Ferox Redux

Snaky

While hoisting the Sunday morning newspapers from the curb, I notice that my beloved aloe ferox‘s flower stalk has already begun to dry out. I expect this part of the process but still feel a bit sad … it seems like the blooming period has only just begun! Up close I see that the blooms have dried and fallen from the bottom up, leaving only the tips bristling with bright yellow-orange and black tubular blooms. I love the scaly and sinuous look of the now-denuded stems … They look like inquisitive cobras in search of a charmer …

Remnants

The hollows of the huge aloe leaves are filled with dried and fallen blooms … for some reason I think of bins of saffron threads being scooped for sale at a market in Marrakesh, The City of Ochre.

Soon all the blooms will fall and I’ll have to cut the stalk away. It will be my souvenir of winter’s golden show.