55 ~ July in the Garden

(click photos to enlarge)

I'm sorry I have been neglecting my blog posts in the last days. It's nearing the end of July and holiday time for most folks and here in the Canary Islands it is quite warm and humid. It sure slows down everyday activities and makes it even difficult sometimes to sit in a chair facing a computer for very long.

But I have a moving show in front of me. When looking out my window I see a continual rivalry between the blackbirds visiting the feeder hanging in a tree just outside.



The older males attempt to monopolize the food tray, chasing away the youngsters and females with threatening gestures and flapping wings. Added to that drama we now have an attractive resident dove who comes several times a day to feed. It is a ring-necked dove and as more have since come to visit, I checked that their latin name is Streptopelia Capicola.


In among the cactus and succulents growing, we have a plant with a spiky stem called a Madagascar Palm, (Pachypodium Lamerei),which isn't really a palm at all but is rather a succulent, and it has bloomed for the first time in 25 years, with beautiful white waxy flowers resembling a frangipani (Plumeria Alba).


This plant does take a long time to flower but ours was being overshadowed by a small palm which cast shade when it should have been in full sun.
These are the first photos:



And in the other side of the garden, the Piccabeen palm (Archontophoenix cunninghamiana) has a cluster of seeds which have turned bright red.



And the Mandevilla is blooming everywhere in this summer heat.





And the Iceberg Rose has its second flush of blooms.