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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 11, 2010 18:32:42 GMT
Ha ha ~~ no Kimby, it's my landlord sawing metal. Here is the same video on youtube, if you want to watch it full screen. Really, it's still much too blurry & backlit to even identify the type of hummer.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 11, 2010 19:49:41 GMT
I noticed this camellia in bloom on the University of Washington campus a few days ago. I've got one and I can't figure these things out. Some years they bloom in Winter, others in Spring and I've even had it bloom in Summer. Most random flowering plants I know.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 11, 2010 21:03:36 GMT
I'm pretty sure that's a sasanqua camellia, Fumobici, and this would be its blooming period, although yours seems to be a plant of all seasons. I just googled it & found out that sasanquas have various names, including autumn camellia and Christmas camellia.
Could it be that in your region, with its relatively warm winters for being that far north, the blooming is triggered by temperature changes?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 18:24:13 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jan 19, 2010 20:08:09 GMT
The snow and ice we had the previous weekend melted by Wednesday and yesterday I started pruning my rosebushes. While I was poking around in the garden I found 2 camellia flowers. It's not the winter camellia -- it's just a white one that always flowers really early.
And those primulas last for years but the colours tend to fade back to their basic yellow or washed-out mauve. I have hardly ever bought any but there are some in my garden that come back year after year. Their big advantage is that they start to bloom really early.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 3:48:54 GMT
Sadly,the Camellias and Sasanquas are about the only thing left blooming here.I do love them though, and am grateful for their presence in such a glum landscape. The primulas in the pics never get much larger,and they perform as an annual here. As soon as the heat sets in...kaput. At the market today people were downright desperate. If I was a nurserywoman I would be making a killing right now.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 23, 2010 3:08:54 GMT
The dry season has set in with a vengeance here and it's downright hot. The saving grace of heat at this altitude is that it's always cooler in the shade. Thus, gardens with irrigation can still look nice in the dusty months. I think we've discussed this before -- it's the combination of heat, intense humidity, & the fact that it doesn't really cool off at night which exhausts plants like primula.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2010 2:52:12 GMT
Camellia (don't know name).
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 4, 2010 4:46:35 GMT
It's perfect! What a lovely photo.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2010 21:12:57 GMT
Thanks Bixa,walking around yesterday,the only thing blooming,fell in love with all over again and would not hesitate to plant more and more camellias simply based on their seeming indifference to the cold temperatures. Sheer old world elegance.... I need to look up her name out of gratitude...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 17, 2010 18:36:12 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 17, 2010 19:01:04 GMT
Oh, look -- I did take another jacaranda picture yesterday ~~
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Post by Kimby on Feb 18, 2010 3:18:16 GMT
Ooh, bixa, my favorite tree! We loved them when we lived in Santa Barbara California, there are a few on Sanibel (but usually not in bloom when we're on-island), and we saw lots of them blooming in Australia.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2010 17:38:51 GMT
You must miss their season most years, Kimby. As I remember, the Fort Myers area has tons of them, along with the beautiful bottle palms. It's gorgeous here when the jacarandas are in bloom because it's not flat. Depending on your elevation, you can suddenly be gazing at a huge expanse of that amazing blue.
On the sour-grapes side -- if you have a pond or pool, you can grow to hate the jacaranda. It's a constant fight against the prodigious leaf drop.
I lived in a house with a jacaranda right next to the back door. A hummingbird made her nest right over my head. It was interesting, but fairly guilt-inducing, too. Since I had to go in and out of that door frequently, the poor mother was compelled to fly away from the nest each time in a crafty attempt to lure the giant intruder away from her babies.
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Post by imec on Feb 19, 2010 20:28:58 GMT
Outside, in Winnipeg. in February? Nothin'. However, this Cyclamen we received as a Christmas gift is still in bloom...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 20:52:12 GMT
I thought that jacaranda were pink or red. At least they were in Kenya.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 19, 2010 21:10:18 GMT
Oh, I love cyclamen. Don't they remind you of dancers? As far as I know, the only other color of jacaranda can be white. This is not scientific proof, but click on this hit page from google images, and see what color smacks you in the eye.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 19, 2010 21:23:42 GMT
I was amazed to see this bright beauty today, as I had not noticed the bud developing. Note that the flower is on the smaller of the two cactus in the pot.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 22:02:40 GMT
I have never seen a jacaranda in bloom,have only read about in novels...such a blue! Today on my walk,another lovely camellia,note all the spent blooms on the ground around,this was a happy bloomer this year.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 21, 2010 19:01:33 GMT
That's an exquisite picture, Casimira. I could just fall into that color! Okay ~~ bear with me, as I'm going to be tedious about my cactus flower. The same bloom is still at it and not faded or battered at all. Yesterday: Today: I didn't notice until I previewed these two pictures together that the flower is turning with the sun. Note they're facing in two different directions. The one today was taken a few minutes ago. The sun is almost directly overhead, although it had been coming from the east (left side of photo). The one yesterday was taken in the afternoon, when the sun would have been more on the right. That means the face of the flower is actually looking away from the sun. Also note that the stigma portion is tightly closed in the picture from day before yesterday, but quite open yesterday and today. The flower closes at night.
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Post by spindrift on Feb 21, 2010 21:20:37 GMT
Oh! I didn't know that a cactus had flowers like that! It is so beautiful. I'd love a dress in that colour.
There are some Hellebores in bloom in my rain-sodden garden.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2010 23:24:24 GMT
The cactus bloom is lovely.I'm always amazed how such a mundane looking plant can produce such magnificent blooms. But,then again,look at orchids,their foliage is even more boring. Here's more lovely camellias,the second pic,the bloom is ratty, however,the bee doesn't seem to mind...
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 22, 2010 2:05:35 GMT
Really nice pics. The first one looks newly opened, with that slightly crumpled petal. "mundane plants" ! Cactus?! They are endlessly fascinating both in form, evolution, and variety. Guess I am going to have to post more pictures in this thread until everyone sees the light. Another thing about cactus is that there are so many varieties that can be enjoyed by apartment dwellers.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 2:14:50 GMT
I'll admit there are some fascinating ones,some of the shapes and color variations yes. But,I have never been a huge fan of growing them.I love to visit the cactus houses of the different botanical gardens around the country.(Saint Louis has a great one).I admire them in other people's collections.Succulents on the other hand,I am trying more of.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 22, 2010 2:24:39 GMT
If you get a break in the rain, Spindrift, maybe you could snap some of the hellebores. I only know them from catalogs and gardening magazine articles.
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 22, 2010 9:54:18 GMT
Mrs Faz here, with some "triffids" in the mountains of Crete and other lovely winter flowers. We have been amazed how many species flower in winter These strange flower buds belong to a mock wild fennel plant called ferula communis. Last week they started popping up all over the place Here the flower buds are opening and the plant is shooting up Here Baz is dwarfed by one of the monsters And here's a close up with a red admiral butterfly Yesterday we saw lots of these beautiful crown anemones And smaller anemones among the goats'droppings We also found this clump of asphelodines We admired the view through a froth of almond blossom on the way down
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 10:08:40 GMT
Thank you Baz,(And Mrs. Baz!!) These are fabulous! Are the triffids edible? They're huge!!And,I'm wondering if they are also a larval plant for the black Swallowtail as members of the fennel/anise etcs. are here. Sorry,so many questions. We rarely get this kind of exotica from other places on here. I will need to look at these more,as I'm sure I'll have more questions. I love these!
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Post by bazfaz on Feb 22, 2010 16:55:20 GMT
Casimira, I don't think this plant is any relation to fennel - it has no smell of fennel at all, and is only called mock wild fennel because the leaves are similar. But it certainly attracts all sorts of insects - the flowers are covered with them. As to being edible - I have no idea! I am sure goats would eat them - they eat anything, but we haven't seen any one picking them.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 23, 2010 4:08:04 GMT
I was waiting to respond here because I wanted to see the answers to Casimira's questions. Also, you answered one of my questions. Oddly, none of the sites online said anything about the smell of the mock fennel. You might be interested to know that it has a well-known culinary cousin -- asafetida! (http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Feru_ass.html)
The pictures are wonderful. The first one is such a jewel I could hardly stop looking at it, and I scrutinized the delicate photo of the asphelodines thinking maybe I'd see Pan's cloven print. What a treat to see these with their proper identifications, too.
You all sound as though you're have a lovely and relaxing time. You certainly deserve it and need it after the long hard haul of house-hunting, -buying, and moving.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2010 10:58:15 GMT
Thanks Baz(and Mrs.Baz). It's hard to believe these wild fennels are no relative of the domestic variety,the foliage is more than similar. But,Mother Nature does perplex,thank goodness. I long for a walk in your splendid environs.Those almond blooms,the froth of clouds you describe on the rocky hillside,so not like anything I've seen in ages.Oh,to see anemones growing in the wild like that.I'm so curious as to what the size of the corms are underneath where these lovelies emerge from.(I would be so tempted to gently dig a little just to see).
And you Baz,look positively relaxed and seem quite content in your surroundings.A well rested Baz after what bixa already noted,a hellish year of discontent. Please thank Mrs. B. again for her lovely photos.
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