More jealousy…

About this time two years ago, I posted an entry about the planting of some new climbing plants to replace a line of Adelfas. The entry was called Jealousy because… well, perhaps you should just read the original post for the explanation.

Anyway, in the intervening two years, the Trachelospermum jasminoides, otherwise known as Chinese ivy, Chinese jasmine, Star jasmine, Jasmin rhynchospermum, and Jasmin rhyncospermum (and, I suspect several other names, as well), have done quite well, especially given the extremes of temperature and lack of rainfall that we experience in this part of Spain.


This week the plants have opened their flowers, so that we now have a sort of scented flowerfall. She Who Must Be Obeyed assures me that the perfume is gentle and pleasant (I have no sense of smell, so, as in all other matters, I must take her word for this and nod obediently); whatever aroma the flowers might have, the plants look very good.


This photo was taken today from much the same spot as the photo that accompanied the original post:

(You will notice that the area in front of the trellis has been tiled in the meantime.)


And, in case you don't remember what that photo looked like two years ago, and/or can't be bothered to go to the original post to see it, here it is:

Quite a difference!

Day of the Astrophytum

It all started yesterday afternoon, when I noticed that a brief reconnaissance sortie was being carried out by a flower of the cactus Astrophytum myriostigma nudum. It was already fairly late in the afternoon and the flower only opened briefly. Still, it was a sign of things to come.

This morning, a number of the Astrophytums were showing swollen buds and were clearly ready to flower. It didn't take long, once the sun hit them, for the flowers to start coming: first the Astrophytum myriostigma nudum showed the same flower that had so carefully taken a look yesterday, then the Astrophytum ornatum (two of them) and finally the Astrophytum myriostigma.


The A. myriostigma was very special. It showed nine flower buds. This is how it looked at twenty-past-eleven, shortly after the sun had reached around the shade:

By an hour and a half later, at ten to one, the buds had swollen considerably and were showing signs of opening:

And this photo was taken at five minutes to two, by which all nine flowers were being proudly displayed in the glorious sunshine.

The opening of the buds is a fascinating process to follow: sit and watch and it is as if nothing happens, but dare to go away for a few minutes and, when you return, the change is obvious. Perhaps even more fascinating is that, when the sun passes behind the house and the shade falls again on the cacti, the flowers close up into their neat little packages. Here's that same A. myriostigma at almost five-thirty. There is still plenty of light, of course, but the plant has been in the shade for half an hour or so, and its flowers have somehow packed themselves away, ready for tomorrow's display.

You can see more flowers from this year's cacti in my Cactus flowers 2012 album, which will be updated as the flowers come along. (And there are plenty of other albums there for you to enjoy, too.)