Flower power

High guys , here's a little know fact about myself: I also dig gardening
Here's a small sample of whats flowering at the moment .
Miltonia/Miltonopsis hybrid( it's an orchid)

Billbergia .variety ( it's a bromiliad)

that was a photo of the flower " bract" , the next one is of the true flower

Achmea .var( another bromiliad)

same deal with the bract ,the yellow buds are the true flower

Achmea gamosepala : and one of fav broms

when the blue flowers die back the parts which hold the seed turn a hot pink/reddish
(officially called cerise I think) for a further few months and another cool
thing about this plant is the pollen and reproductive parts are true blue as opposed
to yellow like most plants

Its pretty early on in the season here ,so I should be able to get a lengthy thread
out of this one+ what you are looking at is flowering now, not old foto's - care of
something or some one





wiping 6 folders with all the plant pics.
J

Stunning pics!

Especially love the last flower, stunning and unusual. All I can grow is algae lol ....... we don't have a garden, we live in a flat

A bit of an update:
Here's gamosepala a few weeks on and starting to change colour, wait until
you see it in a few more weeks

Achmea var? this first pic was taken before the flowers started to push through

And a few weeks later, you can notice the bract changing colour and the flowers coming,
a kool combo I think ,the red with the smokey grey petals with the blue tips


And another orchid: Prosthechea cochleata

Cheers J

Nice pics every plant i try to grow dies lol

Very nice Achmea gamosepala, I've seen some of those at the Botanical Garden down here in FL, and they don't look half so nice. :flower:
I wish I could grow orchids, but it seem the only plants that will grow for me are herbs.

I must admit this is a great off the topic thread nice....

Great close up's Kuro....well done mate..

More threads like this please

Cheers for the replies guys , it's slowed of a little in the garden at he moment +
the camera is on the . But - Achmea gamosepala hasn't done its thing yet and
there is a lot of early Cybidium variaties with some nice big buds on them , so hopefully
get the newer camera (also a kickdonkey version for better fish pix).
Any one else feel free to add their contributions of interesting flower foto's.
Cheers J

I will give it a try mate...

I thought I'd throw in a few more shots while I had the loan camera
Achmea gamosepala: not colouring so well , so I have moved him into a bit
more sunshine

We've got lots of these guys coming into spike , but this guy flowered well early
Cymbidium var?

All though these aren't in flower it will give some one the google what the flower looks like
Pterastylis Curta: this is an OZZIE native , if you were out in the bush you'd probably step on it

Denrobium Tetragonam: a cool thing about this plant is that the bulbs have four sides making it a
square instead of round like most orchids, this is how you tell wether you have a tetragonum hybrid

And these guys , another one of my favourite plant families
Tillandsia


These guys are in the family as bromiliads .
Quiz time : who can tell me the worlds most recognizable bromiliad. Answer next post.
J

Bloody PC , ignore the first foto this is the one that should be there

J

some nice dead leaf's there mate lol...only joking very cool pics your now some what of an artist lol..

Keep um comin J :[IMG]http://i4

World's most recognizable bromiliad? That's Spanish Moss, It grows all over trees here in florida, looks like ghostly shrouds in the right light.

really good answer violetmoss, but not the one I was thinking of .
Spanish moss , aka Tillandsia usneoides

I try to grow this air plant - but last summer just hammered it so I will try again
now there is a good base of dead stuff grow on.
Hint on the answer : think edible.
J

Well it's the middle of winter here in OZ so the garden has slowed a little + having no camera doesn't help.
Whats the worlds most recognizable bromiliad? This guy.

How he looks on the plant

And there is more than one variety - some pretty damn fancy


I was trying to find the supercool version that is a wild purple-blue but google let me down, so here's the pink one again

All images care of google , it's just way to cold to grow Ananus comosus down here in Adelaide.

J

Time to bore you with a few more pix:
Cymbidium variety?


A different Cymbid variety - there are just so many hybrids of Cymbidiums
it's hard to remember the names of all( and it doesn't help when young cousins
come over and pull all the name tags out)

Some Cymbids coming into bud

And this is a "SPECIES" Cym - it hasn't been crossed with anything else and is used in the trade as a base green for many other hybrids

And finally Achmea Gamosepala is starting to turn colour

J

High guys , all them buds in the previous post have open now.
Species "Green"


God knows their name but here's some different ones





I wouldn't mind some feed back guys - if this thread sucks I 'll stop posting but if you want to see more let know(I have plenty more)
J

great pics J they almost look like lilly's....
Keep um coming.....

Fantastic Pics

Gorgeous flowers too ......... my Mum would be soooo jealous if she saw them lol

Angi

Thanx for the input "Angi and Curby"
Here's a few more just for you guys.
These are all native OZ "epiphytic" dendrobiums( epiphytic-grows on a host but not parasitic)
Den .Tetragonum,(remember the plant with the square bulbs) this pic was taken with an off its guts SLR with a huge telescopic lense

and this was with a 10.1 pixel olympus point and shoot

Den. Speciosum


Den. Gracillicaulle, these blooms are smaller than a five cent piece

Den. Kestervenii- you will not be able to find this plant in shops , from memory when I brought it at a show it had a protected species tag on it

Den. Kingianum hybrid


As you can see Dendrob blooms don't get so huge

And this guy is Dockrillia Teretifolia or pencil orchid for a common name

and the back of the flower

A trippy fact about Dockrillia is the flowers will always come out upside down.
J

Once again J

Stunning pics ....... I'll ask Mom about the size of a 5 cent piece lol

Thanx Angi , a 5 cent piece is 16mm across and the flowers
are slightly smaller than that.
J

Very nice plants, i used to grow "Platanilla" when i lived back in my home country Colombia, i had them in my Father's farm (they might still be there). since back then i couldn't afford a cam, so there is no pics from my plants, here is the link so you can look at some of the ones i had.

http://www.agrotropical.andes.com/mosaicohelicbien.jpg

best Regards

Juan

Sweet , it would awesome to live in a area where orchids and "heliconia"(or crab claw plant) grow naturally. Can't grow Heliconia in Adelaide, it's to cold -bugger.
J

Time for some Bromiliad pix.
Tillandsia?




Remember Achmea Gamosepala this is what it looks like 4-6 months down the track


A few different Billbergia varieties



This is the little insignificant "Billbergia Nutans" the parent plant for most of the Billbergia hybrids

a few Achmea varieties

same plant but now the bract has come out of the plant

And one of my favourite Achmea - Fosters Favourite





Remember this Achmea?

This is how he looks 4-6months on

J

WOW SOMEONE HAS GREEN FINGERS ..those plants look amazing ..