Friday 30 January 2015

FRIDAY GREENS #5 - SUNSHINE

Welcome to this new meme active every Friday!
The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!
GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

Our Summer sun peeking through a chink of the leaf canopy reminds us that our sun is just another star amongst billions upon billions!
Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

Thursday 29 January 2015

PETREA - SANDPAPER VINE

Petrea is a genus of evergreen flowering vines native to Mexico and Central America. They have rough-textured leaves, hence the common name sandpaper vine. Carolus Linnaeus named Petrea in honour of Robert James Petre, 8th Baron Petre of Ingatestone Hall in Essex. Petre was a patron of botany. It is included in the family Verbenaceae.

Petrea volubilis or 'Purple Wreath' is an ideal substitute for Wisteria in the tropics and subtropics, Petrea volubilis is regarded as the best blue flowering climber for the climate. Actual flowers are small, blue blossoms surrounded by large, blue sepals. After the flower dies the sepals retain their colour for many weeks, slowly fading before falling off the vine. Leaves are rough with a sandpaper-like texture, and may be semi-deciduous during cold winter periods in cooler districts.

Native to Central America (Mexico to Panama) and the West Indies, Petrea belongs to a genus that includes a range of climbers, trees and shrubs. Although suited to the Tropics, they can do quite well in most parts of Australia so long as they are protected from frost. Choose a warm and sheltered position with free draining soil, rich in organic matter. You will need something for the Petrea to climb up, such as a trellis or pergola. Help the plant climb when its young by carefully training it up and along its support structure. Once established, a light prune after flowering is all that is necessary to keep your Petrea neat and healthy.

This specimen is growing in Melbourne's Botanic Gardens and in bloom right now!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.




Thursday 22 January 2015

FRIDAY GREENS #4 - ARUM BERRIES

Welcome to this new meme active every Friday!
The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

Here are some Arum seedheads. Arum maculatum is a common woodland plant species of the Araceae family. It is widespread across most of Europe as well as Turkey and Caucasus. It is known by an abundance of common names including snakeshead, adder's root, arum, wild arum, arum lily, lords-and-ladies, devils and angels, cows and bulls, cuckoo-pint, Adam and Eve, bobbins, naked boys, starch-root, wake robin, friar's cowl and jack in the pulpit. The name "lords-and-ladies" and other gender related names refer to the plant's likeness to male and female genitalia symbolising copulation.

In Summer, the lower ring of (female) flowers deep in the spadix of the inflorescence form a cluster of green berries, which in Autumn turn bright red. These remain after the spathe and other leaves have withered away. These attractive red to orange berries are extremely poisonous!
Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

RED HOT POKER

Kniphofia. also called tritoma, red hot poker, torch lily, knofflers or poker plant, is a genus of flowering plants in the family I, first described as a genus in 1794. It is native to Africa. Herbaceous species and hybrids have narrow, grass-like leaves 10–100 cm  long, while perennial species have broader, strap-shaped foliage up to 1.5 m  long.

All plants produce spikes of upright, brightly coloUred flowers well above the foliage, in shades of red, orange and yellow, often bicoloured.  The flowers produce copious nectar while blooming and are attractive to bees. In the New World they may attract sap-suckers such as hummingbirds and New World orioles. The Kniphofia genus is named after Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, an 18th-century German physician and botanist.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Thursday 15 January 2015

FRIDAY GREENS No 3

Welcome to this new meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!
GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

Here is some common feather-moss (Kindbergia praelonga):

Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

DAYLILIES

Daylily is the common name for plants of the genus Hemerocallis. Daylily cultivar flowers are highly diverse in colour and form, as a result of hybridisation efforts of gardening Hemerocallis enthusiasts and professional horticulturalists. Thousands of registered cultivars are appreciated and studied by local and international Hemerocallis societies. is now placed in family Xanthorrhoeaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, but formerly was part of Liliaceae (which includes true lilies).

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

Thursday 8 January 2015

FRIDAY GREENS No 2

Welcome to this new meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!
GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

The rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus) is a species of parrot found in Australia. It is common along the eastern seaboard, from northern Queensland to South Australia and Tasmania. Its habitat is rainforest, coastal bush and woodland areas. Several taxa traditionally listed as subspecies of the rainbow lorikeet are now treated as separate species. Rainbow lorikeets have been introduced to Perth, Western Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Hong Kong. This fine specimen was perching on a gum tree in our neighbour's backyard.

Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:


MY FLORAL YEAR IN REVIEW

With a flower or two for each month!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.












Friday 2 January 2015

FRIDAY GREENS No 1

Welcome to this new meme active every Friday. The theme is "Friday Greens" and you can post images, art, photos where the predominant colour is GREEN!

GREEN is the colour between blue and yellow in the spectrum; coloured like grass or emeralds.

My first image below is from one of my sketchbooks:
Add your own Friday Greens image below: