Time for another Six on Saturday! Six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything; a good flower, fantastic foliage, a job to do, a job completed, plans afoot, something sown. Anything at all -join in!
We are visiting friends and family in Dubai, where it is still hot hot hot, mid 30s (90s in old money). Both families have gardens and at first glance it doesn’t look like much is going on garden-wise. The plants are all lurking round the edges in a foot wide strip of sandy soil, trained against the stucco walls that mark the boundary in both plots.
On closer inspection, however, there are some interesting plants and some very pretty flowers.
The varieties were a bit of a mystery in many cases. Some sleuth work has been done with the assistance of a plant id app and the people of twitter. If I state a variety I’m reasonably confident, but happy to be set straight.
It has been a job to filter them down to just six, but here they are.
1) A cactus, variety not-a-scooby-doo. I can personally vouch for this chap’s spikiness. As I was tidying him up for this photo, removing a few dead, skewered leaves, he stabbed me. Several times!
2) Bougainvillea spectabilis. Ubiquitous round these parts, and a good thing all round. Commonly found as a street tree, or in front gardens. Judging by our brief visit it flowers profusely and in shocking pink. Strictly speaking the flowers are actually the small white affair in the middle, the pinkness is modified leaves or bracts.
3. Nerium oleander. Common as muck round here, often used in municipal planting in parks and by the roadside for its durability. I shan’t comment on what this says about our hosts garden! Pretty flowers.
4. Plumaria rubra, frangipani. Originally from central and south america it is now a common garden plant across tropical and sub tropical zones worldwide. It grows quite large if allowed, 7-8m tall and across.
5. Cordia sebestena. This one took a bit of identifying and once again the people of Twitter came to the rescue. Several IDd this plant as a cordia. I took a bit of persuading as many of the pictures and descriptions didn’t seem to match but we did eventually find a close match variety so cordia sebestena it is . The flowers are small, perhaps 2cm across, but the shrub is large, this one is about 2m high but if left can get much bigger, 8-10m. It is widely planted in the tropics, I quote from its Wikipedia page “It is planted in traffic medians and parking lots, and is a useful seaside subject”. Just sayin’….
6. Portulaca oleracea, or common purslane. Found across north africa, the middle east and in southern europe, it is lowish growing, with thick succulent style leaves. The flowers are quite small, maybe 2cm across, bright orange in this case.
Well, that’s my unseasonably sunny Six for this week, what are yours? If you’d like to join in, just add a comment below with a link to your post and maybe a link back to this blog in yours. Our growing (pun!) community of contributors would love a nose round your garden! Please see the brief participants’ guide for more details.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and don’t forget to check back over the next 48 hours as more links get added.
I’ll be back in Blighty next Saturday with a more autumnal Six.
I’ll get the hang of these addresses one day!! Let’s try again –
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Second time lucky, well done!
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I could almost feel the heat from the pictures. Lovely to see some exotics. I’ve tried Bougainvillea in the conservatory a few times but it’s never really looked great.
Better late than never – here are my six for this week.
https://the quiltinggardener.wordpress.com/2017/10/28/six-on-saturday-281017/
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Looks like a great vacation. Lucky you! I’m crazy about Bougainvilleas and have been known to grow them indoors, but it’s not quite the same as having them flowering in courtyards! Here are my six for today: https://thepaintinggardener.wordpress.com/2017/10/28/six-on-saturday-october-28/.
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I’m here! Very jealous about your travels, each and everyone of those plants look amazing. Welcome home. Here are my dreary six https://offtheedgegardening.com/2017/10/28/six-on-saturday-if-i-must/
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It’s been fun. Bit hot though. Back to normality tomorrow. I’ll have about 1.5 hours to get two weekends worth of gardening done…
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Oh dear, you hate persimmon! It’s one of my Six on Saturday https://wp.me/p97pee-7A I’m not sure if I like it either – I will find out when they ripen a little more. I too enjoyed the frangipani – reminder of time spent in Hong Kong.
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I only hate persimmon after reading if chicu’s persimmon related trials and tribulations. Never grown It, never eaten it!
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Lemons!
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I love the fruit! It is only when I am left with two boxes to process by my lone self that I get a bit grumpy. Okay, a lot grumpy.
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I enjoyed a spot of the exotic and sunshine while ploughing through a very untidy desk full of paperwork on a dull and dreary day. The frangipani photo took me straight back to the sights and smells of my childhood, my family lived in Malaya for 18 months. No six from me today as I am catching up on a half term house full!
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Wish I were there…
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So sunny & summery looking, could almost forget what’s outside my window here. Adore the bougainvillea & the purslane. Nice to see what’s blooming in warmer places. Here’s my 6 for the week, all very ‘Blighty’! http://lorahughes.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/six-things-great-small.html
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Back to arctic conditions tomorrow.
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Glad to see you’ve been staying out of bars 😉 .Hope you haven’t made the mistake I made the last time I travelled to hotter climes in the autumn. I forgot to pack warm clothing for my return! You should carry a little “tidying-up” toolkit with you, including tweezers and a little pair of snips to remove dead bits. Nice to see what my Bougainvillea should have looked like. My somewhat less stunning six are over at https://rivendellgarden.blog/?p=2644.
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Yes it will be chilly when we get back on Sunday. Jumpers and long trousers were indeed packed. Looking forward to a bit of normal weather tbh, bit hot for my liking!
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WOW! My first (and no doubt last) horticultural tour of Dubai!
My six for today can be found here: https://fromourisland.wordpress.com/2017/10/27/six-on-saturday-october-28-2017/
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It has been fun visiting and researching the local flora. Back to normal next week.
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Beautiful selection. I was going to say that your six looked reminiscent of the sort of things you might see in an Arizona or Florida garden, except for the spectacular Cordia sebestena which is completely new to me. But then I googled it and discovered that the Cordia is actually native to the Bahamas and widely grown in Florida, so clearly I know nothing.
Anyway, here are my six:
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Loved the autumn colour in your post. I’d forgotten about shag barks, a real favourite of mine at one time. So thanks, not only for the beautiful photos, but inciting a good memory as well.
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Thanks for that very exotic visit! Here are my six: https://uttarakhandandi.blogspot.in/2017/10/harvest.html
Cheers!
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I think I also hate persimmon. What a pain!
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As you’ll see from my post (above), I’m interested in pumpkin advice. So you make a wire frame compost pile & go from there? Sounds easy enough. Now where’s the chicken wire . . .
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They do need a lot of nitrogen-rich compost. Over here, the MO is to plant pumpkins just outside the cowshed where the sweepings and wash end up. The roots drink up all that lovely stuff and the stems climb over the shed. Since I don’t have a cow and refuse to entertain the idea of one, the compost pile is what I do.
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A little bit of sunshine from afar, you can almost feel the heat coming off some of your pics. Here’s my temperate zone six for this week. (Shuffles off to look up Cordia)https://gardenruminations.wordpress.com/2017/10/28/six-on-saturday-28-10-2017/
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It has been reliably bright and sunny throughout our trip but too flipping hot and humid for this pasty-faced temperate zone dweller.
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Wow all I can say is wow what a beautiful range of plants from there, I have never been but loved seeing some of the exotic plants you have seen on your hols!
Sorry can’t match your range of flowers today but I hope you enjoy my 6 https://thomasdstone.blog/2017/10/28/six-on-saturday-281017/
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Ta. It’s been fun compiling it. Back to autumn next week!
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