range) are used in traffic islands and roadside environments. Really just about every place I have driven through in Oberösterreich seems to. Wunderbar!

A misty, soggy, chilly stomp around some dry meadow habitat near Mikulov in Czechia, Scabiosa ochroleuca and Aster linosyris flowering away in profusion. Sabine Plenk (a colleague from Vienna’s BOKU) and I agreed it was a ‘second spring’ effect as autumn rains re-moisten very thin stony soils. Nice to see the local flora (Pannonian-Pontic) used in the grounds of the castle in town in an ornamental way. Not so sure about the monstrous Christmas tree in the town square and all the artificial snow – but it turned out to be a film set. Made me freeze just looking at it.

Dialectic of locally native dry meadow plants with box parteer at Mikulov Castle, CZ.

More soggy foggy in Austria, can’t see the mountains! Furchtbar! Schade! Garden visiting in Austria is looking up. There is a new guidebook, published by Callwey Verlag and based on the very thorough Gärten for Germany. Lots of really rather nice sounding Privatgarten open too – how soon can I get back to check them all out? Only managed Linz Bot. Gdn. (good, some nice mature rarely-seen shrubs) and Christian Kreß’s nursery – Saravasto – at Ort-in-Innkreis. FAB, FAB, FAB. If this nursery were outside Guildford, you’d be blown away by it. Its not just plants, its really funky architectural salvage, kinky walls, alpines grown in all sorts of weird rubble. Its Berlin grunge meets Alpine Garden Society. Its cool. Ain’t nothing like it back home.

Forget the Sleazyjet flight to ‘Vienna’ (in reality Bratislava). Get the car out – the GB sticker, the green card, the ferry/chunnel  ticket, the headlight deflectors, and thrash down the autobahns (yes, you really can drive as fast as you like) and load the car up with plants. There’ll be loads here you’ve never seen before. And while you about it you can load up with Austrian wine, all of it totally gluggable and varieties like Grüner Veltliner you never find amongst the Chard and SauviBlank in Sainsbury’s, and the time spent on the autobahn will feel like its worth it. I did one better, stocked up with Slovak wine at the Nitra Tesco – just as good and miles cheaper. Stuff the Dordogne, up the Danube!

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photos of my garden plot

Here are a few pictures of what's growing now in my community garden plot. My lettuce is finally looking good. I have lots of oak leaf coming along. I can start tinning this soon. At home, I have smaller lettuce seedlings that are looking good too: mostly Prizehead, escarole and red romaine.

Other greens growing include: red bok choy (I think), mizuna, escarole frisee, spinach and arugula. The broccoli is forming its second set of heads now that the weather has cooled off. Some of these are quite nice. And the beets (sowed the first week of August) are harvest size now - its been a great year for beets.



The purple flowers are some morning glories growing up my old popcorn stalks. They stay open all day now with the declining sunlight. I'm sad how dim the light looks in my photos taken at about 4 pm on Sunday.



I also have a couple rows of snap peas in bloom. I planted these late August, but they grew very slowly during the hot September weather. I think they'll need a week or two more to produce, but frost could come anytime now. A gamble. A lot of fresh new dill plants coming up all over the garden. I wanted to use up some old seeds. It smells great.

I've also found stray garlic sprouts popping up where I grew garlic this year. I always have this happen. When garlic is left in the ground too long, heads fall apart and I don't harvest it all. Any left behind sprout in the fall. I'll need to designate a new garlic bed soon. I'll move the volunteers and plants saved cloves from my summer harvest. I have enough this year to go without purchasing more.

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Mitteleuropa

An invite to lecture at a new garden event in Vienna – Flora Mirabilis. Very stylish, in the way that these things usually are over here. The posters for it are shown above. Wonderfully kitsch-Botticelli,  and rather naughty (look at the guy’s pants). Probably wouldn’t be acceptable in prudish Britain.

Over here – on the mainland. I drove over, a long way, but having the car enables you to be so flexible and you can just throw all your possessions in the back and not worry about squeezing everything into a flight bag; and you can stop at nurseries and buy plants, ditto winemakers and cases of wine etc. I used to do this a lot – drive all the way to central Europe, but haven’t done so for years. Back in the mid to late 1990s it was when I discovered the wonders of what was going on in German and Dutch gardens – crucially Jo was working in Bratislava 1993-1995, just after Slovak independence, and so I got into the habit of driving, which enabled me to visit gardens on the way – and if you take a kind of broad corridor from disembarking at Calais to say Munich, there are just so many stunning examples of horticultural innovation on the way. And so many great historical gardens too – if the sight of perennials and grasses gets a bit much after a while.

