Friday, July 2, 2010

Amazing Flowers



This Banana was growing at the Cleveland Botanical Garden and the flower color was striking. I love the way Bananas add a touch of tropical flair to our northern gardens. We have several at work but they grow in containers where these were planted in the ground. ‘Lavender Lady’ even looked like it was going to reward its cultivators with a crop of fruit.


There was no reference to this cultivar on Google and it is not too often that a plant stumps that search engine. Luckily I had taken a picture of the sign to properly id it.


This new flower was growing in a container and the vine part of the plant had grown to about 10 feet tall on its trellis. One of the interesting parts was its large and swollen caudex (the thickened persistent stem base of some herbaceous perennial plants). The way it had intertwined itself was amazing. This native of Argentina uses the water storage tissue in its caudex to survive extended droughts. The flowers were pretty with their two shades of pink and ruffled appearance. The foliage was nice too.



This is another Daylily from the Cleveland Botanical Garden. I liked the intense color and how it stood out among the sea of green foliage surrounding it. It is a Tetraploid Daylily, which generally means it has larger flowers, more intense color and sturdier scapes than diploid Daylilies. There is a more scientific definition to Tetraploid Daylilies than that but basically it has extra chromosomes in each cell and that enhances the flower.

This shot was at the Cleveland Zoo and I had never seen Flamingoes bunched up like this and I have never noticed their pink feet before either.



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