Hibiscus Parade again, and again!

Hibiscus is a flower we do not get tired with. Maybe that's one of the reasons why both the scientists and the enthusiasts keep on breeding them, and never get bored trying to produce lots of variations in their results. There are those who want to produce a certain hue, while others want to produce certain shapes. But definitely, it is the novelty of whether hue, venation, size, shape or their combinations that make a certain hybrid very famous, or sought after by collectors.

Most of us have been posting Hibiscus species and most of us, altogether, still appreciate and look at them as if it is our fisrt time. But do you know that its petals can be eaten? I have a straight vegetarian friend who prepares dishes with Hibiscus petals during our annual reunions. Everybody seems to be curious and the colorful petals get consumed so fast.

This is from the Horticulture Exhibit and Annual Garden Sale i visited last February
 in Quezon City, Philippines

These are from the participating commercial nurseries at the Orchid Show at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City, Philippines, 24 Feb to 07 Mar 2011

These hybrids are from the collection of the Institute of Plant Breeding, University of the Philippines Los Baños

Our native Hibiscus species (pink), which  we locally call 'gumamela' in Pilipino. We also have red, peach, yellow, white and variations in hues and petals.

Now let's go into some science of colors in plants. These bright colors of ornamental plants, commonly called pigments are carotenoids composed of carotenes (hydrocarbons without oxygen) and xantohpylls (hydrocarbons with oxygen). There are also those called anthocyanins which are red, purple, or blue according to pH. They belong to a parent class of molecules called flavonoids. Only the anthocyanins are water soluble pigments. The bright colors of ornamentals and flowers not only attract their pollinators, but also protect the young leaves from extreme light stress from photo oxidation. Senescing leaves like those in autumn get those colors because the chlorophyll (green) disappears exposing the carotenoids. Sometimes, these bright colors also deter other predators from eating them, as other brightly colored pigments are poison to some predators. This is the logic why some butterflies mimic the red color to defy their predators, somehow telling them they are not palatable or even toxic.

For humans, these pigments are now famous as antioxidants and helpful for our stressed bodies. I am sure you have been hearing the use of carotenoids as anti cancer. Antioxidants means they attach to the free-radicals in the body, which otherwise are our toxic and harmful products of metabolism. I just wonder at this point, how many kilograms of hibiscus flowers we must eat to counteract the resulting free-radicals our body produce continuously, especially resulting from pollution and stressful way of life.

I would like to dedicate this post to my Malaysian blogger friends because their national flower is the red Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. In order of my knowing them they are: Autumn Belle,  Stephanie, Bangchik, Aaron, James Missier, One and Orchid de Dangau.

For other Fabulous Friday posts please visit mcdougall photography site.

Green scapes and foliage

These are parts of the landscaped areas of the Rafael Farm in Leyte, Philippines, which i have already posted a few months ago HERE. But i found some more lively areas from my files with vibrant green colors. I am sure these will at least visually sooth the feelings of our friends still in the midst of winter. Sometimes instead of posting the snow scenes, they post photos compiled from the other seasons. With these green grounds and foliage i hope your monotones will at least have intermissions of lively vibrations. Those from the US, Canada and UK, i hope you will enjoy these. This is my way of gratitude for your snowscapes, which i enjoy because we do not have that in this perennially green patch of earth we happen to be in.

Clockwise from top left: Different kinds of palms line the walkway to the resort; a cozy hut in a wide green area is very inviting; an Arch is climbed by Thunbergia vines; a bromeliad garden nook; a bench under canopies of trees also lovely for just sitting and reading a book.


some collection of Ti plants with vibrant colors and outlines on their leaf edges


I am sure you know what these plants are, but i emphasized at the center an unusually variegated plant i found very beautiful, a variegated cassava (Manihot esculenta)

Linked to Roses and Stuff, thanks Katarina for allowing this even if a bit late already.

Succulents, agaves and bonsais, plus

I might be boring you with my collages, I am sorry but this is my new-found hobby! I have long been appreciating those who make them, and i am a bit late in learning it. But i am glad i can now post many plants in one placement, unlike the past posts where i had difficulty putting it right or left, and then my captions got in between them, which i cannot do anything about them anymore!

These are all from the Horticulture Exhibit in Quezon City, Philippines which i attended the other weekend.

Above are mostly succulents. I love the way they put the cacti in the cement wall (center of collage). I am sure this is the type of garden i should do, because this is a bit drought and neglect tolerant. Perhaps those of us who travel once-in-a while for a few days leaving our plants alone might do this cliff garden. Those planters are fixed in the wall, so can't be relocated.

Alistair of  Aberdeen Gardening will tell me i am teasing you again because i included some rocks at the bottom, which are definitely not succulent. That just means they are concrete fillers!

Can you guess which among those are not included in the group? It's like the game 'point the difference'!

A blogger friend from India, Radhika will love to look at this bonsai collection. Those two bottom right are same tree, tamarind. One is laden with fruits, which are already ripe for picking. This is definitely a lovely table fruit tree, unlike the tamarind tree near our house which is  more than 10 meters high, so we cannot pick the fruits. We need to wait for the fruits to drop. If we have tamarind bonsai, then picking is so easy! I just wasn't able to know how old are these tamarind bonsais. I re-posted the bigger photo below for better appreciation.

Aroids and Ferns

Last weekend i visited the garden sale here at the Manila Seedling Bank in Quezon City, held on 24 Jan to 6 Feb, 2011. There are wholesale plant sale for ornamentals, fruit trees, endemic plants, imported plants, landscaping requirements, and whatever the nurseries have. There was an enclosed exhibit area for plants and landscape designs, where lectures are held everyday. I grouped my photos with similar characteristics, so i can show more of them in one post.

The Arum family or Aroids is a big group of plants composed of 107 genera and over 3700 species. It  includes our Dieffenbachia, Aglaonema, Caladium, Epipremnum, Philodenron, etc. Most of you might be familiar with these plants, so you will tell me that something in the collage is not included in the group. Yes, it's at the bottom right of the 2nd collage! Can you guess what plant that is? I just put it here as a filler because it was actually also included in the exhibit to give texture in one of the landscape designs. Aroids, like Colocasia and Alocasia are stem tubers, and tubers are related to roots. They are all enlarged underground parts. Are you still with me? The photo in question is a root tuber! Hence, I purposely relate it to aroids, but not botanically of course. Give up? ......It is a sweet potato vine or Ipomoea batatas! haha. I am so sorry for my logic. I am actually just trying to give justice for including sweet potato here, just because i love to include it.



Aroids and Ferns



I am also very fascinated by the very dark red color of that Caladium.

For the landscape designs i would like to link this post to Bom's post: http://www.plantchaser.com/ specifically this one:
http://www.plantchaser.com/main/2011/2/8/urban-gardens.html