WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

YESSSS!

Last Summer we went on holiday in the South of France and I found many ripe opuntia fruits on the ground so I took one fruit home with me, cleaned and dried the seeds, about a month ago I covered the seeds with a bit of soil and today the first 2 seedling were visible !! If all goes well many more will follow.

VOILA MY FIRST 2 BABIES HAVE ARRIVED !

Two years ago I found a few seeds of an opuntia when on holiday in Tunisia, when I wanted to put them in the soil I had just one seed left (my cleaning lady mistook them for dirt and the rest of the seeds ended up in the vacuum cleaner) but it germinated and is now about two years old and 10 centimeters high and it doesn’t look like an opuntia yet, do any of you know how long it takes before the seedlings will look like a real opuntia ?

MY TUNISIAN OPUNTIA, it is about 10 cm high after 2 years

Have a great weekend all and enjoy your garden if you can !

update : now we are 1 day later and number tree came up 😛

OLD BUT BEAUTIFUL part 3

Isn’t time flying these last days of 2013 ! We had no real Winter days yet, except for a few light night frosts, not that I am complaining !

The sun is shining today so I’ll try and take a few pictures from the garden today. But first I’ll continue with the tree’s series that I started a while back. I met some pretty amazing tree’s on my travels and as I know some of you like tree’s as much as I do I want to share my pictures with you.

THIS ONE I FOUND IN FRANCE, A CORK TREE PERHAPS ?

THIS IS A EUCALYPTUS TREE, YOU FIND THEM EVERYWHERE IN FRANCE AND NOW THEY ARE POPULAR IN BELGIUM TOO, ALAS THEY ARE NOT ALWAYS WINTERHARDY OVER HERE

ANOTHER EUCALYPTUS

THE BARK OF A PALMTREE IN MONACO

I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS TREE THE MOMENT I SAW IT IN THE JARDIN EXOTIC IN MONACO

THIS IS A CLOSE UP OF THE BARK, ISN’T IT STUNNING !!!!???

HOW ABOUT THIS ONE ? LOOKS LIKE TE PAW OF AN ELEPHANT ! ALSO TAKEN IN MONACO

THIS IS A CACTUS TREE, THE FIRST CACTUS TREE I SAW IN MY LIFE, I DIDN’T KNOW OPUNTIA’S COULD GET REAL TREE STEMS !

A HUGE JADE TREE WITH A LOVELY STEM

ANOTHER CACTUS TREE IN MONACO

The following pictures were taken in the south of France, I found these old pine tree’s quite impressive.

With this pictures I’ll end the old but beautiful tree’s series but I’ll continue to photograph them and in the future I’ll do more of the tree’s series.

I wish you all a very happy and beautiful new year with lots of fun and inspiration in whatever it is you are doing and I want to thank you all for visiting my blog and commenting on it, I really appreciate it !!!

 

LA DOUCE FRANCE : MONACO

The day we visited the tropical garden in Monaco (le jardin tropical de Monaco) was for me the most beautiful day of our holiday in France !!! This garden was built against the slopes of a mountain and what grows against mountains in a warm climate ???? right : cacti and succulents !!! It was magic as soon as we entered the garden, I didn’t know where to look first and what to photograph as I felt like a child in a sweet shop. There were cacti and succulents everywhere and then that environment !!! We had a look over the mediterranean sea and Monaco, it was breath-taking really !!!! It was also a perfect day for a visit to this garden, the sky was blue and the sea was blue and the sun was shining, what more can you want ???!!! I was overwhelmed but happy !

But please look for yourselves, I took loads of pictures to show to you.

THIS BEAUTIFUL TREE WAS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE GARDEN, BEHIND THE TREE YOU CAN SEE A BIT OF THE SEA IN THE BACKGROUND

CEIBA INSIGNA SAID THE LABEL, I’VE NEVER SEEN A TREE LIKE THIS ONE, I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT IMEDIATLY

A VIEW OVER THE SEA FROM THE GARDEN, LOOK AT ALL THE YACHTS !

A BEAUTIFUL AGAVE

A CACTI STILL LIFE

A BUNCH OF AGAVE STRICTA

GOLDEN BARRELS, WE CALL THEM “MOTHER-IN-LAW’S CHAIRS”

GARDENS ON TOP OF THE APARTMENTS ARE EVERYWHERE

ON THE RIGHT SIGHT IN THE BACK YOU SEE A CEMETARY

LOOK AT THIS YUCCA STEM !!! IN THE BACK YOU SEE A BIG JADE PLANT AND SOME GOLDEN BARRELS

AGAVE VICTORIA REGINAE, ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AGAVES FOR ME

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL STEM !

A HUGE OPUNTIA, LOOK AT THIS STEM, IT TURNED INTO WOOD LIKE A REAL TREE STEM !!!

A THORNY EUPHORBIA IN BLOOM

SMALLER SUCCULENTS ARE PLANTED EVERYWHERE BETWEEN THE BIGGER PLANTS

ANOTHER EUPHORBIA

CHOLLA

PORTULACARIA’S WERE EVERY WHERE, EVEN N THE SHAPE OF HEDGES

OH IF ONLY THIS COULD BE MY GARDEN !!!!!!……….

A CRISTATA FORM

A CACTUS FRUIT AS BIG AS AN ORANGE

ANOTHER PRICKLY CRISTATA FORMED BEAUTY

A FEW OF THE BIG BOYS

A FEW LITTLE GEMS

WHY OH WHY CAN’T I GROW THIS IN MY GARDEN ???

AN ARCHE MADE OF PORTULACARIA

ANOTHER GARDEN ON TOP OF A FLAT

MORE ROOFGARDENS

LOOK AT THE STEM OF THIS JADE PLANT !!!

I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS AS MUCH AS I DID ! In reality it looked a lot more beautiful than what I can show you here with my pictures ofcourse. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week !