Flowers are hardly seen in Djenné at all- everything that grows in this parched land is destined to be eaten. So I have mostly used the same principle when planting the garden; apart from one or two little patches such as the one above even the ornamental patches outside the bedrooms have been planted with edible plants such as courgettes and melons which give a green covering at the same time as being useful. It is a very utilitarian plan, and one of which the Bauhaus design group would have approved: form subjugated to function, and nothing existing for the frivolous reason of beauty and decoration alone.