Wednesday 4 December 2013

Immortelle Trees





I absolutely love Immortelle Trees. They are so easy to grow - break off a small branch, stick it in a hole in the ground, prop if necessary, water, and voila, in a short period of time you’ll have a mature Immortelle Tree growing in your garden.

In my childhood years I first heard of these trees in relation to Trinidad and Grenada as we didn’t have them here in Barbados. They were everywhere on these islands, and a drive around the countryside revealed these stunning trees with variegated leaves and bright red flowers interspersed with the verdant green of the rainforest and the bright yellow flowers of poui trees.


Now Immortelle Trees are found all over Barbados, but sadly, there is a moth infecting them so many aren’t looking very healthy. The moth causes the leaves to shrivel and turn brown before falling off.

There are two such trees on the street where I live that are in close proximity to each other. I hope they recover. There is a third tree on the street which was cut back severely and, as you can see from the pics, it looks very healthy now. Unfortunately none are flowering at this time of year.


If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

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