Followers

About Me

My photo
A garden enthusiast who loves to travel and capture the beauty of places and freeze the memories of her travels in photographs, as well as document her experiences in verse...thankful for the simple pleasures in life.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

From Plain Jane to Belle of the Ball

This is my first new posting from my new blogsite...and what more appropriate a post than to feature what's new in my garden for Today's Flower meme.


This plant I am featuring is nothing short of predictable. It has a strange habit of flowering only once a year...must be the clockwork mechanism inside its head that makes it magically transform from a drab green cast-aside plant into a splendid bright orange beauty that becomes the centre of attention in my garden. And this spectacular blossoming from ugly duckling to lovely swan takes place every year in...December, just in time for Christmas. 


I have four of these plants in rather large terracotta pots. The plants require quite a bit of space as they have to be staked to a frame around which they twine ever so lazily all year round. Then a burst of activity would begin when the tips of the young leaves begin to blush shyly, and slowly the blush deepens into an all-out expression of embarrassment until the bracts appear, scarlet with mortification!


Below is a series of photographs recording this phenomenon:






At first, the leaves are a fresh green.







Then a tinge of rouge appears on the small leaflets.




The vermilion-red paint begins to spread on Nature's canvas. 





Then the red leaves form a corolla and small yellow-tipped florets emerge.
Presenting the work of art.







Here they are, jubilant! Congratulations are in order, I believe.




My thanks to Luiz and his team. 
For more Today's Flowers click on the icon at the bottom of this page.





16 comments:

  1. Hi Rosie, you still need to sort your feed across to Blotanical. This post doesn't show on your My Plot, or on new posts from blogs beginning with M. You will still get the visitors who come direct (Google Reader or blogroll) but you will miss the Blotanists who can't pick you until ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for that vital piece of info, Diana. I should leave Stuart a message I guess. Glad you found me. I'm really missing my blotanist friends; you guys are the people I am blogging for!
    I have yet to find out the name of this plant.
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is a new plant for me as well... very interesting to say the least... wish I knew what it is! L

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful series on the plants progress. The colors are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. gorgeous color! perfect indeed for Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wonderful. This plant is new to me too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am glad to have found your new site. I will change it now on my sidebar.

    ReplyDelete
  8. É lindo! Como o verde vai se pintando de vermelho!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Donna,
    So glad you found me.You could take the bunch of hydrangeas on my sidebar if you have space to paste it on your sidebar.That's a link to my blog!
    I've updated my plot, waiting for confirmation about the new feed. I'll be so glad when that's done.
    Cheers,
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi lotusleaf,
    I'm happy to see that another blotanist has found me. I still haven't found out the name of this plant. Am still asking...so anyone out there know what this lovely plant is?

    To my new visitors Jidhu Jose, LC, eileeninmd, Luna, Arija and chubskulit, welcome and thanks for your comments. Glad you find the flower interesting.

    To Miriam Luiza, welcome! I can't understand Portuguese, but I like the name of your blog.Please come again.
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete
  11. This is truly a strange but special plant. I'm eager to know its name!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Rosie,
    This plant is new to me, it's an interesting one and thanks for sharing!
    Thank you on your comment on my previous post. And thank you for following my blog. If you noticed, i don't write much because i'm not good in english and also in writing. Anyway i hope the pics help me to explain :)
    Nice meeting you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi milka, thanks for following my blog too. Don't worry too much about your English. The more we read and write, the better we get! Hope to see you in my Malaysian Garden Bloggers' Corner!
    Rosie

    ReplyDelete

Drop me a line!
It is always a pleasure to read your comments. I shall certainly try my best to jet over to your blog and catch up with you there.