Garden

PLANTS

Plants from the Crassulaceae family are common in the Canaries. Unique to Lanzarote is the rose house-leek (Aeonium lancerottense) the flowers of which dominate the garden for a month, normally from late June onwards. Small specimens grow in the lava of La Geria - a quite unearthly landscape when they bloom. In this garden they flourish - dozens of tiny pink and white star shaped flowers, each lovely on its own, grouped together into large conical spikes. Also well represented in the garden is the closely related, yellow flowered, Aeonium balsimiferum, native to Fuerteventura as well as here but very rare because the goats like to eat it.

'Conditions here might well favour the co-evolution of plants which flower at different times, so that the pollinating insects get a steady supply of food - it certainly seems that there is always something flowering in the garden; when the Aeonium blooms start to fade these attractive white flowers appear. As is clear from the shoot visible on the photo, this is a member of the asparagus family - two species of asparagus are native to Lanzarote, the other, also present in the garden, is less delicate in appearance but doesn't seem to grow as vigorously.'

Two of the frog photos below feature native plants of Lanzarote -a white flowered Echium decaisnei known as tajinaste - a shrub which helps keep the garden green even in the driest months, and a giant dandelion - two species of sonchus produce their characteristic yellow flower after rain. Only a stick remains in the summer but these re-grow each year getting up to 2m tall.

ANIMALS

FROGS

Canarian tree frogs are, for half the year, the most audible feature of the garden at night. Their annual party seems to get a bit longer each season, but by August most of the adults have left their tiny offspring in the pond and climbed to the top of the palms from where they exchange occasional croaks.

BIRDS

Our trees and water attract a lot of migratory birds, swallows always call in for a couple of weeks on the way to and from Africa, while the heron, shown above, managed to scoff a large number of frogs in a short time, at least they were quiet for some time after the visit. Lanzarote's sub-species of blue tit are resident here, having nested in this garden every year for a decade. . More recent residents are some shrikes (photo) which are getting quite tame (except when I have a camera handy). These lack the large claws of other birds of prey and so use thorns or barbed wire to hold their lizard prey while they eat, sometimes impaling surplus on a suitable spike for later consumption.

LIZARDS

Two species of lizard and a gecko are permanent residents, the first two are hard to miss in the garden, and will quickly learn to eat from your hand if presented with a bit of cheese rind. The larger species of lizard (Largato de Haria) features attractive turquoise spots on its side. Geckos can often be spotted lurking around an outside light waiting for moths, unlike lizards these reptiles can make a squeaking noise, which has occasionally puzzled our guests.

VISITING FAUNA

Every now and again some visitors from Africa get blown over to Lanzarote - locusts have sometimes descended - I've only seen a single specimen since I've been here, but I have witnessed thousands of lovely butterflies some years. In January 2002 the island was covered in the dragonflies shown in the pic.

RECORD RAINFALL

The winter of 2004/2005 brought the greatest rainfall in 80 years. As a result the garden blooms as never before: