For the Memes

I would like to show you some flowers found in my garden in the province this time of the year. They are mostly around during the wet season. I posted them for joining most of the memes. They are all shots this October, when we are entering the colder part of our weather. As most countries enter the Winter we get some temperature spillage from them, giving us the most comfortable in terms of temperatures.

This is the end of our rainy season, but that doesn't mean we are free from strong typhoons, especially now that our climate is trully changing for the worst. Today a very strong typhoon just wrecked havoc in the northern part of Luzon, with a lot of areas suffering from floods, thousands of families rescued from their water-laden homes, some lives sacrificed. I was in the province last weekend with fortunately weaker winds. I came back to Manila last Sunday night (last night). We in Metro Manila got only Signal No. 2, which also gave lots of water/flooding, causing closure of classes in all levels. My plants outside the 5th Floor Window are now in quarantine inside the room, as the winds might still blow them away.

 Jasminum sambac gives wonderful scent in the garden

 a hoya flower 

Hoya buotii purple corona inner lobes for Ruby Tuesday 

Hoya ilagiorum for Ruby Tuesday

a bitter gourd leaf, Momordica charantia

a butterfly on Duranta repens, its favorite nectar plant in my garden

Macro Monday Too 

Ruby Tuesday Too

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday 

A White Moth

I chanced upon this moth on the wall. It is about 2 cm in length, and because it's daytime it maybe is sleeping. Its feet are firmly anchored on the wall though. I tried to pry it away from the wall, but it didn't budge. I also tried to scare it so it gets defensive and might open its wings, however it didn't allow me to see its wonderfully colored body.

I love how it mimicked those 2 black eyes, which are only decoys for their predator as if it is very big.

 That is the full stance of this white moth, which didn't give me the privilege to see the red body. Most insects are said to be poisonous when they have very bright colors, and some butterflies mimic the red color to give a wrong impression to predators.

That is the color of its whole body, bright red. The hind wings even have those dramatic black dots, which complete the design to look big. Unfortunately, this one succumbed to its death, and the ants are their to get a share of it as their food. I wonder if this is the mate of the other one above which is still alive.

I've posted this in a lepidoptera group in FB and an authority identified it as Red Costate Tiger Moth, Aloa lactinea (Erebidae: Arctiinae).

I Heart Macro

Macro Monday 2

Ruby Tuesday Too

Macro without the lens

Hippeastrum roseum

Macro Monday 2

Ruby Tuesday Too
I Heart Macro
Floral Friday Fotos

Natural Leaf Calligraphy

I am taking photos of my hippeastrum which sent a scape so early even if the dry season has just started. It normally flowers after the first heavy rains in May or if it has suffered a long dry season and got a little watering. I asked my sister if she watered it, and yes she did.

I did not post the full photo as my my objective in posting is for the macro shot. I can make different figures from the outcome of the weeds below. Can you discern yours? To me it looks like some Chinese or Jappanese calligraphy, but because i don't know how to read any of them, i pass the reading to anyone of you who does.

Macro Monday Too

Nature Notes

Ruby Tuesday Too

I Heart Macro 

Almost a Macro Shot

I have just been out of town for four days, meaning i was not able to post anything this week. That includes absence of blog visits and commenting on other's posts. My macro lens is also still at the service center, thanks God i have a zoom lens capable of macro focusing.

Most of us are garden bloggers anyway, can you guess what this structure is?

It is the pistil, most specifically the stigma of a squash flower. There is a well full of nectar that makes this colony of ants very happy. A squash flower is only alive for one day, so those ants are taking advantage of the short amount of nectar supply. The nectar is glistening with the sunlight, some even look like swimming in it.

This flower is not fertilized i suppose, as there is no available male flower nearby. Once-in-a while i also take glances and i haven't seen any bee alighting on it. I can be sure, it is not pollinated.

