St Helena flowers.
‘Cactus’ or ‘tungi‘ – opuntia elatior
Photographed in January 2016 on Bunkers Hill, near Alarm Forest.
12 BLOOMING MARVELLOUS PICTURES | Darrin Henry
Temperatures are dropping, long sleeve fleeces are everywhere and the wind is trying to take the roof off – it’s August on St Helena, need I say more? Tropical winter is here and it’s not much fun.
St Helena Flowers, Month By Month
We know what to expect with the weather at this time of year, but one thing I hadn’t realised until we started shooting our first Project 365 this year, is that St Helena flowers, although seasonal, are producing colourful blooms every month of the year. The different species take it in turns to ‘present,’ however, there’s always more than one natural beauty to admire even throughout our grey and cold months.
St Helena flowers.
‘Sunflower’ – helianthus
Photographed in Castle Gardens, Jamestown, in February 2016.
We’ve chosen 12 pictures of St Helena flowers in bloom, each one taken in a different month of the year.
Whether you know your perennials from your biennials or you confuse your azaleas with your pop stars, hopefully we can all agree that flowers of all kinds will brighten even the dreariest day.
St Helena flowers.
‘Brazilian vase plant’ – billbergia pyramidalis
Photographed in March 2016 at Napoleon’s Tomb.
St Helena flowers.
The ‘Cape leadwort’ – Plumbago auriculata
Photographed in April 2016, growing in Alarm Forest as part of a wild hedge.
St Helena flowers.
‘Everlasting’ – xerochrysum bracteatum
Photographed in Alarm Forest in May 2016, this flower seems to be ready for the camera all year round.
Flowers of St Helena.
‘Red hot pokers’ or ‘torch lilies’ – Kniphofia
Photographed in the gardens of Longwood House, June 2016.
St Helena flowers.
The ‘Caffra thorn’ or thorn tree flower – Erythrina caffra
Photographed in July 2016, flowering in great numbers at White Gate and leading down into Knollcombes.
Flowers of St Helena.
‘Arum lilies’ – zantedeschia aethiopica
Photographed below the summit of High Peak in August 2005.
St Helena flowers.
‘Ladies’ petticoats’ – brugmansia suaveolens
Photographed in September 2015, deep in the lush heart of Sandy Bay district.
Flowers of St Helena.
‘Tickseed’ or ‘Lance-leaved Coreopsis’ – Coreopsis lanceolata
Photographed at Sommerville shop, Sea View, October 2014.
St Helena flowers.
‘Lobelia’ – trimeris scaevolifolia
Photographed this pretty little endemic flower to St Helena in November 2014, near the top of Diana’s Peak.
Flowers of St Helena.
‘St John’s Lilies’ also ‘Easter lilies’ and ‘trumpet lilies’ – Lilium longiflorum
Photographed in the gardens of Plantation House, December 2015.
A special acknowledgement at this point to the book, ‘Flowering Plants & Ferns of St Helena’ by Phil Lambdon, which was invaluable in helping us put together this post.
Love, love love your blog and all the posts. Having visited your Island via the RMS last Nov/Dec, I am sure glad we have discovered your wonderful site. Especially enjoy the 366 days and ALL of your posts. Thanks, from Colorado USA and keep em comin. It is a delight. I only wish St Helena were not so far away. What an incredibly special place to live.
Lovely comment, thanks so much! So glad you’re enjoying the blog, but Project 366 especially which has become a real labour of love. We spent about 10 days in Colorado in 2008, had a super time, so great that we’ve seen your home state too. Still wearing my Colorado Rockies baseball shirt after seeing a game at the Coors stadium 🙂 Hopefully we won’t be too far away when the airport (fingers crossed) starts operating passenger flights. Cheers 🙂
Beautiful photos of beautiful flowers!! Sorry but I don’t have too much sympathy for your winter, just think what we have to put up with in the UK!!!
Haha, I was expecting someone to say that, Sheila 🙂 I actually enjoyed my last UK winter, snowy scenes and all – here the buildings are generally not designed with insulation so unless you have a woodstove, indoors can still be uncomfortable most of the time. (feeling sympathy yet?) Anyway, you enjoy a last month of sunny weather over there! Cheers 🙂