Evening gardening

 

I love being in the garden just after sunset when it's cooler (the Coastal heat can really get to me) and I think the plants agree. 

Even the Chlorophytum (Hen & Chicks or Spider Plant) is perky and opened up after looking very withered and dried up this afternoon. The Spekboom in the back-ground has grown beautifully tall over the last 2 years, and maybe soon I'll have some shade in this hot, West-facing garden.

Coral Aloe (Aloe striata) in a pot and Mother-in-Law's Tongue in the back-ground.

The thick wide leaves of the Coral Aloe are smoother than the more typically serrated or spined varieties typically found on aloe species. Flowering in the later winter and early spring months, the eye-catching coral red blooming inflorescences bring colour to a garden when it's needed most.

It forms in clumps and usually won't grow higher than tree feet in height. Unlike many aloes, it's a solitary species that doesn't grow offsets that can be replanted, therefore it makes an excellent pot subject. It seems to be very slow=growing and I'm really looking forward to the day it flowers.

(Pics taken with iPhone 11 Pro)

Echeveria harmsii

Family : Crassulaceae
Botanical Name : ECHEVERIA harmsii
Plant Common Name : Plush Plant

This soft little fuzzy succulent has beautiful leaf color that adds interest to small gardens and pots. It is a rosette-forming species that hails from northern Mexico. This evergreen forms small asymmetrical rosettes comprised of fleshy, football-shaped leaves with a burnished-red cast along the leaf edges. The rosette will occasionally send out pups, or lateral plantlets. As these accumulate, the plant develops a mound-like habit.

This succulent has large, beautiful flowers, but it is not a heavy bloomer. In spring it sends up stems topped with orange, bell-shaped flowers with golden throats. Each stem may include many flowers that open at different times for a longer season of colour. The blooms are highly attractive to hummingbirds.
Like most succulents, this plant prefers full sun and needs very porous soil, whether grown in a pot or a frost free rock garden. As plants age, they grow rangy but this can easily be remedied with careful pruning. The cuttings root easily in moist sand. Watering should be done sparingly as this is a very drought tolerant plant. Feed it occasionally from spring to summer occasionally with a liquid fertilizer solution at half strength.

This one started flowering shortly after I put out out in the sun in January, but I have just brought in for the winter as I'm not sure how it will handle the frost we get here.

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Carpobrotus

I used to have stretches of this wonderful ground-cover in my last garden. This easy-to-grow succulent, native to South Africa, is a wonderful ground-cover, ideal for low-maintenance and water-wise gardens. I have a few stems peeping through from the other side of my picket fence and it's flowering at the moment. If I had space, I would propagate some for the garden, but unless I clear up some of the Callisia repens, it's not going to happen.

Carpobrotus leaves are eaten by tortoises. Puff-adders and other snakes such as the Cape Cobra are often found in Carpobrotus clumps where they ambush the small rodents that are attracted by the fruits. Flowers are pollinated by solitary bees, honey bees, carpenter bees and many beetle species. Flowers are eaten by antelopes and baboons. The clumps provide shelter for snails, lizards and skinks, so it’s a wonderful plant to have if you want to attract wildlife to your garden.

CARPOBROTUS C. acinaciformis (sour fig, elandsvy, goenavy, Hotnotsvy, strandvy, suurvy ) has purple flowers, robust, short, greyish green, sabre-shaped leaves and tasty edible fruits, used to make a delicious jam, and grows in coastal sands usually close to the sea, in the Western Cape, from Saldanha to Mossel Bay (South Africa).

Carpobrotus juice (from leaves) can be used as a mild astringent. When mixed with water the juice can be used to treat diarrhoea, dysentery and stomach cramps. It can also be used as a gargle for sore throat and laryngitis, and mild bacterial infections of the mouth. The leaf juice can also be used externally, much like Aloe Vera for burns, abrasions, open cuts, grazes, mosquito bites and sunburn. It is also used to treat ringworm, eczema, dermatitis, herpes, thrush, cold sores, cracked lips, chafing, skin conditions and allergies.
Info from Wikipedia

 
CONSERVATION STATUS 
Carpobrotus edulis is not regarded as threatened in its native habitat, but it is invading natural areas in other parts of the world and threatening the survival of other species. In California, where it has been used since the early 1900s to stabilize the soil along railway tracks and roadsides and as a garden ornamental, it has naturalized and is invading coastal vegetation from north of Eureka to Rosarita Bay. It is known as the highway ice plant in the USA. It has naturalized along the west coast of Australia from Perth to Albany where it was also used for soil stabilization and is known as pigface. It has naturalized in parts of the Mediterranean and on the south coast of England.

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Spider plant

Bottom left corner—Tradescantia and opposite it, some Hen & Chicks (also known as Spider plant). Behind that, one of my Spekboom (Portulacaria afra).

I read somewhere that the Spider plant, or Chlorophytum comosum, symbolizes fertility, good energy, and prosperity. Yay! 

I also read that Spider plants may suffer from infestations like scales, aphids, mites and whiteflies. Luckily, in all the years I have had Hen & Chicks in my gardens, I’ve never experienced any of those infestations. 

(Photograph taken at night with iPhone 11 Pro)