Fuerteventura in bloom

[tamara_k]

Hi everybody!

I can't find my more than year old topic, so I'll start a new one
This year, after a bit of rain  I finally see some wild flowers appearing. I just wrote in my blog about "starry chives of the sands" http://tamara-kulikova.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/flowers-finally.html , sand-growing white flowers which are a bit like crocuses, but with a flowers that sit a lot lower in the leaves. Anybody saw any other significant patches of flowers yet? I am told there are some good spots around Lajares, but I don't know if anything appeared is there now

Thanks for any info!

Tamara

[fifi]

Beautiful photos Tamara. Thanks for sharing them. 

[gillgooding]

Every cloud has a silver lining as they say!  Those recent rains certainly have if they have encouraged such beautiful flowers to grow in such a dry habitat and what a lovely name for them.  Thanks for the photos Tamara.

[dave-g]

Lovely Photos Tamara, thanks for sharing. Glad to hear the rain has contributed to the growth. It was extremely dry until recently. The barancas were mostly dry everywhere. I will watch out for your plants.

[tamara_k]

Thank you and, yes, please let me know if you see anything

[Can the Man]

Fantastic photos Tamara, well done

[tamara_k]

Hi again,

I am so afraid that I would miss something flowering that I went for a walk today, from Lajares to La Oliva, and I am happy to report that the garland chrysanthemums are appearing too Not great big fields of them, but goodish patches.

Those are not as unusual of course, but if you are interested, pictures are here http://tamara-kulikova.blogspot.com.es/2012/11/lajares-to-la-oliva.html

[duncolm]

Great pictures Tamara. This is the first time I've picked up on your blog. I really like it and I'll be watching for more.

[tamara_k]

Hm... I guess all that green makes camels happy. But I am worried about the flowers now

Photo taken today

[tamara_k]

Hope you can see the pic, I linked it from facebook and don't know if it will show or not.

Of course, agave plants don't seem to mind the lack of water anyway and there is nothing unusual about them blooming, but I am always impressed by the height of their flowering spike. One tall plant for sure.

BTW, there are now many more of the flowers from the first post in the dunes, and probably will be more eventually. Seems like a good moment to go and see them

[tamara_k]

today at the edge of the dunes
a lot more starry flowers out (vague blue thing in the background is Montana Roja)




I don't know what this is yet, but what a beautiful blue

[fifi]

Beautiful.

[PHo]

Great pictures Tamara.  The deep blue flower is Anagallis arvensis, aptly named hierbo del cielo in Spanish.  Also called Muraje comun and moralillo, blue pimpernel in English.  Also comes in orange and purple variations

Always happy to look up Fuerte plants for you - just drop me an e-mail.  There are about 800 plants native to Fuerte, and I have photos of nearly all of them in my database.

I really enjoy your blog.  Looking forward to trying to find the Ajuy arch on our next trip.

[tamara_k]

PHo, thanks very much! You are so right, what a great name Spanish has for this little blue flower I will definitely ask you next time I puzzle over a plant:)

Thank fifi, glad you like the photos

[tamara_k]

And now we have bluebells, which are actually brown

Dipcadi serotinum for those who are interested. Same edge of the dunes that the white flowers were originally found - and now we have even more of those, btw.

This is no exactly a flower of course, but I found those vary small, very lonely cloud over Lanzarote rather touching.



when we finished our shopping it looked a lot healthier

[Matt28371]

Were these taken today? the weather looks lovely.

[tamara_k]

yes, today, around midday. It felt quite hot in the sun with almost no wind.

and it is still sunny right now

[tamara_k]

once again, an image from Facebook, so not sure if it is visible, tell me if it's not, but! look how green and thus true to its name is Villaverde right now

[Ole Man River]

It's like the spring we never had this year.   Unfortunately our peach tree has bloomed now too! Probably means no peaches next spring though. Too cold now for germination & fruit.    Still lovely, lovely  GREEN everywhere! 

