More Botanical Fun in the Yard

Posted by Steve on October 1st, 2005 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve

Since nothing too exciting has been happening here in Chile, I thought I’d share some more wonders from the garden.

	This little orange flower emerges from a little pod. Not every pod that grows out of the plant produces a flow, some are just hollow. The dark center of the flower is tube-like and extends way back into the pod with some white striping on the inside.
	This tree in the backyard is a Brugmansia. They are native to South America and have become more popular in the US in recent years. However, they cannot be wintered outside in most parts of the US and are typically shrub size and not 15 feet tall. This one hasn’t been cared for very well recently and needs some trimming to get rid of the old growth.
	This is one of the Brugmansia blossoms. The flower is approx 6-8 inches long. The flower just emerged so it is still a bit green. It will whiten and the edges will curl up a bit more as it gets older. When watering the backyard earlier I estimated that there are around 100 of these blossoms on the tree. I’m hoping the majority of them wait until we get back from D.C. I think the tree bloomed not too long before we moved into the house, so hopefully it will continue to bloom frequently. From what I’ve read the flowers release a wonderful fragrance at night.
	This odd flower pops up out of a large green tropical plant in the back. The stalk emerged from the planet, bearing what looked like several individual flower buds. Then the the ‘buds’ just sort of unrolled and the red petals flopped down. It didn’t look that spectacular at first but it is looking nicer and nice as more petals unroll.
	This flower looks normal from afar but a close-up look reveals that each ‘petal’ on the flower is actually a separate flower itself! How cool.

Well, that is enough for today’s edition. Don’t worry, there are plenty more odd,interesting and beautiful plants for the future.

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