Settling In... the Natural Way

Another thing I really enjoy about Shanghai is it's love of green spaces.  We live just five minutes from a flower market which sells everything from potted fruit trees to fresh cut flowers, from hanging baskets to bonsais.

We've been down to the market three weekends in a row, taking advantage of the nice fall weather, to carefully select some lively greenery to freshen up our home.  We started with come colorful low-maintenance cacti in the living room and kitchen:

                             

Then we chose a few commonly used herbs, which Chris promptly utilized to marinate some juicy pork chops:

Finally, we planted a few flower boxes, and picked out some fragrant shrubs (gardenia and jasmine, I think), and one big pink and red bougainvillea tree.  

    

Besides enjoying the flowers from inside and outside of our house, I'm also glad that it actually looks like someone lives here!  And it's an easy landmark to tell taxi drivers: "Stop at the house with all the flowers."  Now if only we can get someone to water them every day!