Wildflowers Parade

I've long wanted to join Wildflower Wednesday of Gail's Clay and Limestone. However, I always forget that it is up only at the last Wednesday of each month. So now that I was able to remember it before the appointed date, i will maximize the chance. And i will be putting most of the wildflowers i took early this month. So please bear with me, this is a parade! I posted the flowers followed by the plant, except for the last three photos!

This is Oxalis corniculata. It has been growing as weeds all around our property and very difficult to get rid off. But the dainty petite yellow flowers when plenty are lovely too. 

This is the luxuriant growth of this weed. Wikipedia says it is also called sleeping beauty or creeping wood sorrel. And it is reported there that the leaves can be eaten too, with tangy taste of lemons. The leaves can be infused into hot water, sweetened, chilled to make as a drink and rich in vitamin C. But there is a warning, that eating the leaves in large quantities for a long time can inhibit calcium absorption. Oh that is quite interesting, but i guess our own kamias or Averrhoa bilimbi also has that characterestics.

 The porter weed or snake weed, Stachetarpheta jamaicensis, is really a weed in our area, both in function and in habit. No one seems to mind it but I and the butterflies. We both love it.

 The luxurious growth at a meadow during my walk for the sunrise shots.

 This newly opened bloom looks so auspicious, but i haven't seen any butterfly alighting on it. It is the flower of the invasive and obnoxious

 The insects, just like me, are also scared of those many sharp thorns. If a bigger animal enters this thicket, i wonder if he will still come healthy! Mimosa diplotricha

Lovely against the blue sky, this grass towers among its neighbors.

In a few days it will be ripe and will spread havoc in the vicinity including our gardens. NOID

This is a small grass, almost just 2 ft in height, but it also glistens against the morning sun. NOID

I am about to look for open pink flowers on that plant at the right, however it might still open a little later. And it seems that two of us wait for the bloom to be ready, this butterfly for the nectar and I for the photo.

This is not a wildflower anymore, but a collection of wild fruits. They look like miniature tamarind, with a mimosa-like leaves. I am sure this is also a legume, just that i don't know the ID. Those fruits sway gracefully with the wind. I am late for their flowers.

I would like to join this post also to Two Questions Thursday Meme, for the first time. Here are my two questions:

          1. Will i attempt to eradicate all these weeds in our garden these dry season, hoping they will not show 

              up next year rainy season?

          2. Or should I remove most of them and just leave the first weed, the least obnoxious among them? 

               Whew!!!

Of Bancas and Flatworms!

I strayed for a few minutes near the seashore, breath the breeze and look for something to photograph. There will always be a lot of things to shoot, unfortunately so little time to spare. But a few things still caught my fancy.

 I guess that lone man in a very small boat is doing some fishing, hook and line. He didn't change his position at all, standing there in his static boat. I wonder if there is really still some fish in that area. And i am so curious why he did not just sit down once-in-a  while, as he waits for his catch!

In the so many years that i have been looking at that horizon, i just realized those two mountains almost have the same shape. I've reached a lot of far places and countries, but i haven't been to those mountains which are still part of my province. It reminded me of a song "......but I've never been to me!"

 Do you have an idea if the above 'something' has life or is it just a rock!  Dan...da...ran.....

There it is, it is a living thing. I put it on its back to expose those flesh, and it quickly return to the original position. It struggled a bit to topple down, but it regain its posture in little time. It really looks so slimy, and i guess that orange part is its liver. It looks like an exposed liver, amazing creation. This is a marine slug!

Above is a flatworm. They don't have body cavities so oxygen and nutrients pass their bodies by diffusion. What a very simple life! But...they are hermaphrodites, isn't that great!

 

Elegant White Flowers

I have been looking for white flowers at home, but they seem to be elusive. I just realized we don't have them for a long time. I searched and looked, peeped and magnified, and here are my only white flowers. And they are very small, it is good i already have a macro lens. 

individual flower of cat whiskers (Tagalog-balbas pusa), Orthosiphon aristatus

Spike of the cat whiskers flowers

Asparagus fern, Asparagus plumosus

the individual flower of asparagus fern is ~3mm in diameter

Before the Dry Season Gets in

Our gardens are still teeming with colors, of course, warm colors as in the reds, the oranges and the yellows. And we also have the colors in between. But please don't look for the blues and dark violets, as I have also been looking for them. I am compensating that lack of blues by getting the too small flowered blue weeds, which I have posted earlier. And the violets, we have them too, but not as dark as those you get in the temperate climates. At least I have here some lavender, that suffices for the meantime. Maybe you will tell me about the blue Plumbago, our blue Vanda, the butterfly pea, but sorry I don't have them in my garden. 

Our colors are not confined with our flowers. Look at the above roots and base of this plant. Isn't it gorgeous enough to get your attention. The growing root hairs are all very red as well.

And look at those stem and leaves, so rich in color and texture that glows in morning sunlight. 

This is the growing point with the emerging flower at the center. Even without the flowers, the leaves are already very ornamental enough.

  

The bloom already got out, the butterflies and other insects cannot wait for the flower to fully expand. Ants are under those ruffles if you look intently enough.  I am sorry i forgot to mention the name of this plant, it is a cockscomb or Celosia argentea.

This is a single plant of the double petalled Impatiens balsamina. We have a lot of these that some are thinned out when still small, otherwise they will not branch favorably like this one.

My Pentas lanceolata is too shaded, so the umbels don't get as big as it is supposed to. But the insects and butterflies compete alighting in it. 

This might be a Vinca I got the seeds from some sidewalk. I forgot where i planted the seeds and realized it only when the flowers show up. The morphology of this flower is different from our common perennially growing Catharanthus roseus, however their leaves are almost the same. I wonder if I am correct in calling it Vinca. 

The gaillardia are still producing flowers. However, I observed that not many butterflies are visiting it, unlike our marigolds, pentas, duranta and turnera. I don't know if the butterflies are not just used to it, because this is an introduced species from my US blogger friend.

 The crinum is also still producing blooms. Maybe this is the 5th spike produced this rainy season. The sweet scent attracts not only the insects but also the people passing by! The plant is big, almost  a meter in diameter, so occupies a bigger area in the garden.

  

      

Transformations

Growth and development is a series of cellular transformations occurring in maturing live organisms. It is most  prominent in developing flowers, not only because of the appearance of flower parts but also because of the color changes. Even if I see plants and flowers all the time, and even if my mind has been bombarded with lots of the processes happening in them, both chemically and physiologically, i am still awed at this phenomenon. I would like to share with you some pictures of what we have in the garden and for me comes so handy because they are just in my picture files of our yard now.

I will not be including those not yet good for photos, e.g. flower primordia, and all that ek-ek, blah-blah! I will be featuring the two cultivars of marigolds, the single petals and the multi petals. The differences between the two varieties are obvious at the same stage levels. One common characteristics is the visit of insects like bees and butterflies.

A. SINGLE PETALS

B. MULTIPLE PETALS