Thursday, May 10, 2012

Friday Flowers Flaunt

I have long been joining a lot of you on Fridays, flaunting our plants and flowers and link them to some memes. I get to be acquainted with temperate and sub-tropical plants, or feel envious sometimes of those which i like very much but can't grow well in our climate.  And on the rebound, i get to show you our plants in this hot (and very hot!) tropical climate. I think this is a good way of not only engaging everyone, or enticing and envying them, but also informing each one of the beauty and richness of our individual climates treasures, the richness of our biodiversity. Also, we learn here which plants are someone's discard, but another's treasure, something very well cared for in one's garden, but found invasive in some areas! Furthermore, I get a lot of inspiration from your photos, compositions, etc, etc.

Thanks to the internet and blogging, I am learning a lot from all of you, and hopefully vise-versa!

Cockscomb is a very tropical plant, suited to our hot climate, but gets invasive seeds which i don't like. This  is planted on the ground near my tomatoes, so share water seepage from them. You can see the very well developed flower combs from the many branches arising from the main trunk.

This is the trunk of the one above, isn't it also beautiful? I actually love its color. Fortunately, one plant is spared by mother's chicken.

 The stem portion of the comb is full of seeds, and the individual seeds are as small as the Brassica seeds, e.g. cabbage, mustard, pechay. Those shown are potential weeds this coming rainy season, and that is just one comb yet.

It looks like some insects are also inhabiting the convoluted flowers, i wonder if they are living there as a good hiding place or they get some food from it too!

This one is planted on a plastic pot also near the tomatoes. So when the sun gets too hot, which is everyday from sunrise to sunset, its soil gets very dry and it gets limp and dry. Upon watering in the early evening, they get turgid again but somehow the heavy flowers cannot return sufficiently upright anymore. The combs are also much smaller than the first photo that is planted on the ground. Can you see the small baby praying mantis underneath the bent comb above? It is also hiding from the extreme heat of the sun, although i shot this early in the morning before 7am. Praying mantis are territorial, so it will not leave until the combs die.

Copy this image and its link to place on your blog

ff    blumen zum wochenende



28 comments:

  1. each one of the beauty and richness of our individual climates treasures, the richness of our biodiversity. Also, we learn here which plants are someone's discard, but another's treasure, something very well cared for in one's garden, but found invasive in some areas

    Very true what you shared - basically most of my treasured plants comes when someone discard it.
    And yes - why should we be envious rather be more thankful with what grows so well and beautifully in our gardens.

    Please share with me your experience in making the orchids grow more beautifully.
    Really looking forward for your tips.

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  2. Amazing bloom! The 4th shot is fantastic.

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  3. Great pictures you show.
    Wishing you a good day.
    Hanne Bente / hbt.finus.dk

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  4. I love seeing what others grow around the world in their gardens and hearing about their lives.

    Those cockscomb blooms are wonderful. You reminded me of some seeds of a similar plant that I need to find in my stash and plant.

    That tiny praying mantis is really cute.

    Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

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  5. It looks like cockscomb is loved by your local insect population. I'm all for planting what the beneficial insects like. Improves the biodiversity in our own gardens.

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  6. what a gorgeous, unusual flower, beautiful photos

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  7. Tropical flowers are also very lovely... in fact, I yearn to grow plumeria for my wife as she likes it very much... but Japan's climate is not suitable... anyway, I learn a lot from you too...

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  8. I have seen them grown back home, and I have seen them here too (the beautiful of living in Southern California). Its trunk reminds me of the stalk of the rhubbarb, the color especially.

    The tight clusters reminds me of a young girl's petticoat!

    P.S. I have been posting less on memes because been busy working on my third photo book.

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  9. This is so fun and unusual - I wish I could grow them here. But, seeing yours is the next best thing :D

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  10. So pretty! You flower are such a lovely color!

    Thanks for the information about the special plants.

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  11. I wouldn't mind this being invasive here:) Beautiful flower, but up close it looks like a brain:) The stem reminds me of rhubarb a lot. Hope you are having a good start to your Friday. Kreesh:)

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  12. One of my favourite plants for the tropics. It just does so well and has the most amazing blooms. Lovely photos which highlight the beauty of this plant.

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  13. I've always enjoyed this flower (which we call palong palong - cockscomb). Did not realize that it is easily grown and very prolific.

    BTW, do they come in other colors?

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    1. In your dialect it is not definitely a cock's, in ours it is palong-manok, o di ba? Directly a cockscomb, haha! I haven't seen this big type in other colors yet. But the Celosia plumosa has many colors, this one has the more feathery and elongated flowers. The flower in this post is Celosia gigantea.

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  14. Those blooms look like velvet. The praying mantis could easily be missed, unless one is looking for it.

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  15. I enjoy your tropical flowers and this one has always intrigued me...it almost doesn't look real...love the velvety flowers.

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  16. We have these growing in Melbourne during the Summer months, Andrea and they do make a spectacular show as your lovely photos show. These flowers are related to something we grow in our garden for a summer vegetable: Amaranthus blitum. See my "other" blog for the way we prepare it and eat it -
    http://nicholasjv.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/back-home-and-simple-meal.html

    Thank you for participating in Floral Friday Fotos!

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  17. It is a wonderful earth we share with so much biodiversity! I love your tropical plants. The cockscomb is very interesting with its velvety texture and rich color. Yes, I saw the little praying mantis!

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  18. Your cockscomb are beautiful Andrea. I've seen this in one of my afternoon walks and took a snap too.

    Cacti Flowers

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  19. Ah the family of Celosia...I have several types here..the tall, tall ones started my love hate relationship with them.

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  20. the cockscomb is lovely! I think I will try some celosia this year. So pretty. It took me a little while to enjoy them, but now I think they're just gorgeous.

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  21. thanks for your beautiful weekend flowers :)

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  22. I think that flower is ever so photogenic Andrea - Celosia never do well here and hate our wet summers.

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  23. In the past I have used Celosia as a Summer annual but none as fascinating as the one which you show us today.

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  24. What a beautiful deep red on the Cockscomb. I agree, other peoples garden blogs are one of the best sources of gardening inspiration even if the gardener grows plants that are not hardy where I live their enthusiasm is contagious.

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  25. This allows the food to cool faster and is also easier to heat up.
    onion seeds

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  26. These velvety rich red flowers are beautiful, Andrea.

    Thank you for taking part in Floral Friday Fotos.

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Your comments inspire me to post more, and our conversations make life and gardening more meaningful.

However, Anonymous comments and personal back links give me problems, so i don't publish them. Anonymous + back links = SPAM = DELETE

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