Ravishing RED

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art gift, art print, deviantart, Flowers, photography, plants

Ravishing RED

Bilbergia Pyramidalis

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Bilbergia Pyramidalis, Flowers, gardening, plants

The flowers on an individual plant last less than one month, but nearly all the plants will come into bloom at the same time in the late summer. They are equally distributed as a terrestrial or epiphytic. When planted in the ground, they quickly create large clumps, and when planted at the base of a tree, will slowly climb the trunk.

Superbum

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Banana Peels, elk horn, Elk Horn Fern, epiphyte, Fern, fertile fronds, Flora and Fauna, Frond, garden, home grown, nature, organic, ornamental plant, plants, Platycerium, Platycerium superbum, stag horn, worm castings

This is my “MOTHER” superbum ( Platycerium superbum ). She arrived in my family of plants in 1988, which makes her the ripe old age of  25. Obviously then she was only a pup, looking like the pup pictured below.As she is an epiphyte, a container like the one above was created for her years ago. It was filled with a mixture of potting soil and worm castings. She was then attached using soft string and hung underneath a tree. The leaf drop replenishes the container with humus. She loves a twice weekly spray of water. Chopped Banana  peels and mashed banana are added twice a year.

These ferns develop a humus collecting “nest” of non-fertile fronds and in doing so can grown up to 1 metre wide. The ferns also develop hanging fertile fronds that can reach up to 2 metres long.^]

Both fertile and non-fertile fronds are broad and branching and grown to resemble the horns of a stag or elk, thus the common names stag horn or elk horn.

Queen of the Night

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art gift, art print, deviantart, Flowers, photography, plants, quotes

Some think that love is all flowers and good times, but I think that love is more than just that. Love is the bad, as well as the better, not lived alone, but a journey together. Something that only the closest can share, with communication and respect.

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Epiphyllum “Queen of the Night”

Orchid Cactus

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Epiphyllum, Flowers, garden, orchid cactus, plants

 

I have been waiting eagerly for this Orchid Cactus to open. This is my reward this morning.

Epiphyllum

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The Lady in Red 

Marvel of a day

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art gifts, art print, deviantart, garden, nature, organic, photo art, photography, plants, print art, quotes

The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day.

Kenneth Patton.

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Superbum

 

The Leopard found in a Muthi Market

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Africa, African herbalism, Ansellia africana, bad dreams, Durban, environment, garden, Leopard, Leopard Orchid, love charm, Muthi market, nature, Orchids, plants, South African endemic plant

Some years ago while I was on holiday in Durban, I paid a visit to the Durban Muthi Market. This is Durban’s “witches’ market” and here you will see traditional medicine, or muthi, being made and prepared for sale.

Stalls are covered with organic ingredients that range from snake-skins to crocodile teeth and birds claws, plants as well as mysterious bright pink powders. To the thumping sound of bark and roots being pulverized in deep wooden dug-out containers, you can shop for car-Tyre sandals, decorated walking sticks, magical talismans and African incense (impepho or wild sage).

You can consult a sangoma who will take you aside and ‘throw the bones’ ‘ a collection of bones, shells and maybe even a domino or two that are scattered on a reed mat ‘ to commune with the ancestors and spirit guides. Based on the outcome, he/she will prescribe the relevant treatment, which can range from ablutions to ointments to oral medicine or protection rituals.

I came across a very large pile of Leopard Orchid (Ansellia africana) waiting to be pulverized and blended into muthi. I paid the herbalist R 20-00 for five bundles.

The Leopard Orchid is the largest of our epiphytic orchids and grows in spectacular clumps in trees in the subtropical areas of southern Africa.

Uses and cultural aspects
Traditional Ansellia africana is used as a love charm, as an antidote for bad dreams and at homesteads to ward off lightning. It is also much in demand as a specimen plant in gardens.

 

 

Superbum

Tags

Banana Peels, elk horn, Elk Horn Fern, epiphyte, Fern, fertile fronds, Flora and Fauna, Frond, garden, home grown, nature, organic, ornamental plant, plants, Platycerium, Platycerium superbum, stag horn, worm castings

This is my “MOTHER” superbum ( Platycerium superbum ). She arrived in my family of plants in 1988, which makes her the ripe old age of  25. Obviously then she was only a pup, looking like the pup pictured below.As she is an epiphyte, a container like the one above was created for her years ago. It was filled with a mixture of potting soil and worm castings. She was then attached using soft string and hung underneath a tree. The leaf drop replenishes the container with humus. She loves a twice weekly spray of water. Chopped Banana  peels and mashed banana are added twice a year.

These ferns develop a humus collecting “nest” of non-fertile fronds and in doing so can grown up to 1 metre wide. The ferns also develop hanging fertile fronds that can reach up to 2 metres long.^]

Both fertile and non-fertile fronds are broad and branching and grown to resemble the horns of a stag or elk, thus the common names stag horn or elk horn.

 

The Lady in Red

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art gift, deviantart, Epiphyllum, Flowers, garden, Kitty Hawk, nature, orchid cactus, succulent

The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek,

There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me,
It’s where I want to be,
But I hardly know this beauty by my side,
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight;

I never will forget the way you look tonight.
The lady in red, the lady in red,
The lady in red, my lady in red,

I love you

Chris de Burgh

Epiphyllum

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