Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Welcome! This is a blog showcasing flower photography. I always enjoy photographing blooms, as do many other photographers!
Thursday, 26 July 2012
FFF36 - A HAPPY WANDERER
The Native Sarsaparilla Hardenbergia violacea (var. 'Happy Wanderer') is a useful climbing and creeping plant useful as a ground cover that grows prolifically in the Southern Australian Region. This vigorous, popular and generally hardy Australian native plant grows to about 1 metre high by 1 metre wide. The pea shape flowers appear in late winter and early spring and are violet in colour. It can be used as a ground cover and will climb on a support. It prefers an open sunny position. Pink and white flowering cultivars are also available.
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Thursday, 19 July 2012
FFF 35 - A FROSTY POLYANTHUS
Primula is a genus of 400–500 species of flowering herbaceous plants in the family Primulaceae. They include primrose, auricula, cowslip and oxlip. Many species are grown for their ornamental flowers. They are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, south into tropical mountains in Ethiopia, Indonesia and New Guinea, and in temperate southern South America.
Perennial primulas bloom mostly during the spring; their flowers can be purple, yellow, red, pink, or white. Generally, they prefer filtered sunlight. Many species are adapted to alpine climates. The word primula is the Latin feminine diminutive of primus, meaning first (prime), applied to flowers that are among the first to open in spring. Primroses are used as food plants by the larvae (caterpillars) of some Lepidoptera species, including Duke of Burgundy butterfly, Large Yellow Underwing and Lesser Broad-bordered.
The term Polyanthus (often called Primula polyantha) refers to an interspecific garden hybrid between coloured varieties of P. vulgaris and P. veris, possibly with a small admixture of P. juliae. This has produced a large variety af strains in all colours, which are usually grown as annuals, and are available as seeds or young plants. Here is a polyanthus in our garden coping with the effects of a frosty night!
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Perennial primulas bloom mostly during the spring; their flowers can be purple, yellow, red, pink, or white. Generally, they prefer filtered sunlight. Many species are adapted to alpine climates. The word primula is the Latin feminine diminutive of primus, meaning first (prime), applied to flowers that are among the first to open in spring. Primroses are used as food plants by the larvae (caterpillars) of some Lepidoptera species, including Duke of Burgundy butterfly, Large Yellow Underwing and Lesser Broad-bordered.
The term Polyanthus (often called Primula polyantha) refers to an interspecific garden hybrid between coloured varieties of P. vulgaris and P. veris, possibly with a small admixture of P. juliae. This has produced a large variety af strains in all colours, which are usually grown as annuals, and are available as seeds or young plants. Here is a polyanthus in our garden coping with the effects of a frosty night!
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Thursday, 12 July 2012
FFF 34 - DUTCH IRIS
Iris is a genus of 260-300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, 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.
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The showy graceful blooms of Dutch Iris (Iris xiphium - also called Spanish Iris!) provide height and colour in mid- to late spring. Definitely one of the easiest and most reliable spring bulbs to grow, they perform well in both open sunny positions as well as in part or full shade.
Flower colour varies from white and yellows through to many shades of blue and purple in either single colour standards and falls through to a combination of both. They are very frost hardy and prefer a sunny position with ample moisture during growth, but none during their dormancy in summer. They can be grown in pots and terrace planters and are ideal as cut flowers for vases and arrangements. Dutch Iris grow to a height of 40 to 50cm.
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Thursday, 5 July 2012
FFF33 - HYDRANGEA
Hydrangea (common names Hydrangea and Hortensia) is a genus of about 70 to 75 species of flowering plants native to southern and eastern Asia (China, Japan, Korea, the Himalayas, and Indonesia) and North and South America. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Japan, and Korea.
Most are shrubs 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small trees, and others lianas reaching up to 30 metres by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous. Having been introduced to the Azores Islands of Portugal, they are now very common there, particularly on Faial, which is known as the "blue island" due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island, Terceira, named the "lilac island" for hydrangeas of that colour, on Flores Island ("Island of Flowers") and São Miguel, named the "green island" for its floral biodiversity.
There are two flower arrangements in hydrangeas. Mophead flowers are large round flowerheads resembling pom-poms or, as the name implies, the head of a mop. In contrast, lacecap flowers bear round, flat flowerheads with a center core of subdued, fertile flowers surrounded by outer rings of showy, sterile flowers (as shown in the photo here). In most species the flowers are white, but in some species (notably H. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. In these species the colour is affected by the pH of the soil.
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
Most are shrubs 1 to 3 meters tall, but some are small trees, and others lianas reaching up to 30 metres by climbing up trees. They can be either deciduous or evergreen, though the widely cultivated temperate species are all deciduous. Having been introduced to the Azores Islands of Portugal, they are now very common there, particularly on Faial, which is known as the "blue island" due to the vast number of hydrangeas present on the island, Terceira, named the "lilac island" for hydrangeas of that colour, on Flores Island ("Island of Flowers") and São Miguel, named the "green island" for its floral biodiversity.
There are two flower arrangements in hydrangeas. Mophead flowers are large round flowerheads resembling pom-poms or, as the name implies, the head of a mop. In contrast, lacecap flowers bear round, flat flowerheads with a center core of subdued, fertile flowers surrounded by outer rings of showy, sterile flowers (as shown in the photo here). In most species the flowers are white, but in some species (notably H. macrophylla), can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. In these species the colour is affected by the pH of the soil.
Join me for Floral Friday Fotos by linking your flower photos below, and please leave a comment once you have done so!
