Although it was the very driest of dry seasons in Kenya when I was there, I did find some things in flower, but mostly around the guest house, where they are watered. This strange bunch of ... I suppose they are seeds ... grew on one of the palms; the little green bobbles eventually turn black and get bigger. The gardener said they were called African ladies plaits ! I can certainly see what he meant, for beautifully plaited hair was the in thing for ladies with a little money to go to a 'salon' and get their hair plaited.
The flamboyant tree avenue on the way out of Kisumu westwards, on the main road to Maseno, Busia and eventually Uganda. Whatever the time of year, there always seems to be some of these beautiful trees in flower.
This little white flower grew on a bush at the guest house ... and smelled like moth balls !
Pink lilies which just flowered for one day in the heat, but the gardener said they would flower much longer when the rains came.
Another different type of palm ... I decided this was tree spaghetti ! I wasn't there long enough to see what would happen to these flowering parts after another week or two passed.
The incredible heady scent from this red flowered jasmine at night had to be experienced to be believed. It filled the whole of the corridor outside my room with perfume. I had thought when I smelled it the first night in the guest house, that there must be gardenias in flower outside, but in the morning, this was what I found !
I think this was some sort of amarylis; it flowered after watering, and the flowers lasted a bit longer than the pink lilies.
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