Bold and Gorgous into spring;

A golden door into the garden; early morning;

BEAUMONTIA GRANDIFLORA Herald's Trumpet
Pictures cannot even begin to describe the sight of a mature Beaumontia in full bloom.

A big plant can be covered with many large flowers. To produce the best display, this heavy climber with large leaves will need a strong structure. Beaumontia is a tropical vine. It can tolerate a light frost for short periods but it is better to protect it if the temperature goes below freezing.
FAMILY : ApocynaceaeORIGIN ; HimalayasTYPE/USES; large vine; LIGHT REQUIREMENTS ; full/partial sun; WATER REQUIREMENTS; averageMIN. TEMP; low 30's;FLOWER S in spring; fragrant flowers.

Native King Orchid, Thelychiton speciosus; is fragrant and a sight to behold.

The wonders of australian plants; a freely flowering native Grevillia;

(please click the picture to see it in its glory.)

My gorgeous darlings "Apricot Nectar" and...

"Bewitched" both are doing well in the subtropics, through winter, spring and autumn; in summer they decline and go to "sleep". Both are easy to propagate from cuttings during winter.

My daughter ML has grown this Azalea border from cuttings.

A beautiful bold Aloe (this one grows in my daughters garden she promised me a "baby" of it.

This easy and fast growing Bromeliad wanders up a tree.

Bauhinia Orchid tree;

Bauhinia is a genus of more than 200 species of flowering plants in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers, Swiss-French botanists.
Many species are widely planted in the tropics as "orchid trees", particularly in northern India, Vietnam and southeastern China. Bauhinia blakeana is the floral emblem of Hong Kong, and a stylized orchid tree flower appears on the Hong Kong flag.
Bauhinia trees typically reach a height of 6-12 m and their branches spread 3-6 m outwards. The lobed leaves usually are 10-15 cm across.
The five-petaled flowers are 7.5-12.5 cm diameter, generally in shades of red, pink, purple, orange, or yellow, and are often fragrant. The tree begins flowering in late winter and often continues to flower into early summer.

Believe it or not:
Tous va pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes. (Voltaire in Candide.)

Organic tip of the week:

Use Sage in your cooking. It has like many other herbs very beneficial properties.

Sage Common sage (Salvia officinalis) is a small perennial evergreen subshrub, with woody stems, grayish leaves, and blue to purplish flowers. It is native to the Mediterranean region.
It is much cultivated as a kitchen and medicinal herb. Common sage is also grown in parts of Europe, especially the Balkans for distillation of the essential oil, though other species, such as Salvia triloba may also be harvested and distilled with it.
It is also called Garden sage, Kitchen sage, and Dalmatian sage. The word sage or derived names are also used for a number of related and non related species.

Culinary use
In Western cooking, it is used for flavouring fatty meats . In the United States, Britain and Flanders, sage is used with onion for poultry or pork stuffing and also in sauces. In French cuisine, sage is used for cooking white meat and in vegetable soups. Germans often use it in sausage dishes, and sage forms the dominant flavouring in the English Lincolnshire sausage. Sage is also common in Italian cooking. Sage is sautéd in olive oil and butter until crisp, then plain or stuffed pasta is added (burro e salvia). In the Balkans and the Middle East, it is used when roasting mutton.

Medicinal;

The Latin name for sage, salvia, means “to heal". Although the effectiveness of Common Sage is open to debate, it has been recommended at one time or another for virtually every ailment. Modern evidence supports its effects as an antihydrotic.

Thank you for your visit.

Copyright: 2008 T.S.

Photos: T.S.