I made the first trip in June 1994. This was a month after my mother died, which was kind of symbolic, as she had been a great traveller in Germany and Austria in her youth. It is one of the curses of the human condition  that we burst with questions for our parents when it is too late. There is so much now that I would have liked to ask her. She came over with a bicycle and made several big trips in the 1930s – the last time a month before war was declared in 1939. This was a time when educated Brits were far more likely to spend time in Germany than France; it seems strange now – the Brit summer middle-class rush to their second homes/gîte in France now takes on the appearance of the annual departure of the Gadarene Swine – but most of them come back complaining - about a) too many other Brits and b) the French. Now Germany is just seen as a large car factory with a bit of rather gloomy forested scenery attached.

I have my mother’s diary of her German cycling travels – I have thought about trying to retrace it (although how much I would do on a bike is debatable). Reading it now, I inevitably do so with the knowledge of the horrors that came after, which I think is a real problem in dealing with anything to do with 1930s Germany. On the garden front, Karl Foerster had the sense/decency to go into exile (Sweden), Willy Lange accepted a Nazi medal – do we trash his reputation as a result? Anyway back to my mum’s diary – most of it is actually pretty boring, she wasn’t a very political person and anyway life in ‘interesting times’ goes on much as the same as it always does. She complains a lot about how dirty places are, and how friendly everyone is.

As a kid we often had family holidays in Switzerland, where my mother’s German proved invaluable. Her first trip back to Germany was in 1966? when we did one of those boat cruises down the Rhine. I remember standing in a bomb site in Cologne which just seemed to go on for ever – it must have been a deeply emotional moment for her. Another time we did the Romantishe Straße through all those fairytale towns in Bavaria (now signposted in Japanese by the way), and I remember a lot of her memories came back. I have her photograph albums – which are fascinating to look at, especially when you realise that much of the cityscapes she photographed were bombed into ash in 1944-5. There are a number of photographs missing – just as I’m sure you’d find with many surviving German/Austrian  albums of the time too.

Students at BOKU show off their planting design projects

Since 1994, I think I have been back to Germany almost every year. There is so much to see here in the garden world, but in a kind of mirror image of back home – the interesting things, the innovation, is all in the public sphere: garden shows, urban planting schemes, parks, green roofs. The same is largely true of Austria and Switzerland, which makes events like Flora Mirabilis, aimed at the private gardener, all the more interesting. I hope it succeeds, I’d love to come every year. And those posters – well – maybe these will become the garden equivalent of the Pirelli calendar.

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Planning a Cutting Garden and a New Competition!

Have you ever been tempted by the idea of starting a cutting garden? Maybe you’ve had enough of paying for stems of over-engineered, chemically coated and unscented shadows of a former bloom, when you know very well you are more than capable of growing better yourself?  I know my answer to both questions and I imagine I’m not on my own here.

   

Since I’ve had a garden I’ve grown flowers for the home and I guess that started with my Grandmother bringing Roses in to her home and naturally roping me, an animal crazed youth, in for earwig duty. That was much more exciting at the time but the Roses never failed to amaze either.  They were always large, old fashioned, scented blooms in shades of pink and red, a much better quality rose than the mainstream tight budded chaff that is churned out en mass nowadays.  To date, I have refrained from growing roses but that doesn’t mean that the influence of growing cut flowers has been lost.  

My small garden is host to a number of plants and flowers that could be considered as vase worthy and I have been known to sacrifice a few for the home but this is not without a touch of resent.   A few decapitated blooms in a small space is often too great a loss, at least it is not something that is entirely sustainable, and it is therefore my intention to dedicate a bit of space (a small space at that) on my allotment.  The question is – What do I grow?

I have visions of growing a mix of annuals, perennials and bulbs so that I can create seasonal displays. I have a vague idea of what to grow but I want a wider and more informed view of what will grow well and last and in true Ryan’s Garden style there is an upside to this - there’s a prize in it for you!

In association with clothes retailer Lands' End I am giving away six £25 gift vouchers and several packets of Nasturtium seeds, which are perfect for sowing next spring in the garden or on the allotment.  Lands' End sponsor the Colour Garden at Barnsdale Gardens.  I was lucky enough to be invited to the garden this year but I couldn’t attend.  I will visit next year for sure as part of a number of much needed garden visits.  

So the question is - What Spring bulbs would you recommend for cutting?  To enter the competition please click here.

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my plot on last day of summer

Lucky I have the giant sunflowers and big purple hyacinth beans this year, because right now, there's not much else going on in my garden plot.

