Hello my Hive Garden friends.
I'd like to share our very thorny pruning session we had in the garden,
PRUNING THE KNOBBLY THORN TREE
Omg...after much complaining and threatening to set the bush on fire, I got a reaction today; or believe me, someone else will be hanging the washing in future.
The Knob Thorn Bush ("Knobbly Thorn") has been growing out of control lately and needs serious pruning, every time I passed by to the washing line, it would pounce on me clutching onto my cloths with it's nasty thorns, tearing the fabric.
So today Hubby had an ultimatum...hang the washing or prune the Knobbly Thorn Bush.
This is Peter my hubby, cautiously pruning the Knob Thorn bush,("knobbly Thorn") as we call it.
I say "cautiously" because the thorns on the branches are quite vicious and could leave a nasty wound to one's skin.
So!...before any more damage is caused and continued complaining, Peter agreed to cut it back slightly.
We bought it from the local nursery a couple of years ago, being an indigenous tree it's found all over Africa, especially our Game parks where Elephant are found; apparently the thorns protect the tree from the elephants damaging the bark. It's also said that where elephants no longer occur, the thorns seem to have receded.
Well!...fortunately I don't have elephants in my garden, recede thorns or not, I don't want any more clothes ripped Lol!.
Armed with garden gloves and clippers, and a few nips from the thorns,(not to serious)just a few scratches; he did quite a sterling job in the end and I was a happy chap too.
The characteristic of the tree is it's knob shaped thorns. If these are receded due to no elephants in the area, I can only imagine how terribly threatening they must be in the wild where elephants roam about.
Being bird lovers, we thought it would be a good idea at the time to buy the tree as the birds love eating the berries and nesting in it.
The berries are small orange colored which the birds love to eat.
I can now walk peacefully to the washing line without being attacked by the thorny branches.
The birds and me? we're happy, very happy!.
These little fellows come to feed on my Martin Gulu Plant, that's if they can't get into my kitchen to steal my fruit from the fruit-bowl.
They know exactly when I've been to the store to buy fresh fruit, I'm quite sure they watch my every move, seems to be same one's every time.
I'm actually going to give them names now.
Any suggestions?
We have a large troop of monkeys in our neighborhood and they can be very destructive at times, I must say though, they haven't given me to much trouble...I don't mind them... after all... we invaded their territory by building houses and malls, so... I'm not going to complain about them to much.
They're just mischievous little busy bodies looking for a bite to eat.
MARTIN GULU PLANT
The proper name of the plant is "Carissa which is a shrub native to Africa, Australia and Asia.
Some people call it "Natal Plum"; they grow quite well here in Natal South Africa as we have a sub tropical climate.
The fruit has an incomparable taste to any other fruit, one cannot really describe it.
Not my favorite I'm afraid, some love it though, I'll leave my share to the monkeys. Lol!
When the fruit is of a red color, then it's ripe and ready to eat.
Um!...maybe I don't like them because they also have horrible thorns, Hehe!
My brother-in-law gave me some plants, I don't know what they are, he did tell me the names...omg!...I can't remember Lol!.
I don't know where I'm going to plant them yet....so... I'll share with you next time when I find a spot in the garden.
Thank you for letting me share a small part of my garden with you,
Until next time,
HAPPY GARDENING!!
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