FFF171 - PORTULACA

Portulaca (purslane) is the type genus of the flowering plant family Portulacaceae, comprising about 40-100 species found in the tropics and warm temperate regions. They are also known as Moss Roses. The genus includes common purslane (Portulaca oleracea), whcih is widely considered an edible plant, and in some areas an invasive type of weed.

Seen here is a hybrid, Portulaca 'Sun Jewels', which are hardy, water saving plants that require minimal attention and produce a range of iridescent warm coloured flowers from spring to autumn, peaking in summer. These are still useful additions to salads, as all parts of the plant are edible.

Plant in full sun to part shade, in containers or hanging baskets so that this vibrant mix can spill over to spread their colours. Water only when soil dries out. Grows 30cm high x 30cm wide. It is of medium frost tolerance and also is salt tolerant.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF170 - CUCUMBER FLOWER

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae. It is a creeping vine that bears cylindrical fruits that are used as culinary vegetables. There are three main varieties of cucumber: Slicing, pickling, and burpless. Within these varieties, several different cultivars have emerged. The cucumber is originally from Southern Asia, but now grows on most continents. Many different varieties are traded on the global market.

The cucumber is a creeping vine that roots in the ground and grows up trellises or other supporting frames, wrapping around supports with thin, spiralling tendrils. The plant has large leaves that form a canopy over the fruit. The fruit of the cucumber is roughly cylindrical, elongated with tapered ends, and may be as large as 60 cm long and 10 cm in diameter. Having an enclosed seed and developing from a flower, botanically speaking, cucumbers are classified as accessory fruits. Much like tomatoes and squash they are often also perceived, prepared and eaten as vegetables. Cucumbers are usually more than 90% water.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF169 - PODRANEA

Podranea ricasoliana, the pink trumpet vine, has been out of fashion in Australian gardens for a long time, for no particular reason seeing it is a very attractive plant. As well as pink trumpet vine, this showy plant is also commonly known as Port St. John creeper, after its place of origin in South Africa. Its genus name Podranea is an anagram of Pandorea, the genus name for a group of closely related Australian native vines all in the Bignoniaceae family.

It is a vigorous, evergreen scrambler with glossy compound leaves. The beautiful trumpet shaped flowers are pale pink with carmine stripes and yellowish shading in the throat. Flowering time is summer and autumn. The fruit is a bean-like capsule containing winged seeds. Pink trumpet vine will grow best in the warmer parts of Australia, and is well worth a try in inland areas. It has low water needs once established. It looks good grown over fences or walls pruned into a shrub or weeping standard.

Pink trumpet vine grows best in a sunny position, but will tolerate light shade. It needs a well drained soil and a strong support if it is to be grown as a climber. Water well until the plant becomes established. Prune to shape and control growth immediately after flowering. It is high maintenance if pruned as a shrub or standard. The reward is a lovely plant with hardy attractive flowers, very free flowering, virtually pest and disease free and drought resistant.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF168 - BARREL CACTUS

Echinocactus grusonii, popularly known as the Golden Barrel Cactus, Golden Ball or, amusingly, Mother-in-Law's Cushion, is a well known species of cactus, and is endemic to east-central Mexico. It is rare and critically endangered in the wild, where it is found near Mesa de Léon in the state of Querétaro, and in the state of Hidalgo. The population was critically reduced in the 1990s, by the creation of the Zimapán Dam and reservoir in Hidalgo. The cactus grows in volcanic rock on slopes, at altitudes around 1,400 metres.

Growing as a large roughly spherical globe, Echinocactus grusonii may eventually reach over 1 metre in height after many years. Younger Golden Barrel plants do not look similar to mature specimens. The generation lifetime is estimated to be 30 years. There may be up to 35 pronounced ribs in mature plants, though they are not evident in young plants, which may have a knobbly appearance. The sharp spines are long, straight or slightly curved, and various shades of yellow or, occasionally, white. Small yellow flowers appear in summer around the crown of the plant, but only after twenty years or so.


