La Gomera, Tenerife, Fauna, Foliage, Flowers and My Sticky Fingers

Yesterday I returned from a week away in the very hot and very sunny Canary Islands, specifically Tenerife and the tourist centre of Los Cristianos. In between me trying to laze around and relax I spent a little time looking at the local plants. Los Cristianos itself has been well planted with palms, pines and flowering bushes of all kinds. Streets and gardens were full of fauna and flowers, most of which I had never seen before, I must have looked like a little fat kid in a sweetie shop, running round taking pictures and fondling the plants!! The resort has been well planted and really breaks up the view of the endless hotels and apartments that line this part of the coast. Here are a few pictures I took of the plants here.

A Boulevard in Los Cristianos 

Cactus Tree? Its bloody amazing.

Some kind of tree that looks very much like a fern.

I just liked this little palm because it looks like a Pineapple

Los Cristianos is tourist central and for at least one day I wanted to get away from that, so after much pleading with my partner I managed to get a day trip out to La Gomera an Island a short distance on the ferry from Tenerife. Here there are few people and fewer tourists. The island is small but very beautiful, the centre of which is a Unesco world heritage site due to its rare and specialised plant life. The forest here is I have to say a strange one, the majority of the trees look like overgrown heather and that is what they are. Tree heather! As a small volcanic island it is made up of steep cliffs around its circumference that reach in to the interior. The edges of the ravines all over the island have been terraced over the 500 years or so the Spanish have held it. This really makes you think you could be in the Andes in some old Incan village, it was I have to say a little surreal. All across the Canaries you will see Cactuses of different types, these are not native but were brought back by the Spanish from places like Mexico. Everywhere you look there seems to be one type of cactus or another growing, only on the highest peaks to the seem to disappear. It also seems each valley has its own micro climate, on leaving the island capital San Sebastian you see a dry and arid landscape littered with disused terracing but only in the next valley you find a wetter climate were banana groves, palms and pines rise up from the valley. La Gomera is most famous as the last part of the known world Columbus visited before setting sail for the Indies.  On my trip around Gomera I again took a few pictures (below) but did not get any of the names.

A picture of the terracing that covers the island, most of which has fallen out of use.

Whilst going around Gomera I did pick up some seeds, I have no idea if they will grow here in the UK or even what plants they are. They were there and my sticky little fingers could not resist. Actually the only seed I picked up that I know what it is. is Blackberry. The fruit was small and hard and not very appetising but I still wanted the seed just to try them here. I'm sure the more knowledgeable gardeners will know the above plants, unfortunately I am still learning. As for Gomera, if you are holidaying in Tenerife a day trip to Gomera is a must! I fell in love with the place and I am currently try to persuade my partner to move there!