FFF 133 - YELLOW ROSE

Roses are probably the world's most popular plants, which is not surprising when you consider that they come in a fantastic range of colours, shapes and forms, and many have a beautiful perfume.The way roses are being used in gardens has changed over the years. Varieties with long stems have been popular for picking, and more recently they became cottage garden favourites. Today, catalogues are filled with roses which can be used as architectural or structural plants, and the most fashionable of these is the tall standard rose.

Rosa 'Gold Bunny' flowers almost continuously. It has medium-sized, clear yellow blooms in a classic shape, and soft green, disease resistant foliage. It is available as a standard rose, a bush rose or a climbing variety.

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FFF132 - BORAGE

Borage (Borago officinalis), also known as a starflower, is an annual herb. It is native to the Mediterranean region and has naturalised in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gardens in the UK climate, remaining in the garden from year to year by self-seeding. The leaves are edible and have a cucumber-like flavour. The plant is grown in kitchen-gardens for that purpose in some parts of Europe. The plant is also commercially cultivated for borage seed oil extracted from its seeds.

Borage is used in companion planting. It is said to protect or nurse legumes, spinach, brassicas, and even strawberries. It is also said to be a good companion plant to tomatoes because it confuses the search image of the mother moths of tomato hornworms or manduca looking for a place to lay their eggs.

Traditionally Borago officinalis is used in various disorders, such as gastrointestinal (colic, cramps, diarrhoea), airways (asthma, bronchitis), cardiovascular, (cardiotonic, antihypertensive and blood purifier), urinary (diuretic and kidney/bladder disorders). In Iran people make a tea for relieve colds, flu, bronchitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and kidney inflammation. It is said to be warm in nature and alleviates symptoms that are caused by using food that is cold in nature such as cucumber and fish. People with heart problems can benefit using the borage tea, since it promotes reaching more oxygen to the heart, that’s why one should use this herb in moderate amounts.

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FFF131 - DOUBLE CAPE DAISY

Osteospermum is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. The common name is African daisy or Cape daisy. Osteospermum used to belong to the genus Dimorphotheca, but only the annual species remain in that genus now; the perennials have been placed in the genus Osteospermum. Osteospermum is also closely related to the small genus Chrysanthemoides, and the resemblance is seen in species such as C. incana and C. monilifera.

Osteospermum ‘Flowerpower Double’ are quite unusual and are currently gracing our garden. There is a wide variety of colours making for a very pretty display.

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FFF130 - CAMELLIA

Camellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are 100–250 described species, with some controversy over the exact number. The genus was named by Linnaeus after the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who worked in the Philippines, though he never described a camellia.

This genus is famous throughout East Asia; camellias are known as cháhuā (茶花) in Chinese, "tea flower", an apt designation, as tsubaki (椿) in Japanese, as dongbaek-kkot (동백꽃) in Korean and as hoa trà or hoa chè in Vietnamese. Of economic importance in the Indian subcontinent and Asia, leaves of C. sinensis are processed to create the popular beverage, tea. The ornamental Camellia japonica, Camellia oleifera and Camellia sasanqua and their hybrids are represented in cultivation by a large number of cultivars.

The flower below is a Camellia japonica 'Covina' variety. This is a sun tolerant camellia with an upright, spreading habit. Its medium semi-double blooms are reddish pink and appear in the winter to spring season.

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FFF129 - CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Chrysanthemums have been traditionally associated with Mother's Day in Australia. Nowadays, other flowers have challenged the Chrysanthemum as the most popular flower for Mother's Day. Nevertheless, as Mother's Day in the Southern Hemisphere is an Autumn anniversary, the Chrysanthemum is in its glory. Numerous Chrysanthemum hybrids are now available in single, double, pom-pom, daisy, starburst forms and an amazing range of colours. Potted blooms are a perfect way of presenting a wonderful flower that will last a long time, to that very special and much adored person in ourlives.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

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FFF128 - SOUTHERN MAYDAY BOUQUET

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, May is the last month of our Autumn and the time when chrysanthemums are at their best. Our May Day bouquets therefore look like this, with lots of chryssies, statice and daisies.

Wishing you all a very Happy May Day!

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FFF127 - TROILUS ROSE

'Troilus' is a David Austin old-fashioned rose with beautiful, large, deeply cupped blooms of a wonderful shade of honey-buff colour on a strong growing bush with mid-green foliage. It is a fragrant rose that performs outstandingly well when grown in a warmer climate.

Troilus was released by David Austin in 1983.  It was named after the Trojan War hero in Shakespeare’s tragedy, 'Troilus and Cressida'. The Troilus rose flowers continuously from spring to late autumn.  It is a sturdy, upright shrub of medium height.

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FFF126 - EASTER ASTERS

Symphyotrichum novi-belgii also known as New York Aster is the type species for Symphyotrichum, a genus of the family Asteraceae whose species were once considered to be Asters. They are ornamental plants native to Canada and the United States. All of these plants are collectively and popularly known as "Michaelmas daisies".

The variety 'Peter III Blue', shown here, is an autumn blooming, double flowering lilac-blue aster that provides a stunning number of blooms around the Southern Hemisphere Easter time (April).

Α HAPPY EASTER, PEACEFUL PESACH & ΚΑΛΟ ΠΑΣΧΑ TO ALL!

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FFF125 - LANTANA

Lantana is a genus of about 150 species of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family, Verbenaceae. They are native to tropical regions of the Americas and Africa but exist as an introduced species in numerous areas, especially in the Australian-Pacific region. The genus includes both herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to 0.5–2 m tall. Their common names are shrub verbenas or lantanas. Some species are invasive, and are considered to be noxious weeds, such as in South Asia, Southern Africa and Australia. In the United States, lantanas are naturalised in the southeast, especially coastal regions of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and the Gulf Coast.

The generic name originated in Late Latin, where it refers to the unrelated Viburnum lantana.  Lantana's aromatic flower clusters (called umbels) are a mix of red, orange, yellow, or blue and white florets. Other colours exist as new varieties are being selected. The flowers typically change colour as they mature, resulting in inflorescences that are two- or three-coloured.  "Wild lantanas" are plants of the unrelated genus Abronia, usually called "sand-verbenas".

Lantana camara blanca, shown here is a small perennial shrub which can grow to around 2m in height and forms dense thickets in a variety of environments. It has small tubular shaped flowers, each of which has four petals and are arranged in clusters at the end of stems. Flowers are yellow and white and after pollination occurs the colour of the flowers change (typically from yellow to white); this is believed to be a signal to pollinators that the pre-change colour contains a reward as well as being sexually viable, thus increasing pollination efficiency.

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FFF124 - PELARGONIUM

Pelargonium is a genus of flowering plants which includes about 200 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly known as geraniums (in the United States also storksbills). Confusingly, Geranium is the correct botanical name of a separate genus of related plants often called cranesbills or hardy geraniums. Both genera belong to the family Geraniaceae. Linnaeus originally included all the species in one genus, Geranium, but they were later separated into two genera by Charles L’Héritier in 1789.

Pelargonium species are evergreen perennials indigenous to Southern Africa, and are drought and heat tolerant, but can tolerate only minor frosts. They are extremely popular garden plants, grown as bedding plants in temperate regions. Regal (Royal, French) varieties or Pelargonium × domesticum are mainly derived from P. cucullatum and P. grandiflorum. They have woody stems, wrinkled leaves and pointed lobes, and are mainly grown in greenhouses. The cultivar shown here is Regal Elegance Burgundy (Pelargonium x domesticum).

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