24 – Plants

Went for a long exploratory hike this past Thursday.  (Thursday is our last day in the workweek, as you recall.)  It started when we blew out of the office really early at 3:30 pm.

Since it was quite a while before sunset, I changed into my swim trunks, a T-shirt, and sunglasses, and headed out to swim in the Red Sea.

Short story: waded at least 50 yards off the beach, and was still in knee-deep water.  That's a pretty long distance from land, especially when no one else is in sight and no one knows where I am or what I'm doing -- which is what you do to keep it low key and fulfill Rule Number One.  So I decided my efforts qualified as "swimming in the Red Sea" and crossed it off the list.

If another opportunity comes along to really swim in the Red Sea, I'll take it.

So .......... there I was, at the beautiful Sales Center, slightly disappointed and with at least 2 hours of daylight remaining.

What to do?  Well, there were some fascinating plants in the landscaping, and Mom likes plants.  So do I.  Here are the most interesting ones.  (click on the photos for slightly larger images.)



Golf course grass, interesting only in that it's growing in an irrigated desert.
(Toes are shaded by the deep grass, not discolored from swimming in the Red Sea.) 

And I know this succulent ground cover ... a misnamed "rose" something or other.



Pretty pink flowering shrub.  Anybody know what this is?

Comes in white, too.



Wicked thorns on such a pretty thing.

 


Flintstone-looking little tree.

The Saudi national symbol incorporates
a stately palm like this one.





A row of palmettos that would make Charleston proud.

And a nice bed of Sago palms.



Small example of a "fern tree" we also have in South Carolina, although I can't think of its name to save my life.




Larger example of a "fern tree".  This one has the familiar seed pods.  (See comments.)



This surely looks like a fruit tree, but there's no fruit.

Now, Saudi Arabia is a desert -- at least outside the irrigated areas.  Deserts have a variety of cactus species, and the landscape designers here did not disappoint.  Names for each type are completely products of my imagination.



Cannonball cactus

 



Crazy mutant sculptural cactus





Another Schizo Cactus

Schizo Cactus












Cucumber cactus under another Flintstone little tree

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I had another chat with my colleague who thinks Saudi Arabia is a sad and lonely place, and told him that I haven't seen any animals and almost no plants in the natural landscape here.

We both agreed this is a hostile place for all living things.  While I also agreed that this seems to be a sad and lonely place, I think he needs a vacation.