Tajinaste Blanco (Echium Simplex) or Tower of Jewels
This lovely tall white tajinaste was seen blooming on a street corner garden in Puerto de la Cruz near the end of February.
The smaller flowers blooming at the base of the plant make it an especially beautiful specimen.
The Tajinaste blanco is a biennial plant endemic to this island of Tenerife. I have had them blooming in my garden and am tempted to plant a couple of them again as they are so spectacular once they have reached their full height of around 3 meters. They also attract bees.
Here's more information about them from the web.
Another type of spectacular tajinaste is the red one (echium wildpretii) which blooms on the slopes of the Tenerife volcano Teide and in the nearby town of Vilaflor.
It's also a plant endemic to this part of the island.
Echium Wildpretii or Red Tajinaste
While out last Sunday with my walking pal we passed the white tajinaste and found it had fallen over, been propped up off the sidewalk and was alive with bees.
I even made a short video of the activity:
Like a group of giant octopus, clusters of Aloe Arborescens are also a common sight in suburban streets. We also had one in our garden which grew so large it threatened to topple the garden shed.
Like most winter days, the streets are full of tourists and a common sight here at the moment are groups of cyclists on the roads, down from cooler latitudes to train for competitions in the mild Tenerife weather.
There it is, now it's time to rest our feet!
Thanks for dropping by. Do come again another day. ¡Hasta la vista!
