Strange succulent

My mother has built an interesting garden at the front of our house. For the most part, it consists of cacti and succulents… I came across this strange, blooming beauty the other day. It seems to flower on a single stalk with a cluster of bulb-shaped flowers. Does anyone know what it is?

Strange succulent

[...]

How does her garden grow?

No cockle shells here, some stones..  When we think of gardens (particularly here in Durban) we often think luscious green… On the contrary, my mother, Helen, has created a unique and interesting garden mainly using stones, pot plants, succulents and cacti… I think the pics speak for themselves. Isn’t it cool?

Cool Garden 1

[...]

International First Love Day

Today is the first International First Love Day over at BridgetMcNulty.com.  As this is a gardening blog, I’ll stick to the first plant I loved and the first plant which got me into gardening, a little cactus I blogged about a few months ago.

What were the first plant(s) that got you interested in gardening?

Darling Succulent

I picked up this succulent from Evita Bezuidenhout’s house in Darling.  It was growing in a pot outside the theatre and I broke off a small piece, as big as a five rand coin.  Over the past year or so it has grown into this many stranded, unusual plant.  It has flowered once (yellow and fluffy) but I have no idea what it is.  Anyone seen it before?

Darling Succulent

[...]

Ipomoea

I picked up this interesting-looking pot plant last week at the Shongweni Farmers Market (for a cool R100!).  The guy selling it didn’t have much information for me but could tell me it was part of the Ipomoea family.

From Wikipedia, “The genus Ipomoea (Greek Ips, Ipos, worm or bindweed and Homoeos, resembling, referring to the twining habit) is the largest in the family Convolvulaceae, with over 500 species. Most of these are called “morning glories”, but this can refer to related genera also. The genus occurs throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises annual and perennial herbaceous plants, lianas, shrubs and small trees; most of the species are twining climbing plants.”

After a bit of Googling, I think it may be Ipomoea lapathifolia as the leaf structure looks similar … check it out here.

Ipomoea?