Saluting every life with a flower each day! Flowers are soul of the planet, blooming to play music with silent notes. Smile at them as they are sweet hearted!! Only the photographs taken by me are uplinked. I lean heavily to http://www.flowersofindia for flower identification and descriptions. Looking forward to valuable comments and suggestions.
Star glory is a beautiful twining vine with red flowers and delicate fern like leaves. It is native to Mexico but spread across all over the world. The leaves are finely divided pinnately into thread like segments. The scarlet red flowers are tubular and flare out at the mouth into a five pointed star. This plant is ideally suited for trellis and is an excellent source of nectar, which attracts butterflies and humming birds. During my childhood i had this plant in my home many years ago, as i was interested in the unusual leaf construction of this plant. I took this photo on Sept. 3rd 2011 inside the Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute, Mysore, where i am working presently.
Evergreen small tree of 4-5 m in height, native to Africa. Leaves are 20-30 cm in length, and flowers measuring 5-6 cm in length are trumpet shaped, yellow in color, with orange-reddish spots in the throat arranged in terminal clusters. Fruit is a capsule, of up to 70 cm in length, with abundant winged seeds. I have observed these medium avenue trees in Bangalore and Mysore residential streets. The beautiful flowers often invoked curiosity and dragged me towards them. This photograph was taken near my home in Mysore, in the evening of 8th Sept. 2011 which i observed while on a walk.
This beautiful love vine is ever green, fast growing creeper, native to Mexico. It climbs up to 40 feet, using its tendrils. The leaves are cordate or arrow-head shaped. The branches bear paniculate inflorescence in clusters. The sepals give the brilliant colours from white to pink. The heart shaped leaves and the delicate pink flowers have earned the name `cadena de amor' in Mexican, which means 'chain of love'. The ever blooming creeper has attracted my attention since childhood, on my way to school. In Mysore, i moved with my friend in search of some plants and one day in January this year, off from the main road we struck up with this profusely flowering vine, leaning over fence and nearby trees. My friend was so enthralled and photographs were taken, by clasping those flower bunches. On the early morning of Sept. 2nd, 2011 i visited the coral vine again, this time alone. Bountiful flowers have welcomed, but asking me where is your friend? As i was taking the snaps, i could see some other visitors - the honey bees, butterflies, little birds, squirrels, etc. And on this Onam day, i dedicate this to all, especially to my dear friend ...
Very popular plants, some of them for the foliage and others for the beautiful flowers. These are found the gardens all across the world. In the same plant, these monoecious plants bear unisexual male and female flowers separately. Way back in 1988, when i was pursuing computer studies, staying with my aunt in Nagarcoil (Tamil Nadu), i had a collection of more than 35 varieties of Begonias! As an ardent collector, i was amused by the beauty of the foliage – its shape, colour, pattern, etc., so also the beauty of flowers. I was astonished by the interest shown by my well wisher, colleague and friend, around this beautiful flower when he took me to the home, where he stays with the uncle and aunt. The evening of 5th Sep. 2011 will remain fresh in my memory for many days. This flower is especially for him for the wonderful evening.
Scientific name: Stictocardia tiliifolia The spotted heart or sugar candy is native to India and SE Asia. It is a large woody climber. Flowers are funnel shaped, reddish with a yellowish center. If you are a gardener, definitely you would love to have one in your collection. Yesterday early in the morning i received a call from my friend and colleague, that Stictocardia has flowered in his home garden. I reached there, took the snap and had a wonderful break fast. This flower is dedicated to them for their love and affection to the flora ...
The Egyptian stars is a perennial herb native to East Africa to Southern Arabia. The dark green hairy leaves are lanceolate in shape. In tropics they bloom almost throughout the year and are a must in butterfly parks. The flowers range in colour from magenta to pink, red, white, lavender, purple and shades of pink. I had red and white ones in Palakkad, many years ago. Yesterday i visited one uncle and aunt, who are known to me being the members of same church in Mysore. This was possible as my well wisher, colleague (the executive engineer of the institute where i am working) and friend took me there. They are nurturing their home garden very fondly. It was a superb atmosphere, wherein a variety of plants and flowers along with their pet birds were welcoming me cheerfully. I continued my photo shoot, till fall of night.
The white African daisy is an annual, native to Namibia and is the first to flower in the spring. The flower opens with the warmth of the sun. The flowers follow the sun as it moves across the sky. Today being teachers day in India, it would be appropriate to say that the students could follow their teacher as this flower does. I was wonder-stuck at the sight of these flowers, cheerfully waving their heads in a flower bed in front of Louis Pasteur Institute, Coonoor in the evening of Nov. 3rd, 2010.