Well I do have a big patch of basil, a patch of sweet potatoes that I really have high hopes for, and nice chiles. But not much else. The beans all succumbed to the beetles. It was a terrible year for beans in all plots at our community garden. I have empty pole bean tepees and empty shell bean beds where I had to pull plants before they produced anything.

And the dry hot weather has been brutal for those of us who didn't come down daily to water. I have especially had trouble with fall carrots and lettuce sprouts drying out. I've lost many sowings of these in the past months. I finally have big seedlings from indoor seeding, but its so late now that I will put them into my cold frame soon. Only a couple weeks now until we get a frost. I heard that not far west of here they have already had light frosts.

Cucumbers, tomatoes and chile peppers in my home garden are still doing good. They have the luxury of an automatic sprinkler. I hardly used this at all last year. Today's harvest was a bunch of North Carolina pickling cukes, a couple Cherokee purple tomatoes, and two pretty chiles: numex and poblano.

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digging potatoes

Freshly dug potatoes! I grew 4 varieties this year: Cobbler, All Blue, Green Mountain, and Rio Grande Russet. The Blue potatoes produced very well and are a nice purple color. My favorite is probably the Russets, which grill very nicely.

I only harvested about 1/10th the amount of potatoes of last year's harvest. This year, I planted in a very shady bed in my home garden. Mostly because of last year's late blight problems, I decided to remove all late blight susceptible plants from my community garden. Next year I am looking forward to growing potatoes in full sun again.

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reflecting on my community plot

It seems that gardens are a reflection of a person and what's going on. This year my garden is fending for itself a fair amount of time. The soil is good and the weather has been nice, so my plants have done well. But I have big areas of unplanted space. Some fall greens are coming along under lights at home and will fill these in soon.

My mom is pretty sick right now. I've been visiting the hospital and keeping her company. She had some bad luck it will probably take quite some time to recuperate.

I'm also putting more time into my role as coordinator at the Belmont Community Gardens. Communication and planning. And my new company is growing. Good news, but it keeps me away from my garden on those beautiful rainy days when the flowers colors look so bright and the droplets allow you to reflect.

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Chamomile Tea: How to make your own

Do you enjoy a nice cup of Chamomile tea of an evening?  Or are you growing this wonderfully scented herb in your garden and don’t really know what to do with it?  Either way, you should consider making your very own Chamomile tea.  It’s easy, it’s free and best of all it's good for you.





This aromatic tea is easily made when you have fresh flowers of German (Matricaria recutita) or Roman Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) to hand but as with everything in horticulture seasonality comes in to effect and it’s not always possible to have a fresh supply of flowers.  By harvesting and drying the fresh flowers you can enjoy this somniferous delight, with its many other health benefits, throughout the darker months when fresh Chamomile flowers aren’t available.  





I always have a steady supply of Chamomile growing in my garden and it has become a plant I wouldn’t go without.  I initially grew Chamomile from seed to make a small lawn but after falling in love with the plant I then went on to make an informal path with stone leading up to the back gate. Now that the path has established itself and has been allowed to run riot (My fault completely) I now have more of a chamomile hedge than a path.  Luckily, I always have a use for Chamomile in the bath as part of a Bath Bouquet and it is excellent for easing aching muscles, soothing cuts, and keeping skin healthy, amongst other things. 





Anyway, back to the making of tea.  The method of oven drying is very simple and by following a few simple steps you are sure to have home grown tea to hand throughout the Winter.



1) Pick your flowers first thing in the morning as early as possible.  Anytime between 6:00am and 12 noon should suffice.  Discard any damaged or diseased material. 





2) Fill a bowl with cool water and add the fresh flowers.  Gently clean the flowers, removing any insects and sieve off any debris that floats to the surface.  Allow flowers to soak for a few minutes after cleaning.  





3) Remove flowers and strain with a colander or salad spinner ensuring that as much moisture as possible is removed.  Paper towels may also be used as long as they do not disintegrate.  

4) Heat an oven to 200 degrees and whilst the oven is warming up place the individual flowers on a baking tray lined with baking paper.  Once the oven heats up fully turn the oven off and place the baking tray on the lowest rack of the oven.  Ensure that the oven door remains slightly open and allow the flowers to dry.  Check for dryness at regular intervals and if flowers are not dry after a few hours you can reheat the oven and begin the process again.





5) Once the Chamomile is dry, place it in an airtight jar and store for up to 4-6 months in a cool dry place.  





6) When you want to make your tea either crush
the dried chamomile or leave it whole and allow a tbsp per cup to steep in a pot of boiling water for around 10-15 minutes.   Strain with a sieve and add honey, a slice of lemon or other lemon herbs as desired, and enjoy!

