Aloe

Aloe is a very common ingredient in all kinds of skin care products, and it grows in many gardens around Barbados (my own included), and wild in some parts of the island. Locally made soaps and body lotions may contain local aloe.

As with most succulents, aloe is very easy to grow, and it flourishes with little or no care. Aloe stalks are barbed along the edges and, though the sap is healing, it also stains clothes and skin a dark yellow-brown colour. The sap also has a funky oniony smell.

Aloe flowers appear on a long stalk and are very attractive to bees and wasps. The plant is usually 18 - 24 inches in height and spreads outwards quite quickly. If you can safely get at a sucker, just stick it in a pot and it will grow.

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

Barbados Sugar Cane

Barbados has been well know for it’s sugar and rum for literally hundreds of years. Crop is about to begin so I thought it would be a good time to talk about the plant from which these things come, sugar cane.

Sugar cane is a member of the grass family, a very tall and robust species of grass, and it is the stalks that are crushed between heavy rollers to produce sugar cane juice, which is then boiled down to produce sugar and molasses. Molasses is made into rum, and is a great addition to things like banana bread and coconut sugar cakes.

The sugar cane is cut at the base by a harvester (only that growing on steeper slopes is harvested by hand nowadays), and a tractor-drawn cart drives alongside the harvester to collect the cane stalks that are automatically cut into two foot lengths. The leaves (or trash) fall to the ground where they remain unless the field is being ploughed.

The sugar cane plants put out long feathery flower stalks late in the year, at which point the cane plants are “ripe”, however, they are not harvested until several months later as they are given time to mature and the stalks to fatten with more juice.

The sugar cane harvest in Barbados lasts for a period of three to four months, during which time much of the island is denuded of the rolling green fields of cane. At the moment there is one working sugar factory on the island, Portvale Sugar Factory, and there are plans for a second (Andrews) to be renovated and converted into a multi-purpose factory for processing the entire sugar cane plant including all the bi-products that presently go to waste.

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

Birds in Barbados

Barbados is not known as a birdwatching destination, and avid birdwatchers might find the island a bit tame in relation to the avian world. However, in just half an hour this morning as I walked within 1/4 mile of my home on the street where I live, I spotted a variety of birds.

The blackbirds (grackles) are always around in abundance, followed closely by the sparrows (bullfinches) and various doves. But I also saw ramier pigeons, egrets flying overhead on their way to somewhere, king birds (rain birds) with their very melodic call, and parrots.

Parrots are in their element now as there are so many choices for them to feed on - trees and shrubs are covered in seed pods that appeal to the parrot’s palette.

As I walked today, I did not see any bananaquits (maybe I missed them as there are a lot around generally), hummingbirds, herons, gauhlins, canaries (very hard to find nowadays), nor did I see the flock of homing pigeons that are let out to stretch their wings first thing every morning.

But I don’t think I did too badly for just 30 minutes within a quarter mile of my home, without looking and without any special equipment.

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

A Blaze of Colour

At this time of year, Barbados is a blaze of colour. Everything is either flowering or coming into flower. If this is important to you when visiting a destination, be sure to book your Barbados trip for sometime between February and April.

Some things have a few flowers all year long, like Bougainvillea and Hibiscus, but early in the year when the nights are longer, everything is absolutely covered in flowers, with just a few leaves thrown in for good measure.

It really is quite spectacular to look around and see natural colour everywhere, whether it be a tree or a shrub, you can’t miss it. A fabulous feast for the eyes!

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

The Season For Losing Leaves

Believe it or not, Barbados experiences enough changes in weather and daylight hours to affect the bahaviour of plant life on the island. At this time of year when there are fewer hours of daylight, many trees lose their leaves, such as the Frangipani tree shown below. In a few weeks the same tree will be wearing an umbrella of spectacular flowers with a few leaves thrown in for good measure.

The Women’s Tongue Tree shown here is covered in brown seed pods. In a few weeks, these will be replaced by new leaves, and the tree will go from yellow/brown to bright green - quite a dramatic transformation.

Though January is, technically, part of the dry season, these changes are governed by the number of hours of daylight. If these same trees were growing in close proximity to a streetlight, the leaves would not drop off, and far fewer seed pods and flowers would be produced.

Many shrubs and trees are governed by the changing season - poinsettia, flamboyant, golden apple and plum are just a few.

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

Orchids & Barbados

Barbados has a flourishing Orchid Society and many enthusiastic orchid lovers. Not only are orchids exhibited in the Barbados Horticultural Society Flower Show (25 and 26 January 2014), but the Barbados Orchid Society also hosts their own show in March.

Not to be forgotten for lovers of these amazing plants is Barbados Orchid World, where thousands of different orchids are grown and displayed year round. This attraction is located in the center of the island, is well sign posted, marked on maps and is well known by taxi and bus drivers, so it’s easy to find. It’s even practical if you’re just visiting for a day on a cruise ship.

My personal experience of growing orchids is limited, though I have attached two to a tree stump behind my home. They seem to be growing, so I’ll just have to wait and see what flowers appear - I’ve forgotten what they are now. Also sprouting up next to the stump is a young pawpaw (papaya) tree - presumably from seeds dropped by either birds or monkeys.

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

Barbados Horticultural Society Flower Show

Every year at the end of January, the Barbados Horticultural Society hosts a 2-day flower show at their headquarters at Balls in Christ Church. It is an excellent opportunity for interested visitors to see local blooms at their best.

There are flower arranging displays, fruit and vegetable displays, exhibits of tropical ferns, succulents, cacti and other plants, plus demonstrations. Plants, flowers, garden equipment and accessories, locally made jams and jellies, craft works and a host of other items are also on sale.

The Flower Show is open to the public from 10 am until 6 pm each day, and there is lots of well organised parking. There is an admission fee of BD$20 per adult (US$10) and BD$7 (US$3.50) for children under the age of 12.

The BHS also sponsors an Open Garden programme from January through March each year. Private gardens are opened to the public for a small fee, and refreshments are served.

For more information on either of these events, please visit the BHS website.

If you are interested in reading more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.