Macro Monday 2

I Heart Macro

Nature Notes

Single is Great

Hoya flowers are normaly borne in umbels with many individual flowers. Flower numbers depend on the age of plant, vigor, environmental conditions and of course genetics. Some umbels are tight with individual flowers in short pedicels. Most of this type produce perfect spherically shaped umbels, that are really beautiful and distinctly attractive. 

Some hoyas however produce flowers in longer pedicels, with flowers like sprays. Sometimes the pedicels are also of different lengths and the individual flowers have staggered maturities. Most of the species i will show below are of this 2nd type of flowers, scattered and not the spherical umbels. Only the last one belongs to the 1st umbel type. They are all mildly and pleasantly scented. The first two are growing upright like a bush, while the last two are twining vines.

Hoya paziae

 Hoya odorata 

Hoya buotii

Hoya fungii

Macro Monday Too

Nature Notes

I Heart Macro

Hirsute Beauties

Plants are usually equipped with hairs. They are mostly common in growing shoots, peduncles and flowers. These hairs are technically called trichomes. The description and patterns of these trichomes also have distinct names; e.g. hirsute - coarse hairs, hispid - bristly hairs, pilose - long, straight, soft or erect hairs, etc. These growths have mostly defense functions for the plant organ they arise from. Herbivores like larvae of insects will have physical difficulty to directly attack the plant parts with hairs. Some hairs even have chemical compositions that help deter invaders. This is the reason why most young shoots and buds have trichomes.

 Tubelike flower of Sanchezia speciosa. Both the style supporting the stigma, and the filament supporting the pollens are hairy. 

The anther is that portion above supported by the filament and contains the pollen. Even the anther is equipped with short dense hais that protects the pollen. The hairs can also trap predators.

The unoppened flower of the Sanchezia speciosa are borne on spikes

Macro Monday 2

I Heart Macro

More Violets Please!

Most of you know that i have a deprivation bias for blue flowers. And most of us also know that blue colors are really not plenty in the hot tropics, so you will understand why I am longing for the blues. They are associated with the temperate climate, while the reds and oranges are associated with the tropical zones. 

Hence, i will settle now for the violets, the next color with slight blue hues in them. I selected and will parade with you the violets that are currently blooming in our garden. They might not be very healthy and vigorous, but i love them. And they are mostly available only during the rainy season. 

Impatiens balsamina have different color varieties. We have the beige and pink for several years now. They are lost during the dry season, but ressurrect when the first heavy rains come in May. I have long been looking for these violets, so when i saw it in a very far province from my own, i didn't hesitate getting for some seeds. Now the three plants that survived the long haul are now blooming. And i am enjoying them.

close-up of the Impatiens balsamina

 This Asystasia intrusa might be invasive, but it is still favorable for me. I planted it as a hedge on a slanting sloping land near a ledge and is now cascading through the cement wall. It covers the not so beautiful wall at the side of the entrance.

some spikes finishing their blooms

 My Hoya diversifolia might not be as violet to you, but i am trying to see violets in them, because i prefer it to be colored violet. If you wont agree, so be it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, i will not contest that. But we are talking about color violet not beauty, never mind that, just pretend it looks like violet!

Now, this dendrobium is trying hard to be violet to please me. But other yellow hues still surface, and i agree, it is more beautiful that way than monotone! 

This might not be an ornamental to you, yes i again agree. This is a viny weed at our sidewalks. This is also found is some sandy beaches in many tropical and arid shores of other countries. You might not believe me, but i found this wonderfully blooming profusely at the sandy shores in Dubai, where it is extremely hot in their dry season. This is Ipomoea pes-caprae, and this is unwanted in agricultural properties in our area.

Floral Friday Fotos

Blooming Friday

Todays Flowers

I Heart Macro

A Macro Weed Bloom

This is a leguminous weed flower, not very conspicuous on its own to humans. But put it through a macro lens and it becomes a different subject! Do you agree?

Macro Monday2

I Heart Macro 

Wildflower Wednesday

Floral Friday Fotos