Black Pearl (Majidea zanguebarica)

The Black Pearl tree (also called Mgambo Tree) is a relatively new addition to Barbadian gardens. It’s now used quite extensively in landscaping and seems to grow easily and quickly. I like the velvety look and feel of the seeds, and the stark contrast between the black seeds, red lining of the seed pods and the green of the leaves - very dramatic.

The trees don’t grown to be very tall so are practical in a smaller garden, and are strictly decorative, and can be grown in a large pot. The seeds are sometimes used in making jewelry, and the dried seed pods can be spray painted and used decoratively too. The leaves are small and simple, and the flowers (as you can see in one of the pics) are very small and delicate.

Antigua Heath (Russelia equisetiformis)

Antigua Heath (also known as Jamaica Heath) is a very delicate looking plant that beautifully softens a retaining wall. The plant seems to cascade down the wall or side of a large pot, and seems particularly attractive when combined with coral limestone. This is something that I remember being impressed with since childhood, and I still think it’s hard to beat.

The tiny slender little red or pale yellow trumpet-shaped flowers contrast nicely with the dark green foliage, foliage that is more like green twigs than leaves. As kids we used to like to pop the unopened flowers against our foreheads just to hear the pop.

Hummingbirds of all kinds also like the flowers of the Antigua Heath, and I’ve many times watched some of them flit around a bush sampling one flower and then moving on to the next. The pale yellow flowers are a lot less common, but equally attractive, especially when the reds and yellows are paired together.

It’s really easy to get plants of Antigua Heath too, as an established plant puts up little shoots, and it’s very easy to pull these youngsters out and transplant them. Add water and poof, you’ve got a nice show of Antigua Heath in your garden.

Red Berry Palm

As we all know, there are literally thousands of different palms found all over the world, and there are probably hundreds of varieties in Barbados and the Caribbean. I’m not sure of the name of the one pictured here, (I’ve used Red Berry Palm because the berries are red) but what I really like about this palm are the bunches of vibrant red fruit. They are so striking and colourful. And some birds like these fruits a whole lot too, eating the thin skins and leaving a carpet of large seeds on the ground.

The bunch of red fruit shown here are the ripe version of the green bunch in the photo above. The photos were taken a couple of months apart. This particular type of palm also tends to be a shorter and more slow growing variety, which is how come I was able to get these pictures without having to stand on a ladder.

These palms are found in gardens all over Barbados, although I know some people don’t like them because of the mess left on the ground by birds that are feeding on the fruit. Each berry is about the size of a large olive, and is mainly seed with a thin skin. My home came with a different variety of palm which I’ll write about in a later post.

Acalypha (Euphorbiaceae)

Acalypha, also known locally as Joseph’s Coat, is found in gardens all over Barbados. It’s very easy to propagate with cuttings, and a healthy shrub is really quite spectacular with the various red hues or green through pale yellow hues of the leaves. They’re also quite popular as hedges and a line of alternating shrubs is lovely though not very functional as a barrier hedge.

The Acalypha shrub does need to be trimmed periodically to maintain a nice bushy appearance, but they survive the dry season without much attention. If they don’t get trimmed regularly, the shrub will tend to get a bit thin and straggly.

I love all the colours in each leaf, so the name of “Joseph’s Coat” is very appropriate. As one would expect, they look better during the rainy season, and fill out into nice thick bushes. The flowers, as you can see in one of the photographs, are very small and nondescript, but they are appealing to nectar feeding birds, moths and butterflies.

There are hundreds of varieties of Acalypha within the Euphorbiaceae family of plants, but this one seems unique in the aspect of the variegated leaves. Some of the other species have more visible and dramatic flowers (Cat’s Tail is a prime example), but they will be dealt with in a separate post.

Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea spectabilis)

Everybody knows what Bougainvillea looks like - bright and colourful, and synonymous with tropical climes. They come in white, various shades of pink, peach, red and purple, and a shrub in full bloom is truly spectacular.

There are lots of varieties in my mum’s garden - I remember them being hatched as cuttings forty plus years ago, and they are now huge with woody trunks and very well established - I can only imagine how deep the roots go if someone actually wanted to take them out one day. One was even planted alongside a mahogany tree, and has grown right up to the top of the now huge tree, and when it’s flowering, the vibrant pink cascading down the green of the mahogany tree is truly incredible.

