FFF674 - ASIATIC LILY

Lilium (members of which are true lilies) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though their range extends into the northern subtropics. Many other plants have "lily" in their common name but are not related to true lilies.

Asiatic Lilies are a very popular garden and florist flower and they offer a brilliantly colourful range of blooms to choose from. The bulbs of Asiatic lilies are tough and resilient, providing a bounty of colourful blooms for vases, very easily grown and wonderfully tolerant of searing Australia's hot Summers.

Asiatic Lilies come in a wide range of brilliant colours from bright red to soft and pretty pink which means they can be used to create pockets of colour or gentle waves of soft and pretty cottage colours. Asiatic Lilies have more advantages in that they are great in pots and the bulbs can be planted anytime between May and October (in the Southern Hemisphere).

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FFF673 - GAZANIA

Gazania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa. They produce large, daisy-like composite flowers in brilliant shades of pink, maroon, yellow, orange and cream, over a long period in summer. They are often planted as drought-tolerant groundcover.

Most Gazania species and cultivars are low-growing, near-evergreen, clump-forming or carpeting plants. They quickly develop into small clumps of narrow lance-shaped leaves that can be downy and lobed near the base, often with lighter coloured undersides. Their showy flowers, which appear throughout the warmer months, are large, brightly coloured, often interestingly marked, and the ray florets tend to be darker at the base, with a contrastingly coloured central disc.

The type species usually have yellow or orange flowers, but the garden hybrid forms are available in a wide colour range. Most gazanias tolerate very little frost and dislike wet winters, but they are otherwise easily grown in any sunny position with light, gritty, well-drained soil. They thrive in coastal gardens. Plants should be deadheaded frequently to encourage flower production. Annuals are propagated from seed; the perennials may also be divided or can be grown from basal cuttings.

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FFF672 - CANTERBURY BELLS

Campanula medium, common name Canterbury bells, is an annual or biennial flowering plant of the genus Campanula, belonging to the family Campanulaceae. In floriography, it represents gratitude, or faith and constancy. Campanula medium originates in southern Europe. It is naturalized in most of European countries and in North America and it is widely cultivated for its beautiful flowers.

One of the prettiest blues for cut flowers, Cantebury Bells are an old- fashioned favourite of experienced gardeners because they flower through mid-summer and are spectacular in a mixed border.

Here, they are seen amongst hydrangeas, chrysanthemums, argyranthemums and limoniums.

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FFF671 - PINK OXALIS

Oxalis purpurea is a summer-deciduous, winter-growing dwarf geophyte seldom higher than 6 or 7 cm, in the Oxalidaceae family. It forms a small rosette or mound up to 20 cm in diameter of trifoliate (clover-like) leaves which are dark green and not visibly hairy. It is unique amongst dicotyledonous plants in that it forms true bulbs which are often buried deep underground.

Each bulb produces a single thin underground stem which gives rise to the above-ground rosette. The bulbs readily proliferate by producing smaller bulbils, each also producing a single stem, often resulting in a posy of plants and flowers in one place. The new shoots emerge from dormant bulbs after the first good autumn rains and will usually stay active until early summer (November in the Southern Hemisphere) but will go prematurely dormant if water becomes limiting.

The flowers usually appear more than one at a time and when flowering en masse are spectacular. Each flower has five petals which flare like a trumpet during the day and furl at night or on overcast days. Flowers are usually pinky mauve to lilac and can be very dark and intensely coloured or very pale. Other less common colour forms include salmon, peach and pure white (albino).

Flowers always have a yellow throat. Flowers start to appear from early winter (May in the Southern Hemisphere) and will usually keep flowering until the plants go dormant. The fruit is small (size of a match head) and contains many tiny seeds which are dispersed by explosive dehiscence.

This is a common but undervalued South African native plant, in some cases considered an invasive weed. However, Oxalis purpurea can make a most magnificent garden plant that flowers for half the year if placed in the right spot and kept under control.

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FFF670 - BROAD BEAN

This is a Broad Bean variety 'Crimson Flowered' (Vicia faba), that we obtained via Diggers Club. Crimson flowers are a delight in winter and are followed by crisp, plump pods in Spring. This is a precious heirloom seed variety obtained by Diggers from Norfolk Island, where it was originally planted by convicts in 1788.

