Thursday, February 15, 2018

Blooms in February 2018

I have again missed posting for GBBD last month.  It is okay, as those blooming then are still blooming today. No worries. That is the beauty of not having snow or cold front that might suddenly  or inadvertently destroy the plants. Ours will remain there as long as they have not reached their full maturity, true for annuals. And the perennials will still be there for years! I don't know if that is boring, but these are good for not so diligent gardeners like me.


These are late bloomers for the rainy season, as they will be reaching the dry season before they finally succumb to the strong very hot climate.  They are introduced species and i suppose they (above and below) belong to the Justicia family or shrimp plants. Those showy colorful parts are modified leaves called bracts, while the real flowers are colored yellow.


 Those yellow parts are actually the real flowers. I suppose the red bracts could either be for attraction to pollinators or for physical protection too.

 when plenty and becoming unrully they are not very beautiful, seemingly disorganized

Pentas lanceolata  is a sure attraction for butterflies especially for this Scarlet Mormon. It comes to the garden specifically only to eat from this red blooms.

Not many butterflies love the bougainvillea blooms, i suppose because of that long tube-like structure supporting the flower. The butterfly proboscis has to be long and steady to reach the inner portion of the flower which has the nectar.  Again, like the previous photos, those showy leaves are the bracts, or modified leaves. 

This is red plumbago, Plumbago indica. The spikes are unruly too as they are born at the tip of long pliant stems. But when groomed together in a common area, they are also attractive and present a different arrangement on their own. However, i haven't seen any butterfly alighting on them.

You might say we only have the reds and the orange, but we also have the yellows and the light greens. Above is locally called akapulco, Cassia alata. It becomes a small short tree, but when pruned back before the rainy season they produce short branches like this. They are favorites of bees and butterflies. It is even a host for at least two of our pierid butterflies, the Mottled Emigrant and a yellow. 
 Above is the inflorescense of the variegated Alternanthera. It also gets too tall for soft stems, so they just fell down to the sides when there is nothing rigid to lean on to. We just cut and throw them away. 

 This is a new plantlet born at the end of a stolon of the spider plant, Chlorophytum comosum. It is called spider plant because of the proliferation of those stem-like growths born at the tips. They are left dangling from the main plant so look sort of chandelier-like. It is nice when planted in a hanging basket.

It belongs to the lily family, and the dainty flowers are so lovely just like the lilies. The long hanging anthers with the elongated stamens are so dainty too.

 Above might not be considered ornamental plant. It however is a good feed for ruminants being proteinaceous. The long spikes of pocket bracts have the seeds inside. They are nice looking when starting to dry and become brown.

 I personally prefer it at the above stage or maturity, when they are starting to dry but there are still some immature green ones. 

The whole plant at the still green maturing stage. I just observed our common lycaenid ovipositing on it. That will make it a favored plant for me from now on, Flemingia strobilifera. 



19 comments:

  1. The tropical loveliness of your garden must be a joy for you. The lush foliage and bright blooms are a balm for winter-weary eyes.

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    1. So you are welcome in always coming here to my posts, I provide lits of color all year long, haha! Thanks

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  2. You have so many amazing flowers but that Flemingia strobilifera is just magnificent!

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    1. That is actually a weed here growing wildly in fallow areas. Thanks for your visit.

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  3. Lovely post. It is so nice to see your tropical plants while most of the plants here have either died back to ground level or lost their leaves for the winter. I love bougainvillea, as it grows everywhere where we have been on a hot holiday! I have never seen a red plumbago before. Blue usually and white occasionally, again mostly in Mediterranean regions. I discovered a European blue, Leptotes pirithous lays its eggs on the flower buds. I bet you will find eggs, as there is a closely related butterfly that you have photographed there.

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    1. Leptotes on blue Plumbago? I havent seen any layi g or nectaring on red plymbago, will seRch. Thanks

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    2. Andrea, I have been trying to post a picture on your facebook wall, but for some reason it keeps failing. I have a picture of an egg and caterpillar of Leptotes pirithous on my blog towards the bottom of the page. https://nickmorgan-butterflypictures.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/spain-july-2012-butterflies-1_14.html Sorry, I know you don't want link on here!

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    3. Nick maybe it is easier if your picture post will be tagged with my name. I also do not know why it fails to post. Maybe that is when i am not online.

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  4. I've never seen a butterfly that colour, we have Plumbago here too but it's mostly the blue variety.

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    1. Yes Amy, the blue plumbago is the most common one. The red is said to be used in ayurvedic medicine.

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  5. Your post brought back lovely memories for me - in college I had a shrimp plant for several years, and I enjoyed its pale orange bracts. In my childhood home, we always had one or two spider plants in hanging baskets - we could never seem to give away all of the 'babies'.

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    1. There are a few species whose common name is Shrimp Plant as they look like shrimp, but they are of different genuses. Thanks for dropping by.

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  6. There's no way your posts could be boring! Wow! With that pop of red at the beginning, it's thrilling! The Shrimp Plants are fascinating, aren't they? How fun to have them actually growing in your garden. :)

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    1. Thanks much Beth. At least my readers are not bored, but I almost am because they are always with us, haha!

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  7. Beautiful flowers never seen red plumbago,pentas go dormant in winters .Bougainvillea is whole year bloomer in our region.

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    1. You must always visit my posts when you enter that season. Our colors are here all year long. Thanks for visiting.

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  8. There is 6 inches of snow on the ground where I live, so seeing your beautiful flowers photos really brightened my day! All are lovely!

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  9. ...many of these flower look similar to me here on Maui. The red plumbago, Plumbago indica, is new to me. I see blue plumbago. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  10. Flaming flowers, and a fantastic butterfly!

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