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. . . what sort of plant this is?
The day before my last chemo session I went back to the viveros that Nog & I had seen while out for our Sunday snack – at the time we were on the rental bikes and had no way of carrying 6 plants home. I’d been looking for some sort of sun-loving flowering plant to replace the gitanillas that I used to have (which all died from a moth infestation) and the woman at the viveros showed me these guys. And yes, she did tell me what they were called, which I promptly forgot, but I think it started with a ‘B’. I’m not sure what a viveros is called in English – perhaps a garden centre? A nursery? This one I went to was basically a huge greenhousy type garden with tons of cats all over the place.
Anyhow, finally got my new mystery plants repotted and I think they look very nice. There are four white ones on the two living room balconies (in blue pots) and on the bathroom balcony one yellow and one orange (in plain clay pots). And the best part was that they only cost 1 euro each!
casa azahar 
The leaves look like jade plant, but I’ve never seen them with blooms, and the leaves are closer together. It’s some kind of succulent. There’s all kinds of resources on the web. Just google succulents.
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It’s lighter and more delicate than other jade plants I’ve seen, Silverstar, but I agree it’s some sort of succulent. Meanwhile, googling ‘succulents’ makes me think it’ll be quicker to walk the hour and a half return trip to the viveros and ask the woman for the name again (and this time write it down!). 🙂
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It sort of looks like some kind of purslane to me. There are lots of different varieties of that around, and the fact that it comes in so many colors and has a succulent look to it makes me wonder if that isn’t what it is. Of course, the spanish name may be something completely different.
Didn’t the plants come with nice informational tags? I have at least ten of them sitting on the counter by the phone where I have stashed them after the bluejays stole them from next to the plants. Theoretically, I will remember which plant each tag goes with when I make the map of where each thing has been planted. (enter hysterical laughter here)
I sort of agree that going back to the nursery and asking the gal might be the most efficient way to find out what it really is.
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Hey, you may be right, hmh! And if it is purslane apparently it’s also edible. Cool.
A bit of googling shows that it is also called “verdolaga” which is maybe why I thought it started with a “b” (b and v sound the same in Spanish).
“Didn’t the plants come with nice informational tags?”
If you’d seen this place you wouldn’t be asking that. 🙂
It was quite a charming place, but it really did look like someone’s very large private garden and, as I say, there were cats everywhere. Including a big fat one lying right next to the cash register and a little black kitten who kept running up to talk to me. So, not the most organised of places. Good luck with your tags!
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If I ran a nursery it would be just like that, probably including the cats! Sounds like a wonderful place.
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I asked the woman how many cats she had and she looked around, shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘oh, I don’t know … about twenty?’. It was quite fun coming across cats all over the place. When I go back to confirm the plant name I’ll take some photos. I also want to get some baby cacti to put on that partial wall shower partition – do you remember it? Every plant I’ve tried in those tiny pots just ends up dying.
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Purslane, aka Portulaca oleracea:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Purslane.html
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/pbrpov/cropreport/pure.shtml
Portulaca (aka Moss Rose) is the common summer annual we in Ontario see planted in areas which have a lot of sun and almost no water… Very hardy. If this is the same plant, you couldn’t have picked a better windowbox flower…
Also… and more specific interest to you, Az… http://www.wikipatents.com/ca/2191923.html
Of course, you need to carefully check that this is Portulaca/Purslane before you chow down.
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I posted a comment but can’t see it. When I tried to post it again, it said I was posting a duplicate comment…
How odd!
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Grumble….
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It sometimes does that Anneke, if it decides you are posting spam or possible spam, especially if it has a link or two in it. It sends it to moderation, where Azahar may find it and send it back into the world.
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Ahhh…
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Silverstar was right, Anneke. Your comment lay in my spam file whilst I slept … probably because of the links.
How very cool that it’s also used as a cancer treatment. But yes, I will make sure of the name before I make a salad out of it.
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those flowers look wonderfully cheerful – hope they’re doing their job 🙂
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Glad it made it up there….
If it is Portulaca (et al) they come in so many bright colours! I had no idea that they were edible, though.
My in-laws had a bunch in a hanging basket which was also the abode of a toad which they named Gustav. Gustav would spend his nights singing in the garden and then would climb up into the basket and spend his days sleeping in the shade of the Portulaca…
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These plants almost seem like they’re alive … I mean in a triffids sort of way. At sundown they go all floppy and the flowers either fall off or close up (haven’t worked that one out yet) and then in the morning sun they sproing back up again.
I wonder if it’s safe to sleep with the balcony doors open.
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Now that someone’s mentioned it, it does look like the portulaca I used to have in my yard in Colorado. It was the only thing that would grow there, it was so dry.
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