Bougainvillea also comes in doubles (see the first photo in this blog), where flowers have twice the number of sepals, and there are also dwarf varieties, which are very cute with their miniature flowers, miniature leaves and miniature size, though I have seen one of these grow into a very large bush six or more feet tall.

For those of you who don’t already know, Bougainvillea also comes with vicious thorns. If you’re trimming one, gloves are a good idea though the thorns can pierce those too. As a child growing up, I was always told that the thorns were poisonous. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that if you get stuck by one it is very painful. For this reason, people like to use Bougainvillea from a security point of view too. No one is going to push their way through a Bougainvillea hedge to get into your yard. Some gardeners will even refuse to deal with them because they are so difficult to trim. But they make up for all of the negatives by being so beautiful and dramatic.

Frangipani Hawkmoth Caterpillar (Pseudosphinx tetrio)

I don’t remember seeing these in Barbados as a child growing up, nor as a young adult. In fact, I’m only aware of seeing these very large and conspicuous caterpillars here within the past five or so years. I suspect that they were around just not in large numbers, and I know they are quite common in other islands. I suspect that our changing weather patters have been conducive to the increase in populations - recent years have been wetter with shorter dry seasons. Another way to put it is that the dry seasons haven’t been that dry.

However, now, every year for a couple months, frangipani trees on Barbados are taken over by the Frangipani Hawkmoth Caterpillar, and a tree can be cleaned of leaves in a matter of days.

Here in Barbados, I’ve seen my neighbour go outside early in the mornings with a can of insect spray in hand to kill the ones that are on his trees. The spray works well and did not seem to harm the tree, which now, several months later, is lush and green again.

The caterpillar shown in these photos was walking along the ground about fifty feet away from the nearest frangipani tree, so I suspect it was looking for a place to pupate and I got these pics en route, and no, I did not harm the caterpillar.

This one was a good four inches long and easily half an inch fat. I haven’t yet seen a pupa anywhere, nor the eggs nor the adult moth in close enough proximity that I can get a photo - not sure where all of the newly hatched moths go!

I think the Frangipani Hawkmoth Caterpillar is quite beautiful, and I love the fact that they can parade around in the middle of the day without having to worry about predators (other than humans) as they are poisonous from feeding on the poisonous milky sap of a frangipani tree or allamanda shrub. Nature is very cool.

Sweet Lime (Triphasia trifolia)

You don’t see a lot of sweet lime (also called lime berry) growing on Barbados any more, but if you do, chances are it will be in the form of an impenetrable hedge. I remember as a child going to an aunt’s home to visit, and she had one in her front yard shaped like two halves of a capital C. As kids we’d try to jump over it as it wasn’t very tall, but there were many instances of not quite making it over and getting skinned shins instead.

When we moved into our own new home in the early seventies, my parents painstakingly collected seedlings from my aunt and started their own hedge, which is still in place and is now about six feet tall and two feet wide. Sweet lime makes for a very tight hedge, so excellent for security, and even moreso because of the short sharp thorns.

The leaves are small, roundish and dark green in colour, and it puts out a small green berry that turns red as it ripens, and is full of seeds. The birds eat the berries and spread the seeds in their droppings, so seedlings can be found sprouting up in all sorts of odd places. I think we used to eat the berries as children too, and they were sticky and gluey with a limey flavour and citrusy smell.

There’s not so much sweet lime growing nowadays, and in fact, besides the one at my mother’s home, I can’t think of any that I’ve come across personally in recent years - my aunt removed hers some years ago. The scarcity of this shrub is probably not helped by the fact that slugs and Giant African Snails love to feed on the leaves.

Coconut Trees (Cocos nucifera)

When most people think of a tropical beach, one of the first things that comes to mind is coconut trees swaying in the breeze. And yes, they are found all over Barbados, both in the wild and in peoples’ gardens. Surprisingly, the island does not have any coconut plantations, but some are grown commercially on a smaller scale.

