African gardens – Page 14

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’

March 15, 2013April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure16 Comments

The green of life requires blue. . .*

At the front of our house, in two curvy planting beds, the Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’ is thick and blooming heavily — in the morning.

By early afternoon, the flowers close up, and I’m left with just a small-leaved, grey-green ground cover — which is still pretty nice.

(Above: that’s a pink-blooming crape myrtle tree to the left, doing so-so — I’m going to give it a light pruning pretty soon and see if it will fill out a bit.)

I planted out little sprigs of the evolvulus last July. This open area used to be occupied by a large Norfolk pine. However, it was dying (see here; sixth photo) and had to be cut down.

I’m not very happy with the grass and stone arrangement on the left side of the center planting area (below). It looks rather ragged. One of these days, I plan to remove the turf grass (I really like to have a wee bit of Round-Up) and plant mondo grass between the stones — as well as take up a few stones and add a two or three mounding plants.

Below, the blooms of Evolvulus ‘Blue Sapphire’ are a true blue. It is a tropical plant, hardy to U.S. zones 8-11.

(Click on any of the photos to enlarge them or on ‘Continue reading’ below to scroll through all the bigger images.)

Below, I’ve also used it to edge the planting border along the upper lawn in front of the terrace. (A plan of our garden is here.)

Below is the same border from the other direction, standing at the center steps. (The red-flowering shrub/vine at the end is a Mussaenda erythrophylla.)

Below, the border continues on the left side of the steps. The tall yellow flowers are double Rudbeckia laciniata.

Below, the zinnias in our cutting garden (from last month’s GBBD) continue to be beautiful. The tall grass in the back is lemongrass.

To see what’s blooming in other garden bloggers’ gardens today, check out May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is the 15th of every month.

*by Robert L. Jones, from “Blue.”

The way we live (green) now in Rwanda

March 4, 2013April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure4 Comments

This Kigali pharmacy has taken the city regulation for flower pots to heart -- with clipped weeping figs in the ground and then more pots behind them. — This Kigali pharmacy has taken the flower pots requirement to heart — with clipped weeping figs in the ground and then more pots behind them.

The city of Kigali has a requirement that all shops must have flower pots at their entrances. I learned this yesterday from our local newspaper, The New Times.

According to the article “Kigali City residents bemoan KCC* policies,”

[a business owner,] who deals in hardware business, . . . especially criticized the policy of flower pots at the front of every shop. All shops are supposed to have flower pots in front of them, a policy that was established in 2011.

“We are struggling with paying taxes which are high on top of that they are asking us to buy flower pots which cost between Rwf 15,000 to 20,000. Not all of us love flowers,” he said. “Every time I see these flower pots in front of my shop, I feel like it’s making my shop ugly because I would prefer something more artistic other than a flower pot but then I also can’t have two decorations at my door.” . . .

Last week, during an inspection, a few shops were locked up because of not having flower pots outside their shops.

I don’t know how many or what size pots are required. Rwf 15,000 is about US$24.

Back on January 19, I was also diverted by the article “Eleven arrested smuggling plastic bags:”

The police have arrested 10 Burundians and a Rwandan found smuggling 400 cartons of plastic paper bags and marijuana into the country.

The suspects were arrested in Kibungo town. They were travelling by bus heading to Kigali, from Kirehe district.

Police said the suspects had smuggled the goods through one of the most notorious entry points on the Burundi and Rwanda border in Gahara sector.

Rwanda banned disposable plastic bags in 2005. The ban was effected in three years later. However, Rwanda, which replaced the menacing bags with paper bags, is the only country of the five EAC member states with effective policy on plastic bags.

The initiative was a response to the plastic’s negative environmental impact, amid extensive physical presence of bags across the country.

Supt. Benoit Nsengiyumva, the Eastern Province Police spokesman, said the suspects would be charged as soon as investigations are complete.

“Rwanda is now entering its fourth year with a nationwide ban on all plastic bags. This is what we are guarding; as Police and we won’t rest,” he said.

Nsengiyumva said the suspects would also be charged with illegal entrance into the country and trafficking in marijuana, an illegal drug.

Note which crime is emphasized in the article.

Rwanda takes its restriction of plastic very seriously. Passengers arriving on international flights are warned to leave behind their duty-free store bags, and once, returning from Pretoria, I had to pull off all the security plastic wrap from my suitcase before I could exit the baggage area.

While I could go either way about storefront potted plants, I do like this plastic bag prohibition. I remember how the last place we lived in Africa — Niamey, Niger — was just inundated by this particularly obnoxious form of trash. The bags are such a plague on the continent that a common joke is to refer to them as the national bird, seen nesting in the trees and fields.

But they are extinct in Rwanda.

. . . And behold,
the plastic bag is magic;
there is no closing it. . . . .

— William Matthews, from “The Waste Carpet“

*Kigali City Council

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: zinnias

February 15, 2013April 9, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure13 Comments

The zinnias in our cutting garden (in Rwanda) have begun to bloom this week.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day is the 15th day of each month. To see what’s blooming in other garden bloggers’ gardens, check out May Dreams Gardens.

. . . So unguardedly, unthriftily
do they open up and show themselves that subtlety,
rarity, nuance are almost put to shame. . .

— Mona Van Duyn, from “A Bouquet of Zinnias”

Nice things and Nyungwe Forest Lodge

February 12, 2013April 13, 2016 Cindy at enclos*ure7 Comments

I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

Our oldest daughter has been visiting us — which is very nice — so this weekend, we took her to see the Nyungwe Forest in the south of Rwanda and to stay at the beautiful Nyungwe Forest Lodge.

Nyungwe Forest Lodge, enclos*ure — Orchids and tea bushes in front of the cabins at Nyungwe Forest Lodge.

The Lodge is located on the western edge of the Nyungwe National Park in a tea plantation picked by a local cooperative. The cabins front to the tea fields and their back windows look out on the forest.

The area is currently having clear blue mornings and rainy afternoons. On Saturday, our one full day there, we hiked the canopy walk before lunch (more on that later this week). Then we actually talked about going on another hike that afternoon.

However, with the first raindrops, we gave in to the luxury of just parking ourselves in front of the many picture windows looking out on the gorgeous view and napping and reading until the 5:00 p.m. tea, cookies, and cocktails in front of a fire.

Lounge at Nyungwe Forest Lodge, enclos*ure — The lounge at the Lodge. Photo by Mary Koran.

Just before tea time, we were rewarded for our indolence by finding about a dozen blue monkeys in the trees right outside our cabin’s back patios.

Blue monkey at Nyungwe Forest Lodge, enclos*ure — A blue monkey (Cercopithecus mitts) about to jump from cabin roof to the trees. Photo by Mary Koran.

I wanted to show you these side tables in the main lounge, which I loved.

Unfortunately, I forgot to ask if they were locally made or imported — next time.

The big chandelier was appropriately made of tea strainers.

Camellia sinensis leaves have little or no smell (only if you crush them hard) until they are processed as tea. But the hotel smelled very lightly of green tea fragrance from the soap and hand lotion in the bathrooms and gift shop. So, sitting on the terrace or in the main lounge looking out, I could smell what I thought the fields should smell like (but really don’t). I thought this was an interesting little manipulation of experience in a landscape.

My daughter brought me a Kindle Fire e-reader, another really nice thing, which allowed me to spend the afternoon switching from Vogue, to the third book of the Game of Thrones series, to Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies.

I’ve written about Nyungwe Forest Lodge previously here.