Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra)

Everybody knows Bougainvillea, even if not by name but by sight. When a bush is covered in flowers, it is spectacular and can be seen from quite a distance. Some of the different colours are pictured here, including one that is white and pink all in one. 

It should be noted that the actual flower is that tiny white thing in the middle of the very large and colourful sepals. Generally there is no fragrance attached to Bougainvillea, at least not to humans, and the leaves are a very ordinary darkish green. However, what is memorable besides the vibrant colours are the long and very painful thorns, some of which are shown in the photos.

Due to it’s thorny nature, Bougainvillea makes a great hedge. If trimmed regularly it can get quite thick and live for a very long time. Most of the colours are very hardy, but some do take a bit more TLC to get a solid footing, and once established, will live for many years. Bougainvillea is also very easy to propagate using cuttings first placed in water until some roots appear, and then bagged or potted until a bit stronger before putting in the ground. 

Bougainvillea in every colour can be see growing around Barbados, neatly trimmed ones and wild spreading ones that become a mass of colour, as shown in one of the photographs. If you are inspecting one at close quarters, beware of the thorns. Bougainvillea stems get harder with age, and when trimmed pieces dry out, they get very hard indeed. Should you step on one of the thorns you will remember it for a very long time. Not only is it painful due to its size and length, but it tends to burn as it penetrates the skin and takes quite a long time to heal. So the moral of the story is, go with care, they are so worth it.

Christmas Candle (Senna alata)

It is that time of year when this wonderful shrub is covered in magnificent candle-like golden flowers, Christmas Candle (Senna alata). When these start to flower, you know that Christmas is just around the corner, the days are shorter and the nights are cooler.

Many people have this shrub in their gardens, but they can also be seen growing wild, particularly in the eastern and northern parts of the island. It seems to be quite a hardy plant as it survives irrespective of the weather in preceeding months - the flowers will always appear at the end of the year.

The leaves are quite thick and feel like they have a very fine covering of hairs. At other times of the year, Christmas Candle will just blend in with surrounding greenery. It really is when the flowers come out that it stands out in a class of it’s own, and to me it really does mean that the  Christmas season has arrived.

Column Cactus

I have no idea what kind of column cactus is shown here, but I found a piece growing wild, carefully removed it and put it in a pot on my deck, where it has been for the past three or so years.

When I first got the plant, it was about eighteen inches tall, but obviously loved it’s location. Within a matter of months, it was about five feet tall. It seems to have slowed down at it’s present height of about eight feet and puts out the most magnificent flowers.

There is usually just one flower at a time, but there may be two or three a few days apart. The bud grows over a period of a week or so and each flower opens in the late afternoon around dusk, and the actual opening is quite quick, maybe over an hour. It will stay open like this all night, close up a little the next day, re-open the next night and then close completely the following morning. The photos here were all taken in the early morning, and I had to get the ladder out to get some of them.

I know that the hummingbirds feed on the flowers as I have watched them come in for a feed after the sun has set but before it is pitch dark, and they will go and come several times during the course of the evening. I’m sure larger moths probably enjoy the nectar too, but I haven’t actually seen this. After the flower has closed, it will dry up and drop off after a few days.

Seaside Morning Glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae)

I love Seaside Morning Glory for many reasons. Aside from the fact that it grows (thrives) on little to no soil (rock is just fine), and it does shrink back and die off during the dry season, but the minute rain comes along, oh my, the ground is transformed with a magnificent green carpet (it grows really quickly) interspersed with these lovely purple flowers. What can be better than that?!

Seaside Morning Glory grows on the beach as well as along cliff edges on the coastline, so salt and wind are no problem for this hardy plant. Anywhere from the south-east coast of Barbados, along the east coast and right up to the north of the island, you will see this growing. It is even used on beaches that have suffered erosion to help “hold” the sand.

To top it off, butterflies of all sizes and colours love Seaside Morning Glory. What’s not to like!

Silver Dollar

This shrub grows very easily and can be seen in gardens all over Barbados. I don’t know the Latin name for Silver Dollar (that’s what we call it), but it has a lovely grey-green leaf, very similar to that of Texas Sage, but much bigger, and it bears bunches of tiny little spherical pods, some of which are clearly shown in the photo.

Silver Dollar makes a great hedge or a stand alone ornamental shrub. It handles dry conditions well, requiring just a bit of watering to get it through the dry season. It also thrives along the windswept south and east coasts of Barbados, and can be found growing steps from the beach.

If left to run wild, Silver Dollar will become a more tree-sized plant, providing good shelter from the sun and wind.

Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera)

Sea Grape trees and shrubs grow wild all over Barbados, particularly along the coastline. They are easily recognisable because of the almost circular leaf. As the new leaves come out, they are a magnificent rust colour, as shown in one of the photographs, and as they age they change to a verdant green.

As the name implies, sea grapes bear a small delicious fruit, which turns purple as it ripens. The hard part is finding ripe ones to pick as birds, monkeys and other people all like them too. When I was a child, people would sell them on the beach for a few pennies - the leaf was twisted into a cone shape and filled with lushious ripe fruit. Failing that, we would climb the sand dunes to reach the trees ourselves and feast.

Sea Grape is a very hardy salt tolerant plant, most of the leaves will fall off during the dry season, and they will look quite bare and near death, but as soon as rain comes, these magnificent rusty coloured leaves appear which slowly turn green, and it becomes thick and lush, and quite spectacular.

Keep your eyes open as you explore the island’s beaches and coastline, and you are sure to come across some Sea Grape trees.

Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)

Texas Sage is not indigenous to Barbados, but it can be found thriving in gardens all over the island, and I could not resist including it here. Just one look at the photo will tell you why.

Texas Sage is a shrub with a tiny leaf that is more grey than green. It prefers somewhere that is sheltered from the wind, but gets good sunlight and rain. The one pictured here is in a garden that experiences high wind for most of the year, but the shrub itself is tucked behind a structure, so from mid-morning until late afternoon it is in the sun, it gets runoff from the roof when there is rain and is exposed to little wind. And it is just magnificent when covered in flowers, which usually appear after there has been some rain, seemingly overnight.

In the dry season, it does not need to be watered very often, just a little to keep going, but as soon as rain comes, it transforms to this magnificent purple and grey ball of colour that the bees and butterflies love. You cannot help but smile and feel better when face with a flowering Texas Sage.