The ordinary variety broad bean has pale, off-white flowers with black markings.

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FFF669 - JACOBEAN LILY

Sprekelia is a genus of at least three bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae. They are native to Central America. Like Hippeastrum, these plants were known as Amaryllis.

Sprekelia plants are sometimes called "Aztec lilies", although they are not true lilies. This genus is named after Johann Heinrich von Spreckelsen (1691–1764), who supplied the plants to Lorenz Heister. Alternatively, another common name given this flower is "Jacobean Lily".

Sprekelia formosissima shown here is the only species grown in Australia. It is a bulbous perennial that has clumps of strap-shaped, mid-green leaves. Each stem, about 30 cm tall, bears a solitary scarlet to deep crimson flower in late spring or early summer; established clumps may bloom again later in the summer.

It grows best in partial sun and abundant moisture. Because the bulbs are tender and bloom best when crowded, container culture is probably best. Repot every 2 to 3 years. Roots resent disturbance.

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PINK DAISY

Asteraceae is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown. The Asteraceae were first described in the year 1740 and given the original name Compositae. The family is commonly known as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family.

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FFF667 - IRIS

Iris is a genus of about 300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the ancient Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris, referring to the wide variety of flower colours found among the many species. As well as being the scientific name, iris is also very widely used as a common name for all Iris species, though some plants called thus belong to other closely related genera. A common name for some species is 'flags', while the plants of the subgenus Scorpiris are widely known as 'junos', particularly in horticulture.

Irises are popular garden flowers and their blossoms provide wonderful splashes of colour in the Spring garden. The genus is widely distributed throughout the north temperate zone. Their habitats are varied, ranging from cold and montane regions to the grassy slopes, meadowlands and riverbanks of Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa, Asia and across North America. Irises are perennial herbs, growing from creeping rhizomes (rhizomatous irises) or, in drier climates, from bulbs (bulbous irises).

They have long, erect flowering stems which may be simple or branched, solid or hollow, and flattened or have a circular cross-section. The rhizomatous species usually have 3–10 basal sword-shaped leaves growing in dense clumps. The bulbous species have cylindrical, basal leaves.

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FFF666 - BABIANA

Babiana  is a genus of geophytes in the family Iridaceae with 93 recognized species as of March 2022. The leaves consist of a stalk and a blade that are at an angle to each other. The leaf blades are entire, laterally flattened and pleated, and often hairy. Each individual flower is subtended by two hairy or smooth bracts that are green in most species. The outer bract is often the largest of the two.

Each flower is without a pedicel, with six tepals that are merged at their base into a tube and form a perianth that is mirror-symmetrical in most species, with three anthers implanted where the perianth tube widens and that are, in almost every species, clustered at one side of the style. The style has three branches that widen towards the tip and the ovary is inferior. Flowers occur in almost every conceivable colour, many have markings on some of the tepals, and few star-symmetrical flowers have a centre that strongly contrasts with the free part of the perianth.

The majority of these species are endemic to the west and southwest of South Africa, and southwestern Namibia, but one species occurs elsewhere in Namibia and South Africa and another species can be found in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The genus name is derived from the Dutch word baviaan, referring to the Chacma baboon, Papio ursinus, that consumes the corms of plants in the genus. The genus is called bobbejaantjie in Afrikaans, meaning small baboon.

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FFF665 - JUDAS TREE

Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as the Judas tree or Judas-tree, is a small deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Fabaceae which is noted for its prolific display of deep pink flowers in spring. It is native to Southern Europe and Western Asia.

There is a myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species, causing its white flowers to turn red. This belief is related to the common name 'Judas tree', which is possibly a corrupted derivation from the French common name, Arbre de Judée, meaning 'tree of Judea', referring to the hilly regions of that country where the tree used to be common. Another possible source for the vernacular name is the fact that the flowers and seedpods can dangle directly from the trunk in a way reminiscent of Judas's possible method of suicide.

This species forms a small tree up to 12 m in height and 10 m in width. The deep pink flowers are produced on year-old or older growth, including the trunk, in spring. They have five free petals and fused sepals, a flower shape typical of much of the pea family.

The leaves appear shortly after the first flowers emerge. These are cordate with a blunt apex and occasionally have a shallow notch at the tip. The tree produces long flat pods that hang vertically. The flowers are edible and reportedly have a sweet and tart taste.

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