Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Invasive weed in flower gardens






One mother-plant dwarf lotus with several runners. Unique to this Cambodian dwarf lotus is the one mother plant brining up a long stem from the bottom of the pond. From each long stem originating from the mother plant - a small group of lotus leaves and several lotus flowers result in a small floating array. Once such a group of floating lotus leaves/flowers is completed, the dwarf lotus creates a runner some 50-100 cm long and then creates another floating array of leaves and lotus blossoms.
If you know the strawberry plant-runners, the dwarf lotus look very much the same. Hence most of these lotus leaves have NO direct connection to the mother plant or to the soil at the bottom of the pond, but only thru the runner with the previous lotus flower group floating at the water surface. An interesting anatomy / physiology of a lotus plant.
On the image you clearly see several long and stronger runners from group to group with small arrays of lotus leaves and lotus blossoms in each such lotus array.
Each such mini-arrangement has several leaves around the center and several blossoms. Typically a few blossoms are open at a time. Many tiny small lotus buds ready to blossom.
The following picture shows another dwarf lotus in natural environment in Cambodia.
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos

pollen-flowers posted a photo

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6-2-09 Buxted Park - DSCN0425.jpg


Asim Shah posted a photo:

yellow


beetography

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One of my highlights at this year's show has been the 'Art in the Garden'. As you wander around the showground you come across a variety of work from fibreglass cows to steel, pine and charcoal sculptures, as well as more traditional artwork, using willow and oak. moorcroft.jpgNot to be outdone however, many garden designers have used art in their show gardens. The Moorcroft Natural Woman Garden incorporates a handcrafted Moorcroft tile featuring the garden's plants, bees and butterflies. There's even more artwork from designers who are showcasing their work here. leaping_hare.jpgOne of my favourites is by an artist who has created leaping hares from twisted, plastic-coated wire - he's really managed to inject movement into his pieces. I'd love to take one home but I can't afford the price tag.
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Lylack bushes that don t bloom







Crocus - the first flowers of spring 2008
_MG_3366.JPGFrom Savanna

Nice violete flowers

Nice violete flowers




beetography

beetography's photo
Show gardens at flower shows are always very subjective, the judges are looking for one thing, the gardening press another, and very often the public are just looking for something they can recreate in their own garden. All too often they don't agree on which should be the winner. beardshaw_300x150.jpg At Tatton Chris Beardshaw's garden, 'Cheshire's Year of Gardens 08', pleased all three and it's easy to see why it was awarded the Best in Show title. Recreating a classic english country house garden with bold herbaceous borders on both sides was a sure fire winner. I loved the predominantly pastel planting and highlights of gold added by the Catalpa at the end. I'm told there are subtle elements from at least 12 Cheshire gardens incorporated into the design, including the famous double borders at Arley Hall. If you're visiting the show and you know your Cheshire gardens see if you can spot them. east_west_300x150.jpg According to my colleague Louise I have 'Boy tastes'when it comes to gardens and some of the other designs i liked typified this. The 'East Meets West' garden (Gold) was created by combining the traditional elements of a relaxing Japanese Zen garden with a contemporary seating area and blocky water feature. adlington_300x150.jpg Angular water features were in evidence in several other gardens i liked, including the 'Adlington Relax and Reflect Garden'(Silver-Gilt), with white walls, red containers and interesting grassy planing scheme and 'Always There' (Silver-Gilt) a garden created to promote the work of the Samaritans. This was just my cup of tea, with green the predominant colour and plants chosen to complement perfectly the stonework and rusted steel used within the design. samaritan_300x150.jpg The judges awarded just two gold medals and four silver gilt at Tatton this year and I'd completely agree with their decision. A number of gardens featured heavy stonework waterfalls including 'Go with the Flow' (Silver), My Little Piece of the Lakes (Bronze) and Natural Distinction (Silver-gilt) and I think all of them could have done with a bit more planting to soften the hard landscaping. brett_300x150.jpg Elsewhere 'Real Life by Brett' (Silver-gilt) brought the traditional northern back garden into the 21st century and was definitely drawing interest from the crowds. 'Hot Dry Days' (Bronze) took a more Mediterranean approach and showed how we can adapt our gardens to the changing climate. Who knows, if the weather continues to be as hot and sunny here as it has been this week maybe bananas will soon catch on in Manchester?
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Florist in summit new jersey




atheana

atheana's photo

Pink tulips, Ottawa Tulip Festival

atheana

atheana's photo

beetography
Chinodoxa

Chinodoxa

Yellow  flowers

Yellow flowers


Asim Shah posted a photo:

pretty


atheana

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Flower - ros136.gif



Colour with two (quite unique). Hung in rock wall, this flower with white and yellow around, catch my spot, take a few minutes before can captured it, cause this flower hung in wall quite tall.


Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

Beautiful water lily in gentle blue color - lily ponds of Siem Reap, Cambodia
In album Lotus flower photo - Lotus blossom images - Lotus pond photos

Asim Shah posted a photo:

the basket


The back to back gardens are a unique feature of the flower show at Tatton Park and they are arranged in groups of four all over the showground, what I like about this is that as I walk around the show I stumble across a square of gardens and keep seeing ones I haven't seen before, also you can get a really good look at them because they're nicely spread out. Out of 27 back to back gardens at the show, five were awarded the coveted gold medal, best in show went to Reaseheath Alumni with '5 a day with hidden play' a garden dedicated to growing and eating plenty of fruit and veg. bees_300x150.jpg 'A garden for bees' (Gold) designed by Ness Botanic Gardens highlights the importance of our buzzy little friends. It's beautiful too and more than dispells the myth that wildlife gardening has to be wild and woolly. 'Butterfly Journey' (Silver-gilt) is another wildlife friendly garden at the show. butterfly_300x150.jpgIt's packed with the sort of plants we could all try to grow more of, to attract native butterfly species into our gardens. I noticed a fair amount of black in the back to back gardens, 'The back to basics garden' uses black to dramatic effect as a backdrop and in the planting with two stunning Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' and a generous sprinkling of Cosmos astrosanguineus, another garden which features this plant heavily is 'Urban retreat' (Silver) which also uses black as a backdrop but mixes acid greens through the dark flowers and foliage, a great combo. suburban_oasis_300x150.jpg 'Reflection' (Silver) uses colour but it's much more gentle here. The decking and fencing is stained a soft grey and is set off by touches of galvanised metal used as edging and in the form of poles used throughout the garden as a suggestion of a boundary. These double up as plant supports too, this is an idea I might well take away with me... scented_wall_300x150.jpg A garden that addresses a very common problem is 'The scented walled garden' (Silver) and it speaks volumes that I had a good long look at the garden, admired it, made notes, took a photograph and still had not realised that it had been designed with wheelchair users in mind, it proves the point that a garden when well designed can fit a specific brief and be gorgeous too.
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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Florist stoney plain alberta canada




Roraima mountain

flowers-1.png
flowers - flowers-1.png


pollen-flowers posted a photo

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smaller candelabras for the top table - so no restricted view - the display from the registrars table is moved to the centre of the top table - 035-3.jpg


pollen-flowers posted a photo

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037-1.jpg


pollen-flowers posted a photo

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The beautiful loggia at Newick park - set for a partnership ceremony - 018-7.jpg



Form with five side, that presented the star shaped. And this purple colour Flower, also has the unique thing, in the middle, has something like the frozen ice...


flowers.jpg
Flowers - flowers.jpg



Flower

pollen-flowers posted a photo

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015-3.jpg


Robert Nyman
Like, flowers

Like, flowers

Asim Shah posted a photo:

pretty



Pyracantha berries in Ben Lomond, CA USA

Pink tulips, Ottawa Tulip Festival

Asim Shah posted a photo:

yellow



Flower
Best in show was awarded to Matthew Soper of Hampshire Carnivorous Plants and he was delighted. carnivorous_300x150.jpg"This is a very special year, not only because of this award at Tatton Park but it means we have won ten consecutive golds at Chelsea, ten at Hampton Court, ten at BBC Gardeners' World Live and now ten at Tatton Park and best in show. I couldn't be more pleased, it's fantastic!" Well done to Matthew. I couldn't mention the floral marquee again without letting you know how Medwyn Williams got on. Well, his gold medal record is as unblemished as his prize winning vegetables; another gold for Medwyn and an unbroken record. And to top it off the sun is shining! I'm really not used to this at a flower show, I might have to go and have a lie down. In the sun. With an ice cream perhaps...
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