Maybe it's because my conversations with friends and family in the UK have recently been peppered with talk of snow, floods, storms and icebergs (spotted off the northern coasts this winter), but my daily walks along Abu Dhabi's Corniche have been particularly cheered of late by the sight of so many plants and trees in flower. Horticulturally this is no surprise, but for somebody from Europe the impact of seeing the clashing pink, purple and orange bracts of Bougainvillea glabra and the hot yellow, orange and red panicles of caesalpinia pulcherrima in benevolent January sunshine is difficult to overestimate.
Although these colourful blooms most immediately vie for my attention, it's actually the quieter, architectural spires of succulent plants belonging to the family agavaceae that have really dominated Abu Dhabi's seafront in recent weeks. Of these, the most spectacular are the glorious, two-metre tall panicles of off-white, bell-shaped flowers that belong to the evergreen yucca but these have also been joined in my affections by the flower spikes of the various species of agave that are also planted along the route.
I'll go no further before making a confession: I'm unable to identify the particular species of yucca in question with 100 per cent confidence. In my defence I'd say that yucca can often be difficult to identify precisely because many plants that are commercially available are crosses or hybrids. For example, the plants that caught my eye have characteristics that could identify them as either yucca gloriosa (Spanish dagger) or yucca aloifolia (Spanish bayonet) and if pushed, I'd say they are the latter but I'm happy to stand corrected.
Both species originate in the south-eastern United States, are salt- and drought-tolerant and thrive in sandy soils, so perhaps it's not surprising that they also feature heavily in gardens and public landscapes where these factors are an issue. This also makes them particularly useful for UAE gardeners. However, as their common names suggest, the yucca is also armed with vicious spines that can pierce clothing and skin, so they need to be located with care away from pathways and in areas where they are unlikely to harm children and pets. As an accent plant or focal point in a low-water-demand xeriscape, however, yucca look particularly effective when planted alongside drifts of Aloe vera (whose yellow and coral pink flowers can also be seen at the moment) as well as their fellow family members the agave.
As with so many plants that are grown primarily for their structural and architectural qualities, agave are often planted as single specimens or as pot plants. However, I always believe that these desert dwellers benefit most from massed planting because this highlights the often subtle differences between species and maximises their visual impact. Of the several hundred members of the agave genus, those most commonly seen in the UAE include the giant century Plant (agave americana), the graceful dwarf agave desmettiana, and the elegant swan's neck agave (agave attenuata), the latter of which is named after the plant's tall, curving flowering stem that bears pale yellow and white flowers that complement the plant's glaucous-blue foliage.
Growing to a height of six metres at a speed of up to seven centimetres a day, the mast-like flowering stems of agave always fill me with wonder and sadness in equal measure. Depending on the species and growing conditions, agave can live for up to 25 years before a single flowering and seed setting, an event that represents the end of their life cycle. Fortunately this swansong is often accompanied by the production of new life in the form of juvenile offshoots that spread out from the plant's central rosette via underground rhizomes. For gardeners whose prize specimens fail to produce these "pups" (as they are known in the trade), a visit to the garden centre may soon be in order.
I once worked at a plant nursery in central London that proudly displayed a giant pair of two-metre-wide agave for more than 16 years that were simply too large and too expensive to move or to sell. They'd been cared for by the same gardener for that whole time and when both plants started to produce flower spikes within days of each other I remember he fought hard not to shed a tear.
The flowering spikes, which grew to an eventual height of more than four metres, attracted local journalists and parties of schoolchildren who came to see a plant that was literally growing and dying before their eyes. Blooming largely unnoticed along Abu Dhabi's Corniche, the inflorescences of agave desmettiana are quietly attracting a slightly different crowd of inquisitive warblers and iridescent purple sunbirds, all eager to taste the rich nectar afforded by this once in a lifetime opportunity.
garden@thenational.ae
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
The bio
Job: Coder, website designer and chief executive, Trinet solutions
School: Year 8 pupil at Elite English School in Abu Hail, Deira
Role Models: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk
Dream City: San Francisco
Hometown: Dubai
City of birth: Thiruvilla, Kerala
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amit%20Joshi%20and%20Aradhana%20Sah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECast%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shahid%20Kapoor%2C%20Kriti%20Sanon%2C%20Dharmendra%2C%20Dimple%20Kapadia%2C%20Rakesh%20Bedi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20Diaa%20Jubaili%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPages%3A%20180%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EPublisher%3A%20Deep%20Vellum%20Publishing%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5