Flower Power

Many things are blooming all over the yard.  I'll show you two items that are growing in the back yard and have a strange, but beautiful quality to them.  The first is a cactus.  Check out the beautiful yellow flower!  I'll show you a better picture further down.

Each year, Tricia harvests the 'paddles' off this cactus, cutting the sharp little spines off that cover it, and cooks it.  Nopalitos, they're called.  It makes a slime, sort of like okra does and you cook it with corn.  We always enjoy it.  The flower on this cactus is just stunning!

A friend gave me this plant and I put it out near the honeybees.  It is called the Coralbean, but here in Louisiana, it's called Mamou.  Would you just look at the "electric" red blooms on this plant!  I watched hummingbirds visiting it a couple of days ago.

Here is a close up of the Mamou blooms!  They are so bright it almost hurts your eyes.

In addition to the beautiful flowers, this plant is used as a medicinal plant and is known for treating anxiety, insomnia and muscle aches.  The roots are anti-microbial.  Seminole tribes used its bark to make a tea to help with pain and digestive issues.  According to what I've read, the seeds to this Mamou plant are very toxic!  They are used in Mexico as a rat poison.  Interestingly, if you boil the flowers, the resulting tea has narcotic properties.  I think we'll just enjoy looking at the flowers!