[Spike On Q]

You should see the bl---y weeds in my garden!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Hi Tamara from Tamara
I was taking some photos at the same time as you were doing your shopping - I saw that tiny cloud! In the malpais below the Santa Clara building site I also found some anagalis and another plant that I thought at the time was Echium - now I'm not so sure. It looks different in the pic from what I remember in the field!


I also found a Datura stramonium (thorn apple) (toxic):




Can you or PHo confirm the possible Echium please? I can show you the plant if you wanted a closer look/take your own pics.

[tamara_k]

Hi
Looks like this one http://floradecanarias.com/echium_bonnetii.html
There was a lot of them in one by the roadside as you just coming into Villaverde from Corralejo, nice little patch of blue Don't know if they are still there, that was about a week ago

[PHo]

I agree - it's echium bonnetii fuerteventura
beautiful

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Thanks both.
It's a bit spooky 'cos I brought seeds of anagalis and echium back from the uk with me in October to try growing in my garden - they seemed the sought of plant that might do well out here. Different varieties than the local ones of course, courtesy of Mr Fothergill!

[waggy]

Hi Tamara,  I love the thread and the pix of vegetation. You have about 8 different species, though not all in flower, in the top one above.
http://www.amjbot.org/content/87/7/909.full
I've put the link in so that you can see it's not a good idea to bring alien seeds and plants in without checking with the local environment agency or govt conservation people. I don't want to dampen your obvious enthusiasm but I'm sure you don't want to be personally responsible for causing the extinction of any Fuerteventuran sub-species by introducing something that may hybridise with it or out-compete it. Some of these sub-species may be over a million years old and many now have strong conservation measures in place.
Up to c. 1970 there was a very low human popn. and there were very few visitors to Fuerte but even then introduced cats, especially, were making cruel inroads into the indigenous  reptile, bird and insect species. It's the same on the other islands too, mainly because visitors are not educated enough to know that they can cause great damage to local flora and fauna. Historic introductions of invasive alien species have already caused much damage; goats, dogs, rabbits, rats and hedgehogs amongst the other mammals.
This one may interest you:
http://www.rareplants.de/shop/prodtype.asp?CAT_ID=70

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Hi Waggy
Thanks for the info and links - I found the article very interesting although I did get rather befuddled in places! I've now decided against sowing the imported seeds in my garden.
It's a bit worrying though that I approached my local DEFRA office before moving here about bringing a variety of plants with me from my uk garden.  They checked out the regs for Fuerte and said it was quite alright as long as it was in small quantities for private use and that they would need to check they were healthy before I transported them. In the end I didn't go ahead as it wasn't a good time of year to disturb the plants. There was only one variety they said couldn't be brought in - I've forgotten what it was now as it didn't apply to me.
Is everything that is sold in the garden centres ok, do you think?
With the concerned comments about even moving the local plants around to decorate road-sides and public gardens I'm now getting paranoid about planting anything! Perhaps I'll just stick with the weeds that have come up after the rain - after all, they're only weeds if they're in the wrong place!
Thanks again for the info.

[tamara_k]

Today by the road from La Oliva to Lajares





Those above are probably the some sort of Chrysanthemums too, but different from the usual garland one. But of course I don't know for sure



Looks like chives, but once again, don't know which

Pho, if you maybe can have a look and id those if it's not too much bother? I know the site  - that  http://floradecanarias.com/ but their search is not at all easy (or I haven't found the easy way yet). It will take me a while to trawl through it, so I am hoping for shortcuts Thanks

PS: this is just to give the general idea how that particular patch field looks like today

[waggy]

Wow! Lovely piccy, Tamara. That rain a while back sure brought things back to life.

[tamara_k]

Thanks, waggy!
I also hope that the dews we are having in the mornings now will be enough for the plants to continue to grow. Everything is wet when I first open the door

[waggy]

Have you got a bird bath that rats and squirrels can't get up? You may get a few interesting small birds early in the morning.