Flowers and other Flora

[dpc]

The first sunflower I've seen this summer.

 

[Click]

Nice shot, dpc.

 

[ISv]

Beautiful lotus, ISv!
I saw lots of them cultivated in Hawaii when I visited.

We have 3 madagascar Jasmines (Stephanotis floribunda) at home standing nearly 6 feet tall (including the pots.) If spread out, the vines stretch out to something like 20 feet! We have them for 5-6 years now and over the last 3 or 4 years, we get one or 2 fruit pods from the plants. They're like mangoes in shape, though never turn red or yellow when ripe. There's no fleshy portion within, just dry pulpy material about 1/2 the thickness of the fruit. The seeds are packed in the center, arranged like an oval shape, like fish scales. Each seed (flat) has a tuff of white/silvery fiber, I guess to allow the wind to pick it up and spread.

We saw a plant being sold at NY City (China Town) and she wanted $200 for a 3 feet plant! Normal nursery may sell them for $20-50 dependent on size (2 feet tall.)

I took photos (iPhone quality) of the seed pod last year, I may dig them out to show you.
-r

Lotus flower.
Do not remember if it was this or the last year

Thanks Riley, no need to dig for that pictures, I have seen the fruit many times... I just didn't know the name of the plant.

 

[dpc]

Nice shot, dpc.

Thanks Click!

 

[ISv]

Thanks Click and dpc!
We don't have much of sunflowers around. Instead we have this invasive species - Sphagneticola trilobata (it has many common names). When you walk trough the plant it smells like a field of sunflowers after hot day (memories from my childhood in Europe )!

 

[Click]

Very nice picture, ISv.

 

[ISv]

Very nice picture, ISv.

Thanks Click! Unfortunately not sunflower (the weed on my picture is just ~inch in diameter).

 

[dpc]

Rudbeckia... I textured the red one just for the look of it...

 

[dpc]

Sunflower and hosta...

 

[dpc]

Don't know what this is called but I've got quite a bunch of them in the back yard.

 

[Click]

Beautiful flowers. Nicely done, dpc.

 

[dpc]

Beautiful flowers. Nicely done, dpc.

Thanks!

 

[ISv]

Don't know what this is called but I've got quite a bunch of them in the back yard.

Look in genus Campanula (Bellflower is the common name but it's ambiguous - many species of Campanula go under that name).
Nice flowers BTW! I'm not sure I have seen that hosta before.

 

[ISv]

dpc, check for Campanula rapunculoides (Creeping bellflower, but it has wide distribution resulting in many common names).

 

[dpc]

dpc, check for Campanula rapunculoides (Creeping bellflower, but it has wide distribution resulting in many common names).

Thanks for the info ISv! I'll check it out.

 

[ISv]

Two photos that were prepared (to the proper size) to be posted back in the time.

 

[Click]

Two photos that were prepared (to the proper size) to be posted back in the time.

Lovely.

 

[lion rock]

dpc,
Great set of photos of flowers.
-r

 

[lion rock]

ISv,
Good shots.
-r

 

[stevelee]

Wednesday a friend showed me around his garden before I had lunch with him and his wife. I took pictures with the 400mm end of the 100-400mm zoom. I had hoped to see hummingbirds, but only one was around that time of day. I did get shots of several butterflies and a couple interesting flowers. The lens does a great job handheld even at 400mm.

A page with some of the photos is at http://www.stevelee.name/pinesgarden/