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Get Out and Forage: An Allotment Story

There are very few things in life that are better than free food and if you know where to look you will find that it’s right on your doorstep! 





I’m lucky enough to have been granted an allotment plot this year, which allows me to grow a lot of produce and expand my gardening horizons, but what makes this acquisition even better is that it’s surrounded by a productive but rather boggy woodland, which has a lot to offer.   I’m planning to take full advantage of this great resource as much as I can and I’m sure the autumn months will allow me to cook up some great treats and several alcoholic delights.  





After feeding the chickens, oh did I forget to mention that I now have three beautiful girls?  They’re yet to be named but I can tell you that I chose a beautiful Cotswold Legbar, which escaped on day one; not to worry she’s back now after spending the night in a tree, a Copper Marans cross (the boss) and a very friendly Speckledy hen.  They are all point of lay (P.O.L) hens and I’m hopeful that they are coming in to their egg-laying phase. I will update on progress and post when the first egg arrives.  They seem to be settling in really well and have brought me that step closer to having my own small holding.  Okay, so I’m a fair distance off but I will get there eventually.  





Anyway, back to the foraging thing.  I fed the chooks and on the way out I collected some wonderful free food.  In the pouring rain and in true allotment style (I’m slowly getting used to that!) I used my ingenuity and recycling skill to conjure up some sort of receptacle.  The result, you may see, is in the image above.  Yes, that’s right it’s a dog poo bag.  I find that they pop up in the strangest places and they have so many uses.  Anyway, I collected what I thought was rather exciting and headed home.  The following dialogue ensued:





Me: I’m back!





(I run upstairs and present the bag)





OH: What is it? (Half asleep)





Me: Guess! (At this point I’m rather excited)





OH: Well don’t open it on the bed.





Me: Okay.  What do you think it is?





OH: A hedgehog?





Me: What?!





Okay, I have no idea what goes on in that head and it didn’t go exactly as I wished; I’m also not entirely sure what it says about me?  But one thing I do know, however, is that we can safely say that guess was wrong.  It wouldn’t have been too far away from the correct guess in my younger years when I would regularly come home with pots of leeches, stray dogs, cans of spiders and pets that horrified my mother, including several snakes, stick insects that later inhabited our airing cupboard and numerous pet frogs.  But no, it was not a hedge pig.  It was in fact a lovely, full bag of glistening plump Blackberries.

A bit of an anticlimax really compared to the anticipated hedgehog but in my experience they don’t really fit well in to a crumble.  





Does anyone have any great Blackberry recipes?  What other fruits and foods do you forage for?

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garden notes

We had a very successful garden event today. We requested volunteers come to help dig a trench (about 125 feet long x 1 ft deep) to run an extra water line to the new plots. About 25 people came and it was short work to dig, lay line, and back fill. Thanks to all who came!

I checked on my beans at my plot today. I had a terrible problem with Mexican bean beetle. On Thursday, I sprayed with Captain Jack's Dead Bug Spray. I am pleased with the results. Very few larvae/beetles left today. I was able to squish these (yuck... I HATE to do this...). I will try to keep up with squishing them so I don't need to use spray again. Maybe I will bring an old glove to the garden and use this. I notice that many plots have skeleton bean leaves this year with bad bean beetle infestations.

I picked a handful of Chinese pole beans pods that I let ripen fully on the vines. I save these every year for replanting next year.

I continue to plant seeds for fall crops. I put in three rows of peas today. A bit late, but so hot I couldn't see planting sooner. I planted Caselode and Oregon Giant. Also a couple rows of carrots and lettuce seeds. I've been planting carrots every week for the past month. They don't do well with such dry weather, but I keep at it. I've covered the beds with row fabric and this seems to help keep in moisture and shade small seedlings.

I have some nice lettuce ans spinach seedlings under lights at home now. Its fun to watch them grow. They a coddled to be watered and under lights.

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my community plot

It seems that gardens are a reflection of a person and what's going on. This year my garden is fending for itself a fair amount of time. The soil is good and the weather has been nice, so my plants have done well. But I have big areas of unplanted space. Some fall greens are coming along under lights at home and will fill these in soon.

My mom is pretty sick right now. I've been visiting the hospital and keeping her company. She had some bad luck it will probably take quite some time to recuperate.

I'm also putting more time into my role as coordinator at the Belmont Community Gardens. Communication and planning. And my new company is growing. Good news, but it keeps me away from my garden on those beautiful rainy days when the flowers colors look so bright and the droplets allow you to reflect.

Read more ...