Cool Plants and Trees

[freeztar]

I'm a fan of the Sedum.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

I got Shannon a new camera for Mother's Day. We have been taking pictures, trying to learn how to use it best. Here are some I took today of our flower garden...

Bill

Nice Pics! My kid got a camera too and I've been learning how to use it. Flowers are easier than birds for sure

[TheBigDog]

Today Shannon went out with the Camera and took some great shots. It you want to know more details about them try summoning her here. For those who don't know she is Celtfaery.

















This weekend we are going to Niagara Falls. Aside from the falls there are some spectacular gardens and a butterfly conservatory. We will be posting shots from that trip next week.

Bill

[Eclogite]

Those are a refreshing change from the desert sand I'm presently looking at. thanks for posting them.

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by Eclogite

Those are a refreshing change from the desert sand I'm presently looking at. thanks for posting them.

Desert sand? Where are you?

Bill

[TheBigDog]

I missed a picture last night. Here are some Chives in bloom...



Bill

[Eclogite]

Just completing a couple of weeks in Abu Dhabi, then back to sun drenched Scotland [irony]. (Followed by two weeks in Singapore from the end of next week - they have an excellent botanic garden. If I get a chance I'll visit, take some shots, and post them here. I doubt they'll be as good as yours though.)

[Michaelangelica]

The best part of Singapore is the botanic garden.
The rest is a giant shopping mall.
Did you see the Cannon Ball Tree?
..........................................

What's happened here is this particular group, the hydats, for 200 years we thought they were monocots, we thought they were in with the grasses. The DNA has shown us they're nothing like the monocots and in fact they are grouped very nicely with the water lilies, which they don't look like but they grow in the same habitat as.

Bob McDonald: Okay, so you thought they were grasses, they're water lilies. How did you figure that out?

Tim Entwisle: Looking at DNA in the chloroplast, as well as in the nucleus, so different bits of DNA being compared, and also backing this up with good morphology or the way the plants actually look.

Bob McDonald: Okay, so there's this plant that looks like a grass, you think it's a grass, you find out it's not, it's a water lily. I mean, the Earth is still turning here and not a lot has changed for me, why is this significant?

Science Show - 12*May*2007* - Reclassification of the Hydatellaceae
It is great that the world has people who do things like this.
It would drive me nuts, and I love plants.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Today Shannon went out with the Camera and took some great shots. It you want to know more details about them try summoning her here. For those who don't know she is Celtfaery.

Bill

What beautiful clear photos.

I have had 6 Aquilegias (Columbines) doing wonderfully in pots now for near on 2 years on no flower. I am about to talk to them severely. I used to have a beautiful dark,dark blue one that self seeded everywhere!

Folklore/medicinal uses : Columbine, also known as Granny's Bonnet and Granny's Nightcap, has been a popular subject for church carvings. Columbine comes from columba, a dove, and from the striking resemblance of the bases of the petals to five pigeons perched in a ring (Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey)

Grow wild to know wild - Columbine

the Columbine is called Aquilegia, from the Latin word Aquila, meaning an eagle, in reference to a fancied likeness of the spurs of its flowers to the talons of an eagle.

Birds and Nature: The Columbine
I vaguely remember that the Romans liked it and used to use it for 'clearing the sight'?? Can't find any reference to it on the web and my botanical library is still in packing boxes.

Just discovered there is a fragrant one. I collect fragrant plants mmm..
The attached pic does not do it justice. (blues are very hard to capture on film as I discovered trying to take pictures of my once vast Violet collection (Nurseryman days). I wonder if digital is better at capturing slight variations in blue flowers?

I love iris but always get confused about which one likes it wet which one likes it dry ( It is either one OR the other apparently the middle won't do)
I think the pics of your Iris are called Louisiana iris here in Oz.
Beautiful, but they cost a fortune.

I think one pic you have is of Alchimilla mollis (Lady's Mantle). the "dew" that settles into the plant was once thought magical. I discovered that in fact it is.
It is not dew it is excreted by the plant. You get these little pearl dew drops forming on the leaf (indoor or out door). There is a botanical word for this process but I can never remember it.

How come you can post such big clear pics. and all I can manage is little thumbnail attachments?

Aren't chives beautiful? I once gave a talk to a garden club in my macro-bellows-SLR days showing tiny phtos of thyme (which look like orchids) and other tiny or overlooked plants & weeds. It is good to get people to look at plants in a different way (other than 'food' or 'garnish') -BTW the flowers of chives are edible, some say garlic chive flowers smell of roses(????).

My digital camera is now an antique. My journalist daughter had access to 2 new SLR digitals but now she is in a new, higher paid job with an on-tap photographer (bugger)

[Michaelangelica]

Baobab Tree Rainbow Photo, Rainbow Wallpaper, Download, Photos -- National Geographic
A rainbow graces skies above the Mombo region of Botswana's Okavango Delta, home to the Moremi Game Reserve, elusive leopards, and lurking hyenas. Baobab trees such as this one can provide some relief from the sweltering heat.