Echinocactus grusonii is widely cultivated by specialty plant nurseries as an ornamental plant, for planting in containers, desert habitat gardens, rock gardens, and in conservatories. It is one of the most popular cacti in cultivation. The cactus is considered easy and relatively fast growing in warmer climates around the world. The plants do have some basic requirements; an average minimum winter temperature of 12°C; and good drainage with less watering in winter. Excess water in cool periods may lead to rot. Golden Barrels are hardy to about -8ºC for brief periods. Beyond Central Mexico, Echinocactus grusonii specimens may also be seen in collections of desert plants in many botanical gardens, such as this specimen in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF167 - WATER-LILY

Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called water lilies and live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains eight large-flowered genera with about 70 species. The genus Nymphaea contains about 35 species in the Northern Hemisphere. The genus Victoria contains two species of giant water lilies endemic to South America.

Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on the surface. The leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria. Water lilies are a well studied clade of plants because their large flowers with multiple unspecialised parts were initially considered to represent the floral pattern of the earliest flowering plants, and later genetic studies confirmed their evolutionary position as basal angiosperms. Analyses of floral morphology and molecular characteristics and comparisons with a sister taxon, the family Cabombaceae, indicate, however, that the flowers of extant water lilies with the most floral parts are more derived than the genera with fewer floral parts.

Horticulturally water lilies have been hybridised for temperate gardens since the nineteenth century, and the hybrids are divided into three groups: Hardy, night-blooming tropical, and day-blooming tropical water lilies. Hardy water lilies are hybrids from the subgenus Castalia; night-blooming tropical water lilies are developed from the subgenus Lotos (L.) Carl Ludwig WilldenowWilld.; and the day-blooming tropical plants arise from hybridisation of plants of the Brachyceras Casp. subgenus.

The water-lily shown here is the hardy "Pink Ribbon" Nymphaea hybrid.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF166 - TWEEDIA

Oxypetalum coeruleum is a species of flowering plant, native to South America from southern Brazil to Uruguay, in the Apocynaceae family. The synonymous name Tweedia caerulea is also used. Growing to 100 cm, it is a straggling evergreen perennial with heart shaped, gray-green, downy leaves.

It is grown for its clear pale blue, star-shaped flowers, which are long lasting and cut well. The summer flowers age to purple and are followed by 30 cm long, boat-shaped seed pods. The seeds have downy parachute-like tufts (cypsela).

The cultivar 'Alba' has white flowers, while 'Rosea' has pink flowers. Oxypetalum coeruleum requires full sun in a well-drained soil that is dry. Propagation is via seed. With a minimum temperature range of 3–5 °C,  it can be grown outdoors in a frost-free, sheltered environment. Alternatively it can be grown as an annual. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...

FFF165 - FAIRY FAN FLOWER

Scaevola is a genus of flowering plants in the Goodenia family, Goodeniaceae. It consists of more than 130 tropical species, with the centre of diversity being Australia and Polynesia. Common names for Scaevola species include scaevolas, fan-flowers, half-flowers, and naupaka, the fan flower's Hawaiian name. The flowers are shaped as if they have been cut in half. The generic name means "left-handed" in Latin. Many legends have been told to explain the formation of the naupaka's unique half flowers. In one version a woman tears the flower in half after a quarrel with her lover. The gods, angered, turn all naupaka flowers into half flowers and the two lovers remained separated while the man is destined to search in vain for another whole flower.

Scaevola is the only Goodeniaceae genus that is widespread outside of Australia. In at least six separate dispersals, about 40 species have spread throughout the Pacific Basin, with a few reaching the tropical coasts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The Hawaiian Islands are home to ten Scaevola species, nine of which are endemic. Eight of the indigenous species are the result of a single colonisation event.

Scaevola aemula (Fairy Fan-flower or Common Fan-flower, shown here) is a small shrub native to southern Australia. It grows to 50 cm in height and produces white or blue flowers in spikes up to 24 cm long from August to March in its native range. These are followed by rounded, wrinkled berries to 4.5 mm in length.

The species occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. The species is thought to be the most commonly cultivated of the genus Scaevola, and a large number of cultivars have been developed. Most of these are mat-forming to a height of 12 cm and spreading up to 1 metre in width. It prefers a sunny or partially shaded, well-drained position and tolerates salt spray and periods of drought. Pruning and pinching of tip growth may be carried out to shape the plant. Propagation is from cuttings or by layering.

Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
If you link your post here, please show a link back to this site on your blog post...