Dede Sophie

Oh my goodness, my orchid cacti have been absolutely fine wintering outside for the past 6 years, then this year they have been absolutely smashed!  If you didn’t know before, Orchid cactus – Disocactus ackermannii is an species of epiphytic cactus that occurs in the cloud forests of Veracruz and Oaxaca, in Mexico. It is a gorgeous, evergreen plant with an arching trailing habit and produces dark green, long, flattened leaves which are only 2-3 inches wide but up to 36 inches long! Usually tough as old boots I like to grow it outside hanging from my trees. This year however a polar vortex descended on the garden and stayed for a couple of weeks, just long enough to kill a lot of my ‘on-the-edge’ hardy plants. Even the back up plan cacti in the greenhouse were frozen to mush! Luckily it wasn’t a complete disaster as you will find out in this video.

The signing of the 2023 Joint Annual Work Plan for the United Nations (UN) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) was held on Monday in Port Moresby.  Koney Samuel, Secretary for the Department of National Planning and Monitoring signed on behalf of the Government of PNG, while Richard S. Howard Jr, UN Resident Coordinator for PNG, signed for the UN.  Secretary Samuel acknowledged the long-standing relationship with the UN and extended the Government’s appreciation of the range of ongoing support to Papua New Guinea.  “UN plays a vital role in helping the Government of PNG to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), raise the standard of living and protect human rights for all Papua New Guineans,” Mr Samuel said.  Secretary Samuel said by 2025, PNG should have its second Voluntary National Review (VNR), where it will report to the UN on the country’s progress on implementing the SDGs. The SDGs have been incorporated into the Medium Term Development Plans of the country.  This ye...

Most of us are familiar with the rich, bright blooms of Bougainvillea cultivars, but on our recent visit to Madeira Botanical gardens we were surprised to come across this hugely long pagoda thickly covered in a selection of well-established Bougainvilleas. Not only was it impressive simple due its size and length, it provided welcome respite form the summer sun. So why not join myself and Lorna as we make our way through this gorgeous example of hard and soft landscaping and listen to our ramblings as we go. For context, size records for bougainvillea spectabilis are not really kept for this species  however one of the largest known girths for the Bougainvillea is in Madeira at 1.35m. Unfortunately that specimen can be found at the Passio Publico do Lido. Funchal and not here in the Botanical Gardens. Be that as it may this is still the largest stretch of specimens we have ever seen