FFF370 - IVY FLOWERS

Hedera helix (common ivy, English ivy, European ivy, or just ivy) is a species of flowering plant in the family Araliaceae, native to most of Europe and western Asia. A rampant, clinging evergreen vine, it is a familiar sight in gardens, waste spaces, on house walls, tree trunks and in wild areas across its native habitat. It is labeled as an invasive species in a number of areas where it has been introduced.

The flowers are produced from late summer until late autumn, individually small, in 3-to-5 cm-diameter umbels, greenish-yellow, and very rich in nectar, an important late autumn food source for bees and other insects. The fruit are purple-black to orange-yellow berries 6–8 mm in diameter, ripening in late winter, and are an important food for many birds, though somewhat poisonous to humans. One to five seeds are in each berry, which are dispersed after being eaten by birds.

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BEST WISHES TO EVERYONE FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON!

MAY THE NEW YEAR 2019 BE FULL OF HEALTH, HAPPINESS AND REPLETE WITH FLOWERS!

FFF192 - BOUGAINVILLEA

Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers. Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. They are native plants of South America from Brazil west to Perú and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province).

Bougainvillea are also known as Bugambilia (Mexico), Napoleón (Honduras), veranera (Colombia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama), trinitaria (Colombia, Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic & Venezuela), Santa Rita (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), Bonggang Villa (Philippines) or papelillo (northern Peru).

The vine species grow anywhere from 1 to 12 m tall, scrambling over other plants with their spiky thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4–13 cm long and 2–6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow.

Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The species here illustrated is Bougainvillea spectabilis. The first European to describe these plants was Philibert Commerçon, a botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville (hence the generic name), during his voyage of circumnavigation, and first published for him by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789. It is possible that the first European to observe these plants was Jeanne Baré, Commerçon's lover and assistant whom he sneaked on board (despite regulations) disguised as a man (and who thus became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe).

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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.

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