White Tajinaste

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.

Aloe Arborescens

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.

It's nearly time for us to finish our walk and stop for a cafe con leche and some people watching.

There it is, now it's time to rest our feet!

Thanks for dropping by.  Do come again another day. ¡Hasta la vista!