FRIDAY GREENS #46 - HAWKWEED

Welcome to this 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.

Hieracium known by the common name hawkweed is a genus of the sunflower family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion (Taraxacum), chicory (Cichorium), prickly lettuce (Lactuca) and sow thistle (Sonchus), which are part of the tribe Cichorieae. 

Hawkweeds, with their 10,000+ recorded species and subspecies, do their part to make Asteraceae the second largest family of flowers. Since most hawkweeds reproduce exclusively asexually by means of seeds that are genetically identical to their mother plant, clones or populations that consist of genetically identical plants are formed.

I appreciate your comments, and please add a link back to this page from your own Friday Greens blog post.

The meme is only as successful as you make it be! Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

STRELITZIA REGINAE

Strelitzia reginae is a monocotyledonous flowering plant indigenous to South Africa. Common names include Strelitzia, Crane Flower or Bird of Paradise, though these names are also collectively applied to other species in the genus Strelitzia. Its scientific name commemorates Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of the United Kingdom, wife of H.M. King George III.

The species is native to South Africa but naturalised in Mexico, Belize, Bangladesh, Madeira Islands and Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile. The plant grows to 2 m tall, with large, strong leaves 25–70 cm long and 10–30 cm broad, produced on petioles up to 1 m long. The leaves are evergreen and arranged in two ranks, making a fan-shaped crown. The flowers stand above the foliage at the tips of long stalks. The hard, beak-like sheath from which the flower emerges is termed the spathe. This is placed perpendicular to the stem, which gives it the appearance of a bird's head and beak; it makes a durable perch for holding the sunbirds which pollinate the flowers.

The flowers, which emerge one at a time from the spathe, consist of three brilliant orange sepals and three purplish-blue petals. Two of the blue petals are joined together to form an arrow-like nectary. When the sunbirds sit to drink the nectar, the petals open to cover their feet in pollen.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

SUNSET

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme.

FRIDAY GREENS #45 - AGAVE

Welcome to this 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.

Agave attenuata is a species of agave sometimes known as the "lion's tail," "swan's neck," or "foxtail" for its development of a curved stem, unusual among agaves. Native to the plateau of the State of Jalisco in central Mexico, as one of the unarmed agaves, it is popular as an ornamental plant in gardens in many other places. It is reportedly naturalised in Madeira and Libya.

The stems typically range from 50 to 150 cm in length, and eventually old leaves fall off, leaving them visible. The leaves are ovate-acuminate, 50–70 cm long and 12–16 cm wide, pale in colour, ranging from a light gray to a light yellowish green. There are no teeth, nor terminal spines, although the leaves taper to points that fray with age. The inflorescence is a dense raceme 2.5 to 3 meters high, with greenish-yellow flowers.

I appreciate your comments, and please add a link back to this page from your own Friday Greens blog post.

The meme is only as successful as you make it be! Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

DIETES

Dietes iridioides (African iris, Cape iris, fortnight lily, Morea iris, wild iris, dietes) is an ornamental plant in the Iridaceae family. D. iridioides has white flowers marked with yellow and violet, with six free tepals that are not joined into a tube at their bases. These flowers last only one day.

The seedpods of the plant often bend the stalks down to the ground where they have a better chance of propagating new plants. The very similar Dietes grandiflora (Large Wild Iris) is a larger plant, which can be distinguished by larger flowers which have dark spots at the base of the outer tepals, and last for three days.These plants were formerly placed in the genus Moraea, but were reclassified because they are rhizomatous.

Grow in full sun or part shade. Although tolerant of tough conditions, Dietes will perform best in well-drained soil, rich in organic material. Fertilise occasionally and water during dry spells. Do not remove flower stems as they continue to flower for several years. Propagate by seed or by division of established clumps.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

QUINCES

The quince (Cydonia oblonga) is the sole member of the genus Cydonia in the family Rosaceae (which also contains apples and pears, among other fruits). It is a small deciduous tree that bears a pome fruit, similar in appearance to a pear, and bright golden-yellow when mature.

Throughout history the cooked fruit has been used as food, but the tree is also grown for its attractive pale pink blossom and other ornamental qualities. The tree grows 5 to 8 metres high and 4 to 6 metres wide. The fruit is 7 to 12 centimetres long and 6 to 9 centimetres across. It is native to rocky slopes and woodland margins in South-west Asia, Turkey and Iran although it can be grown successfully at latitudes as far north as Scotland.

The immature fruit is green with dense grey-white pubescence, most of which rubs off before maturity in late autumn when the fruit changes colour to yellow with hard, strongly perfumed flesh. The leaves are alternately arranged, simple, 6–11 cm long, with an entire margin and densely pubescent with fine white hairs. The flowers, produced in spring after the leaves, are white or pink, 5 cm across, with five petals.

Quince jam, jelly, paste and stewed fruit are all quite delicious and easily made. Quinces are also used as an ingredient in savoury food. You can find several recipes here.

This post is part of the Outdoor Wednesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the ABC Wednesday meme.

PLOVDIV SUNSET

Plovdiv (Bulgarian: Пловдив)[2] is the second-largest city in Bulgaria with a population of 341,567 inhabitants as of 2015. It is the administrative centre of Plovdiv Province and the municipalities of the City of Plovdiv, Maritsa municipality, and Rodopi municipality, whose municipal body had a population of 404,665 inhabitants as of 2015.

It is an important economic, transport, cultural, and educational centre. Plovdiv's history spans 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC, ranking it among the world's oldest cities. Plovdiv was known in the West for most of its recorded history by the Greek name Philippoupolis (Φιλιππούπολις), which was introduced in 340 BC. The city was originally a Thracian settlement, later becoming invaded by Persians, Macedonians, Celts, Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgarians, Crusaders, Russians and Ottomans.

On 4 January 1878, Plovdiv was liberated from Ottoman rule by the Russian army. It remained within the borders of Bulgaria until July of the same year, when it became the capital of the autonomous Ottoman region of Eastern Rumelia. In 1885, Plovdiv and Eastern Rumelia itself became part of Bulgaria. Plovdiv is situated in south-central Bulgaria on the two banks of the Maritsa River. The city has historically developed on seven syenite hills, some of which are 250 m high. Because of these hills, Plovdiv is often referred to in Bulgaria as "The City of the Seven Hills".

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme,
and also part of the Scenic Weekends meme.

FRIDAY GREENS #44 - LEUCADENDRON

Welcome to this 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.

Leucadendron laureolum x salignum 'Inca Gold' is a spectacular golden colour in winter. It is ideal for low maintenance, low water use gardens. Great for cut flowers.

This post is also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

I appreciate your comments, and please add a link back to this page from your own Friday Greens blog post.

The meme is only as successful as you make it be! Please add your own GREEN post using the Linky tool below:

KING PROTEA

The king protea (Protea cynaroides) is a flowering plant. It is a distinctive member of the family Proteaceae, having the largest flower head in the genus. The species is also known as giant protea, honeypot or king sugar bush. It is widely distributed in the southwestern and southern parts of South Africa in the fynbos region.

The king protea is the national flower of South Africa. It also is the flagship of the The Protea Atlas Project, run by the South African National Botanical Institute. The king protea has several colour forms and horticulturists have recognised 81 garden varieties, some of which have injudiciously been planted in its natural range. In some varieties the pink of the flower and red borders of leaves are replaced by a creamy yellow.

This unusual flower has a long vase life in flower arrangements, and makes for an excellent dried flower. Protea cynaroides is adapted to survive wildfires by its thick underground stem, which contains many dormant buds; these will produce the new growth after the fire.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BIKE

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Saturday Silhouettes meme.