Seaside Morning Glory

Seaside Morning Glory is a hardy vine that grows on the beach and other salty windswept environments all around Barbados, but particularly on the north, east and south-east coasts of the island. The vine grows very quickly and can overtake an area if allowed to get out of hand.

The leaves are thick and hardy, but the flowers are very delicate. They are at their best early in the morning, and have wilted by afternoon. The seaside morning glory is good for helping to hold the sand on the beaches and though it will die off a bit in dry weather, once the rains start to come, they grow rapidly, much like a weed.

The specimens shown in these photographs were found growing on rocky outcrops on the east coast of Barbados, areas seemingly devoid of soil.

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

Broad Leaf Thyme

Broad Leaf Thyme is a herb that grows almost wild throughout Barbados. It is a favourite in local cooking, and is commonly known as “Poor Man’s Bacon” as in the old days, people would fry and eat it as you would bacon.

As the name suggests, the leaves can get quite big - easily three or four inches. The leaf is quite thick and meaty, and is covered in a fine downy hair. The scent is strong and unmistakeable.

Broad Leaf Thyme is so easy to grow - just pop off a leaf with a bit of stem attached and stick it in the ground or in a pot. A bit of water here and there (not too much), and soon you will have a large healthy plant that will continue to spread if left untrimmed.

This variety of thyme is used liberally in local cooking, usually mixed with other herbs, salt, black pepper and probably some local hot peppers too. Everything gets chopped up together into a fine paste before being added to the pot or being used to marinate meat prior to cooking.

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

Christmas Flowers Are Blooming

It’s that time of year again when the flowers that come out at Christmastime are blooming.

The bright yellow Christmas Candles have been flowering for a month or so already. They are in gardens plus they grown wild, particularly in the drier parishes of St Lucy and St Phliip. A Christmas Candle in full bloom is truly spectacular.

All over the world the Poinsettia plant is associated with Christmas. Here, in Barbados, it is the time year when these shrubs are covered in vibrant red - the actual flowers are tiny white or pale yellow structures surrounded by bright red sepals.

The only Poinsettia plants that would be found indoors are the imported hybrids that are specifically used for decoration inside at this time of year, and then they die off after a few months.

I haven’t actually seen any Poinsettia outside yet that have turned red, and I seem to recall that they were quite late this year, but I’m sure we’ll see them soon.

Last but by no means least is the spectacular Snow on the Mountain. I haven’t seen any of these yet either, but they are hard to miss - a bright white shrub that really does look like a hill covered in snow.

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

WALL FERN

Wall fern will spring up just about anywhere that is damp and semi sheltered. It sprouts out of cracks in the wall (hence the name), cracks in bricks, concrete yards, between flagstones, anywhere. The one pictured here was growing from between flagstones at Morgan Lewis Mill in St Andrew on the east coast of Barbados.

May people grown them in pots too as they are easy to grow and quite hardy, and they look good too. The roots tend to hold on quite tightly, so if you’re trying to pull one up, particularly if it is a more mature specimen, chances are it will break and leave the roots in the ground.

Like most ferns, when the new fronds of Wall Fern come out, they are tightly curled and gradually unfurl over a period of days. The one pictured here is quite young and tender, but the leaves and stems become quite coarse and hard as the plant matures.

Wall fern grows pretty much all over Barbados once there is enough moisture. In fact, it sprouts up much like a weed and can become a nuisance as it is so hardy, but it is very attractive in a pot.

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

GARDEN SPIDERS IN BARBADOS

I know that lots of people don’t particularly like spiders, but they are a fact of life, and Barbados has it’s fair share.

The photo here is a typical Garden Spider with a leg span of about four inches. If you can look at it long enough, it’s really quite beautiful (coming from someone who used to have a spider phobia is an incredible statement).

The spider here is upside down - notice the protrusions on the abdomen - aren’t they amazing? And the striped legs. The egg sacs of these particular spiders are bright yellow, similar to the yellow stripe visible on the legs.

As the name implies, they live outside - it would be a pretty unusual occurrence for one to come inside. They spin extensive webs and many spiders live on the one large cluster of webs, and are particularly fond of cacti, sea grapes and other large shrubs.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any around my home, and the one pictured here was on a web system between two walls and some Bougainvillea, located on the east coast of Barbados. I do, however, remember seeing a lot of them when I was a child. Perhaps there aren’t as many around nowadays, particularly in more densely populated areas.

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

Ghost Crabs

Ghost Crabs are quite small (maybe 5”) crabs that are very quick to get back into their holes if you get too close to them. They dig their holes on beaches all over Barbados, so very easy to spot one from yards away. Sometimes it seems like the beach is littered with them, and then they get startled and all disappear into their holes.

I feel very lucky to have got this photo before this little guy disappeared. I’m not sure if they get their names from their pale sandy colour or the fact that one moment you see one and the next moment it’s gone … or perhaps a bit of both.

Ghost Crabs tend to come out of hiding at low tide, and their holes are frequently cover by water, but some holes are above the high water mark too - I think the important thing for them is that they live in holes on the beach with superb camouflage.

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

Christmas Worm Invasion

Well, it’s that time of year in Barbados when the weather is a certain way that the Christmas worms (a tiny millipede) suddenly multiply and invade our homes. 

At most a Christmas worm is an inch long and the body just a millimeter wide, so they are small enough to come in through any little gap in doorways and windows. It’s near impossible to keep them out. 

They don’t do anything and they’re not harmful, but they are a nuisance, and if you happen to crush one, the smell is unmistakeable and unpleasant. 

We tend to spray around our doors periodically to try and keep them (and other tiny critters) out, and, once or twice a year, I put sevin around the outside of the house. That also helps to keep critters out.

Fortunately, Christmas worms disappear just as quickly as they appear, and they have already started to wane. I'm not sure where the name came from, but I would guess that it's because they tend to appear at the end of the year, hence "Christmas".

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