And they are so easy to grow - find a dry coconut still in it’s husk and drop it on the ground. Check back in six months and there will be a young tree sprouting up from the dry coconut. It’s that easy. Coconuts float and can travel for many miles in the sea before washing ashore on a distant land only to sprout and take root and grow into a mature tree to start the cycle all over again. 

What you may or may not know is that there are different kinds of coconuts - some have sweeter water, some don’t give much jelly (or “meat” as we call it), some have small coconuts, some have yellow coconuts, and some have giant-sized nuts that give a jug full of water from one nut. Nowadays there are dwarf trees that are literally about six feet tall, making it really easy to harvest the nuts, and some grow very tall, requiring an agile individual to climb the tree with cutlass (machette) in hand to cut down the bunches of ripe nuts.

The outer husk of a dry coconut is very fibrous, but a skilled person can have it split open and the nut revealed in minutes. The same applies to removing the top of a green coconut to access the fresh water inside - a few strategically placed chops with a sharp cutlass and you can drink straight from the nut in minutes. Once the coconut has dried, there is usually a little water inside, but most of it has dried to become the hard white flesh that is grated for use in baking.

Coconut water is full of health benefits and is consumed liberally (sometimes with some gin thrown in) by young and old alike. The dry coconut is used in baking and cooking, and the coconut milk is a crucial ingredient in cocktails and in cooking.

Do not ever make the mistake of sitting under a coconut tree or parking your car under one, because if a nut falls it will do serious damage to your vehicle and your head - many a coconut has shattered a car windscreen. Trees that are found alongside more popular beaches are usually kept fairly clean of mature nuts and dying branches, but less frequented beaches do not get that kind of treatment, so have a look up at the tree before you decide to settle under it. Even a branch dropping off would cause serious damage.

African Tulip (Spathodea)

I don’t remember these trees much as a child growing up, but they do grow wild all over the island, particularly in inland areas, and in some gardens. A house that I had some years ago had a wonderful grove of African Tulips growing alongside a watercourse that went along the edge of the property, and it was so lovely and peaceful that I insisted that the house be built to one side so that none of the trees needed to be cut down. It was lovely.

African Tulips are not overly large trees, and put out clusters of bright orange/red flowers that, when seen from a distance, appear like one huge flower - very striking against the papery dark green leaves.

In Barbados, African Tulips are strictly decorative though I believe they have various uses in other parts of the world. Nectar feeding birds such as hummingbirds, feed on the nectar produced by the flowers.

Casuarina

I absolutely love casuarina trees. They give me a feeling of peace and calm. I’m not sure why but they do.

Casuarinas are found growing all over Barbados, both out in the wild and in gardens. They even make very attractive hedges. The house that we lived in when I was a child between the ages of about 5 and 12, had a wonderful casuarina hedge on two opposite sides of our front lawn that was kept at about 5 feet in height and probably 2 feet thick. It got trimmed regularly, was obviously quite old, and part of it still exists even though the house is now derelict and the grounds overgrown.

Then we moved into our newly built home “in the country”, and lo and behold, there were two casuarina trees already growing in the front yard. They are still there forty plus years later, and have just been trimmed in readiness for the hurricane season.

The “leaves” of casuarinas are more like very long (about 5 or 6 inches) pine needles in appearance. The very nondescript and almost unnoticeable flower appears at the tip of each “leaf”, the seed pods are like tiny little pine cones about three quarters of an inch in size that start out green, gradually dry out and turn brown, and then burst open to release the spores into the wind. You do see little casuarinas sprouting up all over the place.

The leaves and pine cones do make a bit of a mess in the yard and form a carpet which we always rake up, and if you step on a dried cone in your bare feet, a stream of expletives will probably follow. The cones are sometimes called “oh shite berries”.

Casuarinas do well in dry, windy and salty conditions, so they are frequently found in close proximity to the sea, and on the tops of hills where other trees would not survive. The sound of the wind blow through a casuarina is also quite unmistakable. Almost like the sound of the sea lapping gently back and forth over the sand. Casuarinas tend to get quite tall (30 - 40 feet easily) and are commonly called “Mile Trees”.

Praying Mantis (Mantodea)

We get quite a lot of Praying Mantises around our home - not inside as we are fully screened, but on the deck or in the front yard. The one shown here is just about two inches in length and is a very nondescript brown, which have been excellent camouflage if it had been on a plant, but it stool out like a sore thumb on the mesh surrounding my deck.

I’ve never seen a green Praying Mantis here in Barbados, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, nor I have seen any of the species that are larger than the little guy shown here, but again, that doesn’t mean they aren’t around. I don’t think that a week goes by that I don’t spot some kind of insect that I haven’t seen before.

Recently, I saw a tiny bug that looked like a ladybug except that it had gold stripes rather than red dots. It was spectacular but I couldn’t get the camera in time to grab a shot. Maybe next time.

What can I say about this little guy. He/she didn’t move - they don’t unless you prod them with a finger or twig - they have to maintain cover. One of my cats likes to investigate them, but soon gets bored because they don’t do anything.

I know they feed on smaller insects, so I like them around in the hope that they will eat the sandflies than can torment us humans early in the morning or late in the afternoon. Anything that will eat those is good by me.

Golden Ball Cactus

I found this cactus growing in the hills on the east coast of Barbados about two years ago. I managed to get one ball off of the mother plant without getting stabbed by the spines, and put it in a pot when I got home. Within two months it had put out it’s first flower, a stunning pure white specimen, and was thriving.

Now, almost two years later, it has put out another flower and there are two more buds coming. The photographs here were taken over a 48 hour period - once the flower started to come out things moved very quickly. And, as with so many cacti, it did not open until after dark and by dawn, the flower had already started to close.

Finding a cactus growing wild in Barbados is quite unusual, but there were some houses a couple hundred yards away, so it probably came from one of those at some point in time, but there is no reason why it won’t thrive there too.

I am delighted with my find and think the flower is so delicate and lovely. I can’t wait to see the remaining two buds emerge in a couple of weeks.

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Everybody thinks of Christmas when they think of Poinsettia, and yes, most of the time these shrubs flower in December, January and February, but I got this late bloomer in May.

Everybody used to have Poinsettia in their garden, frequently planted next to a shrub called Snow on the Mountain, so that the two would be blooming side by side in the festive Christmas season, and a striking pair they would make with the bright red Poinsettia next to the bright white Snow on the Mountain.

The shrub will grow to four, five or six feet in height, but it likes to be trimmed back when it’s finished flowering, so that it can bush out and still leave plenty of time for flowering in the winter months, flowering that is governed by the number of hours of darkness that the plant receives. If the shrub is close to a streetlight or residential lights, the flowering tends to be confined to the side of the plant away from these lights, and nowadays is quite common to see one side covered in red and the other side all green. Not the unusual shape of the leaves which can be seen clearly in the following photograph.

Poinsettia is a milk plant, so you do need to be careful when trimming it as the milk will blister your skin and make a black stain on clothing. The potted Poinsettia plants that are sold at Christmas time in a variety of colours from white to pink to red, do not do well in the ground and tend to die off after a few months, and the ordinary one pictured here would not do very well in a pot, and tends to be more scraggly, but strikingly beautiful.

It’s not really Christmas without being able to drive around Barbados and see richly blooming Poinsettia in gardens all over the island.

Moon Flower Cactus (Cereus)

I grew up using the name “moon flower” for this particular cactus, but it’s also known as “princess of the night” and “Honolulu Queen”, amongst other things.

The example shown here started as a piece of cactus about three feet long that my father got from somewhere and planted alongside the trunk of a mahogany tree. That was forty odd years ago. Now it is enormous and grows right up to the top of the mahogany tree and cascades down the trunk.

Every year, around this time, it flowers. A very significant occasion as it only flowers once a year, and the flowers are fully open between about 8 pm and 4 am, so you have to keep an eye on the flowers as they grow to know when to look out and see them in all their glory. Quite spectacular.

Like any cactus, the moon flower is hardy, and once it likes it’s location it will bloom regularly and thrive. The photos here do not do justice to the flowers as these weren’t quite fully open, but it gives you an idea. Each flower will be about 6 or so inches in diameter, and this particular plant will produce dozens of them that will all open on the same night - a very impressive spectacle.