Thursday 28 May 2009

Tom's flora and fauna

I took a walk around the yard this evening not suspecting that all hell would break out at the telescope and I'd be on the phone for the next hour or two trying to fix the problem. The walk was actually more of a survey as I really need to get working on the yard again. The place has taken some real hits from the floods and droughts of the last couple of years. I took the camera with me, of course!

Dead and alive: More curly wurly flowers, one very much alive, one very dead. Boy, these things screw up the camera's autofocus like nobody's business.

Pine cones: I've not noticed these before, but the Norfolk pine out in the front has some cones. Don't look too close, the picture might induce migraines in some people. It's a very fuzzy tree.

Pineapple plot: It really is a pineapple plot, only one seems to be growing this year. It'll be ripe in two or three months and if previous years are to go by will taste like heaven!

Euginia uniflora: It took me ages to finally identify these cherries a few years ago (Surinam cherries) and was then brave enough to actually eat a couple of them. What can I say? They look quite pretty and I won't be trying out any Surinam recipes anytime soon.

The croton: A really colourful bush-type thing with lots of leaves (you can tell I'm an expert gardener, can't you?).


The fauna: I actually have a couple of croton plants but one is fairly inaccessible until I actually clear away some of the jungle. I did have a look at it though to see if it was still alive and there was a little friendly lizard on the leaves (the ones furthest away from me of course). So, I poked the camera through the foliage and tried to capture a couple of images before I scared it away.

The freaked out fauna: I got about 5 photos before it turned and scurried away and most of those were rubbish. Sorry for disturbing you little fella. The mosquitoes were really biting by this stage so called it a night, only to be rudely disturbed 10-minutes later by cries of help from the summit.

5 comments:

Zuzana said...

This as exotic as it gets, at least to me. I envy you that pineapple.;)
Have a great Friday Tom (with a beer?).;

Keera Ann Fox said...

New faves: Hybiscus and last lizard picture. Very good photos!

I am amused that the silly-string flower can get so ugly, and that the pine cones look exactly like the tree they come from, only in a different color.

LOL at "bush-type thing". Crotons are bushes. Unless they work aboard the Red Dwarf. No, that's a kryten. Never mind.

Lou Minatti said...

LOU COMMENTS:

We can grow croutons here. Katy's about 20-30 miles too far north for the Norfolk Island pines, which I love. They do well on the Texas barrier islands like Galveston. Is that top picture a hibiscus? We grow those out the wazoo.

Wish we could grow pineapples!

Lou Minatti said...

"We can grow croutons here."

Boy does THAT sound weird. I mean crotons. It would be cool if there was a plant that grew croutons, though.

Tom said...

Protege - I really am looking forward to that pineapple. Last year I was too late and didn't harvest them before they rotted ( I was so busy). I've only got one this year so will keep an eye on it!

Keera - if something grows more sideways than vertical it's a bush, if it's vertical it's a tree, if I can't figure it out it's a bush-like thing. Told you I was an expert! ;)

Lou - I actually wrote crouton in my original post - I caught it before I hit publish though! You need to google "spaghetti trees" when you get the chance - much of the UK population was caught out by that BBC April joke in the 50s...

Tom