h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A fascinating selection of aloes, not available in the the local nurseries and I wish I had every one of them, much fabored as aloes generally are by the half dozen local hummingbird species.

On the bird of paradise plant, one of my cousins once teased one into fruiting in her garden.

It made a small cluster of miniature bananas about 3 cm long by about 4 mm in diameter.

My sister's dwarf banana (a green house plant) is much favored by the local hummingbirds which come to feast on the waxy, tubular 2.5 cm flowers it produces on its inflorescenses, the hummingbirds abandoning their usual territorial combativeness on account of the sheer abundance.

Lovely plants, Willem. Thanks for the information on figs, there has been some speculation that figs have been responsible for increases in human brain development, sorry that that particular one is not as tasty as it looks but what symbiosis!

I love the lily.

'Willem sits in a baobab tree,
Painting all the monkeys he can see...'

And in between, we get all these gorgeous flowers! Long may your garden grow!

Hi folks, thanks for the kind comments! ITIWBS, my bird-of-paradise plants are making lots of fruits here ... I'll see if I can get a photo or two of them and link. Glad to hear the hummingbirds are appreciating the aloes and dwarf banana!