Blog 17: Adana, a city of the “garden apartments”

Blog 17: Adana, a city of the “garden apartments”

The first 3 pictures are new 2013 :-)

Below, Salim's flowers 2008 to 2012

Adana is a city of great parks, Ataturk Park and Adana Central Park. These parks as I have previously covered very well so I won't write about them again, except to highlight the fact that they really know how to care and maintain gardens in the parks of Adana. It's an aspect I really love about the city. 

Central Park Adana

Instead of growing the same old natives that we are so keen on back home, they think a little more and grow something a little more sustaining down their streets in Adana. Citrus trees! Up and down a many of the streets of Adana you will find rows of Citrus trees, ripe with an abundance of fruit! Anyone is allowed to pick and consume the fruit of these trees, its wonderful!

Adana, like many cities around the world has it's share of homeless. That's a tragic story anywhere. But it's nice to know if I was homeless in the city I could find some source of food for free! It's a nice touch and the trees do look great lining the streets when they are full of fruit, like Christmas trees.

Adana is an apartment city. Every building is a self-contained community with it's own set of shops and services, very conveniently located at the bottom floor or close by within a very short walk. Each level in an apartment is a little sub community, all known by each other by first names. And each individual apartment is a little world, filled with it's own interesting stories. 

 Apart from the 2 obvious pictures of flowers in the park, all the pictures of flowers you see in this blog, are Salim's flowers, grown on the apartment balcony.

My father-in-law (Salim), has created his own world, his own little “Central Park”on his balcony, filled with many types fruits, vegetables and flowers that would make any “garden house” proud. 
(Australian standard houses are 1 or 2 stories high, have a front and back yard would be termed by the Turks as, a “garden house”. Salim's garden is high up in the roof tops of an apartment block.

  

Salim is truly gifted when it comes to growing anything!! His flowers are spectacular!! In spring he brings to life vast fields of colour on the balconies of his home creating his own little world in which to enjoy and pass his days.

Each plant, flower, fruit and vegetable is nurtured to life with such care, pride and obvious enjoyment. Whether it be pomegranates, peppers, chilli's, tomatoes, cucumbers or even passion-fruit and a vast variety of flowers, Salim is a master of all. He is what we would call in Australia, a natural “green thumb!” His flowers are a site to behold!! Beautiful!!

His little world has fantastic views of the city on 3 sides. Of an evening Salim sits outside in his garden creation, enjoys a hand rolled cigarette, many hour-glass shaped glasses of cay (tea) and contemplates life, then his picks up his “Oud”, plays a few tunes and sings along and allows the night to sooth gently away.

(An Oud is instrument like a balloon shaped guitar with a broken neck! It sounds very nice and soothing to the ears and is a nice way to ease into the sleepy hours.)

Salim has ingenious systems developed to water his flowers (Mechanical Engineer like his daughter, my wife). And has some solar lights amongst the flowers also.

 This is not Salim's watering system but so cute!! ( Michael Emre )

It's nice when we eat at my wife's parents house to be served with some fresh home grown fruit and vegetables from Salim's garden outside. :-)

 Adana pomegranates - The best pomegranates in the world as far as taste and size!

Its easy to see how the flower beds of Central Park reflect so much pride when you see the care an individual Turk like my father-in-law takes in his own gardens. 

My wife Aylin is starting to take after her father in this regard with a ever increasing passionate love of growing vegetables. She is often asking advice and guidance of her father or “baba” and he is very happy to share his experience. It's really nice to see them connect in this way.

Salim and Aylin - Central Park - Adana

 

 Aylin's cucumber!

I on the other hand, I know very little about flowers and have been told I have a “brown thumb”, not a green one! Lol So I can't tell you all the names of the Salim's flowers shown in this blog. 

But I really wanted to show a closer, personal look at a citizen of Adana, and this was a very nice way to show case my father-in-law, who is a big tall man with a soft heart like my own father. That makes it easy for me to get on well with him.

And also, today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday Salim! "dad" (baba) :-)

Cheers,

Andrew