Carpobrotus edulis – Hottentot Fig

P1020933Just to prove the maxim “right plant, right place” this Carpobrotus edulis is thriving on the North Devon dunes.  The Hottentot Fig’s ability to grow in places that would appear inhospitable to the majority of sensible flora has allowed it to become invasive in places as far reaching as New Zealand and the Mediterranean.  It was introduced to these innocent lands by us clever folk to do what it does so well, stablilising soils.  It didn’t take long for us to switch allegiance and chastised the “thug” for getting a little over exuberant.  Another case of man not being quite so smart has he thought he was.  Notwithstanding I am still impressed by its success, in the same way that you would a cunning diamond hoist or an adept pickpocket.  Still the lemon flowers gave my heart a zing and its tolerance to these seemingly sterile conditions, my admiration.  It is after all only doing what everyone is trying to do, survive, and in doing that it achieves what we often fail to do, look pretty.

P1020931

Mono Part Two – Fern

P1020896Day Two of my black and white series features one of my favourite ferns, Woodwardia radicans or the European Chain Fern.  This striking evergreen is called the Chain Fern as it very cunningly forms mini root balls at the end of each frond, as the tip touches the ground they root themselves into the soil and so continue the chain.  An ingenious method of moving around the forest and such a lovely shade of purple ……..

Monochrome Set

P1020882I have been challenged to take some black and white photographs.  Never one to turn down a dare, unless it involves wing walking or baked beans, I thought it might be fun to give it a go.  So I adjusted my faithful “point and shoot” to Monochrome Magic (or some such setting) and ventured forth into my multi-chrome world.  It was then that I realised just how much colour dominates my life, it is the first thing I notice, what draws my eye and holds my attention.  I had to stop thinking about hues and radiance and start thinking about contrast, light and shade, form.  So I am going to make a week of it.  No cerise or burnt orange, no baby pinks, violent violets or lemon yellows.  Just black, white and all the grey stuff in between.  Should be interesting; or incredibly boring.

Brugmansia sanguinea – Red Angel Trumpet

P1020821No, I haven’t been on a short break trekking in the Andes, this photograph was taken yesterday in exotic North Devon.  This is Brugmansia sanguinea, a glamorous member of the Solonaceae family, relative of the potato, tomato and aubergine.  The Red Angel Trumpet is tougher than it looks, although it will crumple dramatically if frosted, like an Edwardian lady having an attack of the vapours. It will often recover from its “funny turn” especially if you have remembered your protective mulch or fleece.  We are of course in the balmy South West where we wear Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops all year round so some of you tough Northerners with your cloth caps and whippets may struggle.  The other option is to keep it in a pot and transfer it inside for the cold months.  The reward is “stop you in your tracks” spectacular, brightening a rainy autumn day.

Thunder and Lightning (very very frightening)

P1020819After weeks of benign, some might say fairy tale, weather today was a one way ticket on the express train to Storm Land.  Thunder and lightning followed in quick succession with lightning and thunder and the rain (not wanting to be left on the sidelines) was apocryphal. The guttering groaned and the girlies screamed and laughed in the potting shed whilst stripping the lavender flowers from dried stems, struggling to stay awake in the Lethe elixir.

This Salvia splendens (giant form) would keep even the most lavender intoxicated person awake with its jolt of retina bursting red!

Tree Poo

IMG_2923 (2)I love to learn a new word, or in this case two new words.  Slime Flux.  How fantastic is that?  Slime Flux.  And I got to see it as well.  Slime Flux.  And I heard grisly tales of how it can spurt out of a tree like the fountain from hell and smells as rank as rank can be.  Slime Flux.  It was a good day.

I suppose I had better reveal all.  The tree surgeons came to town today and spent their time doing things not to be recommended unless your name is Spider Man, or at a push one of the other more accomplished super heroes.  A sycamore seedling which had become a sycamore adult had to be removed from the cliff edge after many years of pruning and growing and pruning and growing.  It was this very same tree that did the spewing of the hadean gunk or as it was eloquently described by one of the super heroes, the tree poo.  Slime flux, or bacterial wetwood (I will spare you the Latin name), is a bacterial disease that enters the victim through a wound of some description, it could be a pruning scar or mechanical damage.  The pressure that builds up inside the tree causes it to weep odorous sap; this pressure also means that if you cut into the tree the noxious substance dramatically shoots out all over the unsuspecting arborist.  So these lads, who spent a large proportion of the day dangling off a cliff, not only had to put up with hail, thunder and lighting and an annoying curious observer, the trees themselves were fighting back!  They said they were returning tomorrow; I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t bother.

IMG_2875 (2)