Flowers Around The House

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<The phrase stop and smell the roses is an admonition to slow down and enjoy life, to take the time to savor the beauty around you, to relax. The expression stop and smell the roses came into use in the 1960s and is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” This passage was soon paraphrased as stop and smell the roses.>>

[saturno2]

Some time ago I was given a small cactus
about 7 cm high, it had a red hat.
A kitten voted him to the floor several times.
I put him outside my window in a porcelain cup
as a planter.
Well, there he became thin and grew a lot.
Today he is 50 cm. tall ( he no longer has the
red hat.)
I do not know what mutation gave this result.

[leahna]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and thought to present myself with a photo from my garden



Leah

[Ann]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and thought to present myself with a photo from my garden



Leah

Thank you, that's lovely!

Welcome to Starship Asterisk*!

Ann

[leahna]

Thank you

[orin stepanek]

that's a beautiful flower Leahna! &welcome to our Star ship!

[Ann]

Well, we are in for a snowstorm next week, and after that the weather will remain freezing so that we will be buried under snow for another week or so. But while we wait for winter to come back and bite us, I can't resist posting this picture of a female hazel flower getting ready to meet some male seeds (you're in for a long wait, sister).

And if you don't recognize the female flower of the hazel, it could be because the flower is so tiny. So I'm adding a picture of some male catkins next to a tiny little red female flower. Can you spot the flower?

Ann

[Fred the Cat]

Speaking of long waits, we just noticed our pineapple fruiting.

Might be a while before the pizza.

[Chris Peterson]

Well, we are in for a snowstorm next week, and after that the weather will remain freezing so that we will be buried under snow for another week or so. But while we wait for winter to come back and bite us, I can't resist posting this picture of a female hazel flower getting ready to meet some male seeds (you're in for a long wait, sister).

And if you don't recognize the female flower of the hazel, it could be because the flower is so tiny. So I'm adding a picture of some male catkins next to a tiny little red female flower. Can you spot the flower?

Okay... picky, picky. But the flower is not waiting for a male seed. There are male flowers (catkins) and female flowers (florets). The male flowers produce pollen, but cannot fertilize the female flowers on the same tree. Once fertilized by pollen from a different tree, the female flowers will develop fruits (hazelnuts) which contain a seed. The red bits visible on the female flower are styles... just one part of the flower. I do wonder about the bright red, though. Usually flowers have colored parts to attract pollinators, but hazels are wind pollinated, so they don't need to.

[Ann]

Well, we are in for a snowstorm next week, and after that the weather will remain freezing so that we will be buried under snow for another week or so. But while we wait for winter to come back and bite us, I can't resist posting this picture of a female hazel flower getting ready to meet some male seeds (you're in for a long wait, sister).

And if you don't recognize the female flower of the hazel, it could be because the flower is so tiny. So I'm adding a picture of some male catkins next to a tiny little red female flower. Can you spot the flower?

Okay... picky, picky. But the flower is not waiting for a male seed. There are male flowers (catkins) and female flowers (florets). The male flowers produce pollen, but cannot fertilize the female flowers on the same tree. Once fertilized by pollen from a different tree, the female flowers will develop fruits (hazelnuts) which contain a seed. The red bits visible on the female flower are styles... just one part of the flower. I do wonder about the bright red, though. Usually flowers have colored parts to attract pollinators, but hazels are wind pollinated, so they don't need to.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corylus_a ... escription

Ann

[Ann]

Can't resist showing you these azalea buds in downtown Malmö:

Oh, poor azalea! Can't help thinking about the old Swedish joke about the preacher who saw a drunk young man leave a bar, and the preacher shouted: "Young man, you are on the wrong path! Turn around!"

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

I fear you are on the wrong path, sweet azalea! Winter will come back and bite you, so you should turn around, pull the covers over your head again and wait for spring to arrive!!

Ann

[Ann]

Got to show you a picture of my favorite flower growing just down the street from where I live:

It is a Hepatica nobilis. You've got to check up the English name for it.

This species isn't doing well round where I live, and at the actual place where I found this specimen, only three or four of the flowers could be seen. This particular specimen grew at the foot of a bush with sturdy branches, and I had to reach in with one arm and take the photo one-handed, without really seeing what I was photographing. I wasn't able to get my mobile to really, really focus on the flower. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the result.

To me this flower epitomizes the heartbreaking briefness yet incredible beauty of life on Earth. I mean it!

Ann

[Ann]

It's me again. I know.

But I can't resist.

Aren't the hepaticas lovely?

Ann

[Ann]

I'm sorry. I can't resist.

Ann

[Fred the Cat]

Roses, rainbows and shadows.

The color of a rose preceeded a particularly long-lived rainbow during last night's thunderstorm.

Perfect to capture the last light of the day and the shadows it created.

[emc]

268_lorand_fenyes_iris_ngc7023_1024.jpg
I grow Iris flowers and I love them! I even have a pretty blue one
like the nebula!

We have a few deer feeding flowers around the house.
We love the deer and the flowers.
We used to have a similar problem with bird feeders and cats. We’re down to one indoor cat so now all the bird feedering birds have to worry about is the opportunistic hawks.

[Chris Peterson]

A couple of heavy early spring snowstorms this year have resulted in more abundant wildflowers than I've seen for years. We have carpets of wild iris coming up around the ranch. I know someone around here who will appreciate the colors...
_

[Orca]

Keeping the iris train going...we have some Dutch iris in the front: