MOROCCO

Visual travel candy...

This post is part of the Mosaic Monday meme,
and also part of the Blue Monday meme,
and also part of the Seasons meme.

CAMELLIA

This year, the flowers that usually bloom in late Winter have started to flower now, a third of the way into Winter. At the same time, some Autumn flowers have persisted till now and even a Summer flower pops its head up now and then. Climate change is something that may underlie this, but it all could have to do with the various weather microcycles that are going on all the time.

This camellia in full bloom, is something which usually happens in late Winter or early Spring.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

WINTRY LANDSCAPE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

PANSY ORCHID

Miltonia, abbreviated Milt. in the horticultural trade, is an orchid genus formed by nine epiphyte species and eight natural hybrids inhabitants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, one species reaching the northeast of Argentina and east of Paraguay. This genus was established by John Lindley in 1837, when he described its type species, Miltonia spectabilis. Many species were attributed to Miltonia in the past, however, today, the species from Central America and from cooler areas on northwest of South America have been moved to other genera.

Miltonia species have large and long lasting flowers, often in multifloral inflorescences. This fact, allied to being species that are easy to grow and to identify, make them a favourite of orchid collectors all over the world. Species of this genus are extensively used to produce artificial hybrids. Despite the fact that Miltonia is now a well established genus, most of its species were originally classified under other genera as Cyrtochilum, Oncidium, Odontoglossum, and Brassia. All were discovered between 1834 and 1850 with the exception of M. kayasimae, discovered only in 1976. 

These epiphytic orchids occur from Central to Southern Brazil down to Argentina. They are named after Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, formerly Viscount Milton, an English orchid enthusiast. These orchids have two leaves, arising from a pseudobulbs, covered with a foliaceous sheath. The inflorescence consists of waxy, nonspurred flowers. The lip is large and flat and lacks a callus at its base. They possess a footless column with two hard pollinia. The flowers have a delicate, exotic scent, some compare to that of roses. The species in this genus are sometimes referred to as the "pansy orchids", but it is the Miltoniopsis orchids that have flowers that closely resemble the pansy. Almost everyone except for the most serious orchid hobbyists use the name pansy orchids interchangeably, which may cause confusion.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

ROSE HIPS

Winter is with us and most roses have finished flowering. Rose hips are a welcome dash of colour.

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme,

and also part of the Nature Notes meme.

BUDDLEJA

Buddleja commonly known as the butterfly bush is a genus comprising over 100 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas, within the Buddlejaceae family. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Reverend Adam Buddle (1662–1715), a botanist and rector in Essex, England, at the suggestion of Dr. William Houstoun. Houstoun sent the first plants to become known to science as Buddleja (B. americana) to England from the Caribbean about 15 years after Buddle's death.

As garden shrubs Buddleja is essentially a 20th-century plant, with the exception of B. globosa which was introduced to Britain from southern Chile in 1774 and disseminated from the nursery of Lee and Kennedy, Hammersmith. Several species are popular garden plants, the species are commonly known as 'butterfly bushes' owing to their attractiveness to butterflies, and have become staples of the modern butterfly garden; they are also attractive to bees and moths. The most popular cultivated species is Buddleja davidii from central China, named for the French Basque missionary and naturalist Père Armand David.

This bush is flowering prematurely, misled perhaps by the fine, warm days we enjoyed before the cold, wet, stormy, wintry front that hit us two days ago.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

FIRST DAISY

Our weather has been very topsy-turvy these last few weeks, with much variation in temperature and precipitation. Our poor plants are a little confused: On the one hand, roses are blooming late, lingering until Winter's beginning, while lawn daisies have started to appear. Chrysanthemums ,are blooming at the same time as Spring bulbs and while plane trees are shedding yellow leaves, ash trees are blossoming!

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme