Kalanchoe beharensis 

is a tree size succulent plant from Madagascar. 
It keeps up the Kalanchoe legacy that is:   hardy and it
grows very easy from leaves or pieces of stem.

Photo above is one plant.  This could have been an
even bigger bush if it was not that the branches are often blown off by the wind.  The stems are not strong enough for the heavy leaves full of  water.

Showing size of leaf. The bullterrier posed for size.  One leaf will easy cover her head.

The pattern where the leaves were attached on the stem is
pretty.  There is a hollow as if it was scooped out. Smooth and shiny. With points like thorns on the rim but these  "thorns"  where the leaves were attached are blunt and do not cut or scratch.
The inflorescence is very large and heavy.

It is a pity that the flowers are so very small but beautiful seen close-up striped in pale red pink and green.

The Kalanchoe genus 

vary from odd to interesting and beautiful succulent plants.  For the most part popular.  However there are a few species that are very hardy and grow  easy from leaves or any piece of vegetation so that they are seen as weeds.
Kalanchoe bossveldiana,  could be the most popular
species cultivated for beautiful flowers here in the Republic of South Africa.  The plants are mostly sold in pots but they do best hanging.
Here on my rock garden wall the pink flowering one is 
so pretty I bought the yellow flowering one this year. 
There is a bright red one growing wild in the Kavango area. I must add an update photo some time

I am looking forward to the yellow flowering Kalanchoe
blooming as nice as the pink one next year.

The hanging aloes on the wall are a small species one from Madagascar to the left of the pink blooms.  Then to the right three Aloe pendens from Yemen followed by a few Aloe hardii from South Africa.

feed me

Feed me

The theme in our garden is aloes with other water saving plants to keep it interesting. 
Maybe "water wise gardening" fits the theme better. Any succulent and drought resistant plants which do not harm my aloes are welcome.
Strolling through the garden a few days ago, this scene triggered a memory.

Take a second look.
That was very long ago I know -  but does "feed me !!!!" ring a bell ?

The weird plant in "Little shop of horrors" ...   A very old rock musical (but the kids still enjoy to see it.)

This plant is so realistic to the plant in the musical that I could hear it say - "Feed me !!"
While taking this photo I had a strange feeling it might snap at my finger.

Now serious.    This is a very easy water-wise plant that can grow well over a meter high.  The hairy leaves are soft with a velvet touch.
It was cultivated from Kalanchoe beharensis  from Madagascar.!
  aha ... I knew it.  I would expect something like that from Madagascar.
yes?!....

Euphorbia species

It is extraordinary how many Euphorbia there are and how much they differ from each other.  The only way to know they are related is by the  flowers.
Here is a photo of the tiny ground cover.  The leaves are very small  in dry weather.  I added my finger tip for scale.

It was only recently that I found out that this old favorite ground cover  was in fact an Euphorbia!

Never forget that the milky sap or latex of  the Euphorbia plant is highly toxic.  Especially in the eyes.  There is one very fierce large tree size Euphorbia in the northern parts of South Africa where it is dangerous  in habitat where those large plants grow to walk downwind when they are in bloom.  Your eyes will start burning and you better cover the eyes and nose with a  piece of  cloth quickly.
Surprisingly the bees and butterflies love the flowers !
   

There are animals - even domestic cattle - that eat some of the Euphorbia species.  This is life saving for the animals in Namaqualand and the Karoo.
I would like an assortment Euphorbia  between the aloe 
plants but most of the pretty or odd ones are rather difficult plants out of their habitat.

Orange slime for Gisela.
If you have some info on this then we can add it here. 
Let me know if you want the larger photos and I will email it to you.
I saw it only once - early morning.  By midday the
bubbles have all "melted" into a thin  layer of orange liquid.
If I had a scientific mind I would not have picked it up
but I wanted to have a closer look and did not realize it was so very fragile.

There was no sign that the slime damaged the plant in any way.  This was large enough to fill my hand -   "fist size".

Ever changing scenes in the garden.  After I took the photo I realized how much the scene changed. Seeing it every day it seems to be the same. The aloes are Aloe gerstneri in front and you need to look close to see Aloe speciosa behind.

 Photo above was taken January 2007
 Photo below was taken January 2010

Aloe gerstneri blooms in summer  and Aloe speciosa in winter. The photo bellow is to show Aloe speciosa in bloom,  winter July 2009.

The angle of this photo is slightly different. There are still two Aloe gerstneri  plants the second one is behind the first one.  The toppled plum tree can be seen in the background  with only a few yellow leaves on it. The winter growing mesemb on the left is now bright green.  This photo below of Aloe speciosa  was taken 1 Aug. 2010.  In fact I went and took this photo a few minutes ago. Those flower racemes are at least 50 cm high and there are three! Below, this aloe from the side showing clearly the rosette facing north which is the rule for this aloe species.

This rock garden is excellent for a veranda, balcony or indoor.

The plants are in pots hidden by the stones. To reduce the weight on a balcony -  place polysterine foam around the pots which then need only a single layer stones to cover it.

Scatter small pebbles between the stones to fill gaps and holes.
Bright lights are needed to grow the succulent plants in this eye-catching indoor rock garden.

Trusting you are enjoying the festive season  and wishing you a healthy joyful new year.


Take a look what I found in the garden for xmas.

 

It is a member of the Dandelion family. 
The seeds are large, about the size of a tennis ball.

A little glitter added to the festive season, but the
natural glitter above is also pretty.. 

I picked them the beginning of December and they are
still exactly the same.
That must be because I keep them out of a draft 
and nobody touches them.

The garden changes in time and season.  Take photos of the garden in the same way as taking photos of kids growing up. It is not obvious from day to day,  but looking back on the photos there are differences and a lot of memories.

The aloes in bloom. All aloes do not bloom at the same time, but most from the summer rainfall area, bloom in winter. ( the seeds will be ready for summer rain)  That is about 90% of the species in South Africa. 

The scene is calm and pretty,

the mesembs and daisies are not in bloom yet.

Now the mesembs and daisies are in bloom too. The last blooms on the racemes of the red hybrid (Aloe ferox X Aloe arborescens) are opening.

It is a carnival of color and some visitors are having a ball.  These glittering little bugs are harmless to the flowers. They live on nectar and pollen, assisting in the pollination of the plants in dry harsh ecosystems where there are not many bees.

The back door garden without a lawn.
That was a wise decision.

Way back we reached a point where keeping the lawn healthy and green became too much of a task. At that point we received notice of water restrictions - that was the last straw.
We dug up every piece of grass. The photo below was taken after a few month's work has been done and planting the aloes have already started. June 2005.

The aloes - blooming or not - are much prettier than a
half-dead lawn and the bonus is that it needs a lot less work and we do not water at all, the rain is enough.

The scene on this photo above is at the opposite side of the tree. One of the portions planted first. The aloes are from left to right:- Aloe ferox x Aloe arborescens, Aloe mutabilis x Aloe arborescens and Aloe cryptopoda

This planting is next to the tree. 

The aloes are Aloe petricola x Aloe globuligemma hybrids which Rudi raised from seeds (far left side on the photo). The close-up below shows more detail. Rudi planted a group of five plants which shows off very well when blooming together.  Aloe petricola has an upright raceme and the raceme of Aloe globuligemma is horizontal. The hybrid plants seems to be somewhat confused which pattern to follow, but I am quite happy with that, it gives an interesting effect.

The hybrid come in two colors. Dark orange
opening to yellow and red-pink opening to a creamy white, both with black stamens.

Aloe speciosa the aloe that turns it's rosette facing to the north.

The size of the raceme is 43 cm long and 27 cm around.
That is not remarkable for this species but it is very pretty on a young plant with a stem that is not over a meter high.
Aloe speciosa starts off growing upright like any other aloe, but it soon turns the rosette sideways facing north.

Aloe speciosa blooming in the Karoo. This aloe is a tree aloe, these plants would roughly measure between 3 and
5 meter in hight. The record is 6 meter.

There is something nice and not so nice in all seasons.
Our winters are wet, but mild with brightly colored
wild flowers.
Welcome! new visitors to our blog. We are at home
in the south western province of South Africa.
Winter is in the middle of the year. Aloes recover
their full splendor very quickly once the rain starts.

This is Aloe rubroviolaceae (Yemen)
dry and shrivelled hanging on to life.

Photo above was taken in March 2009

Photo below was taken in June 2009.

The brick is there to give an idea of the size.

What a difference the rain makes!

Why not water the aloes year round?
We have water restrictions but that is not
 the main reason - aloes must have their
natural dry cycle. Aloes that are watered
and grow in shade tend to become soft.

Insects, snails, fungus and bacteria 

will quickly find a spot to break the 

skin and damage - if not kill- the plant. 

 The leaves grow long and sloppy and

the flower stalk grows further apart 

which does not show off the flowers 

so well.   Note in the background.

It is very difficult to see I happen to

 know it is there. The flower buds of

Aloe sabaea.  Very faint to the right 

of the Aloe rubroviolaceae racemes

Another gem from Yemen. 

I will show it another time.

