6/28/12

Tropical Topics: Return to the Moir Garden

We saw this aloe garden before, in full sun, back in 2010. This time we had some cloud cover.

I can really appreciate this garden's of overgrown, over-planted, over-the-top succulent stylings...but I have to say it looks better in photography than it does in real life. Some gardens are just like that. Mine is like that. What makes that happen? Is it the framing? Selective editing the zoom? Digitial colors? I don't know.

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It's an alien landscape...

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With all kinds of strange specimens.

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A giant, possibly 80-year-old Euphorbia abyssinica (syn. E. neglecta) towers into the trees in the back corner

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And its long arms hang down pendulous, unfurling like a writhing mass of serpents.

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Lava rock walls point the way.

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How old are these stands of large, arborescent Kalanchoe beharensis? How big were they when planted?

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Sansevieria-lined paths lead to tiered, circular koi ponds

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Besides the aloes, Plumeria flowers here.

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And if I had to guess, I would say the yellow-flowering tree is Thevetia thevetioides.

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Thevetia thevetioides?

Thevetia thevetioides?

Thevetia thevetioides?

Nearby an old iron tub of water lilies, endlessly trickling.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tons of great water features! I like how the path gives the impression of a creek bed.

My garden also looks better in photographs, definitely.

Bonnie Story said...

The Euphorbia abyssinica is just stunning, I can't believe that!! Beautiful pics.