This nest of the  malachite  sunbird Nectarinia famosa can be right in your face and it will still be invisible. We have two sunbirds on a regular basis in our garden in the Western Cape.  The  malachite sunbird with the male a glittering green all over and the smaller sunbird  Nectarinia violacea (also refered to as Anthobaphes violacea) where the male has a glittering red/orange breast. The females of both are little brown jobs. They love the nectar of the Aloe sp. and also the Cotyledon sp. I am not an expert in birds feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

The nest was exactly the height of my face right above the path. I do not know if the they hatched any chicks but the sunbirds must have spent a lot of  time building the nest  without us noticing them.
It is a pity that I do not have a camera with a zoom.  The birds will think nothing of sitting right next to us when we are in the garden, but we must not have anything in our hands.  I tried walking with the camera.  Fine, they got used to it, but the moment I lift it in their direction, they dash away.
There are more nests in the garden.  The juveniles resemble the females I guess we might have seen some without realizing they are "our" birds.
All birds are welcome in the garden and we see to it that they get some treats and water,  but we are not into birding as such.
---------------  I had to add this September 2009.
I found this little female sunbird  nesting on the other corner of the house.

The height of the nest above the ground is obvious by the window in the background - the white is the window pane, not the sky, with the reddish window sill at the bottom. The nest is slightly larger than a man's fist.  Now that I know about the nest I make a small detour around the tree, where I would normally pass directly against that branch.  It obviously did not bother the birds in building the nest, but I will do my share.

There are more nests in the garden.  The juveniles resemble the female I guess we might have seen some.
All birds are welcome in the garden and we see to it that they get some treats and water,  but we are not into birding as such

planting under the big tree.

Like most hobbies there is just as much fun in the getting as in the having.  It is exciting to plant small portions of our hobby garden at a time.  Afterwards  we enjoy the memories how and when we got the plants. Some planning and designing went into it, but not anything intelligent e.g. by region, climate or species.
My next project is to create a garden under the Ceratonia siliqua  tree. Half belongs to Rudi (neatly divided like the rest of the garden). I have no idea what his half would look like, my half is for my smaller aloes and
Gasteria as these plants usually grow in the shade of rocks or bushes and this shady space will suite them well.

Giving some idea of the size of the tree. The space beneath
it is a circle about ten metres wide.

The outside branches of the tree bend down to the ground
forming a secluded area around the tree, but these branches
had to be removed as the aloes would want some direct sun.


The area around the tree was overgrown by trifasciata
which we cleared and replanted elsewhere. The leaves of the
Sansevieria sp. grew dense and long in the shade supporting
each other. Having removed some plants the rest to toppled
over but all will go.

Some nice logs to use for decoration. Watch this space !

but the unexpected is what happens in life 2014 Without warning the tree fell over.  No harm done. The tree hit the corner of the roof  damaging the gutter, but missed the window. My daughter and I in front of the tree. Full grown grandson lying on a sidestem for size. The same branch now without any leaves or life. ... but life goes on.

Snail damage in the garden.You can not win, get used it..
This morning was a lovely cool morning, one of
 the last cold fronts over the western cape before
 the long hot summer. I stroled through the garden enjoying it for a few moments then my eyes
caught this aloe. The snails were out late on this
 cool morning having a brunch before they hide
 for the day !

"People pay to have snail slime on their skin,
 I am getting this for free" - I told myself
while squashing the snails between my fingers.
In case you do not know it seems the word
 is going around that snail slime is one of
those "proven" remedies for a youthfull skin.
 I took many years off the age of the skin on
 my hands but it did not improve the beauty
 of my hands which were scratched and
bitten by the sharp teeth of the aloes at the
same time. It is not easy to get the snails
 out between the aloe leaves.

I feel like doing something to that neck !
Something slower than a quick squash
between my fingers.









Unbelievable ...this juvenile snail could not
 have eaten all that much in one sitting, he
must be the last one remaining after a party.
Rot can set in where the skin is broken in
aloes and other succulents. The hole, on
the top right side of the photo above this
 one must be from the previous party,
 it dried out well so there is no danger
of rot any more.










I believe these two snails are an endemic
snail species. I do not know anything
about the identity of snails, you are
to help me out there. We see them often
 along the western coast (South Africa).
 They climb on the wooden fence poles
 and sit in a bundle. It seems easy to kill
 them, but those on the poles is only the
 tip of the snail-mountain. I have not
seen them sitting in bundles on poles
where we live, 100 km inland. They
are not as many as on the coast, but they
 do a lot of damage all the same.










Could this be the delicatessen snail which
 arrived here from France? I am not tempted
 to try, but if we would learn to enjoy eating
  escargot that would solve more than one
 problem.