For one of the dreariest weather and work weeks I’ve ever had in New York, I needed to inject a little sunshine into the end of it to brighten up my weekend. I hope these golden tulips do the same for you, have a very sunny weekend everyone!
Last month at the New York botanic gardens I went to see the orchid display, when in fact these non-orchid photos turned out to be my favorites. In the dessert section was this beautiful plant native to Madagascar called Euphorbia didieriodes. The plant itself isn’t widely known, and I found little information on it, although other Euphorbias are common house/garden plants. I love these photos mainly because it surprised me that such delicate, cute little red flowers were poking out of a formidably thorny plant!
Happy weekend everyone!
I have to premise this post with the confession that I don’t really like magnolia flowers. I love seeing the trees in full bloom, like a giant cloud of pink color as in the photo below. New York springtime is at its prime at the moment, and the magnolia trees in central park really make a stunning statement.
However, when you get closer, there is something imperfect about each flower that disappoints me every time. Maybe its that they have no obvious order, or symmetry about them. Or that by the time the innermost petals open the others look close to dropping off. They are pretty mostly because of the color, but far from making my favorites list. Still very worthy of a photo though, happy weekend everyone!
These cute and happy flowers belong to a beautiful little orchid that is a cross between Phalaenopsis Golden Peoker and Doritis Pulcherrima, thus the amalgamated name Doritaenopsis. Each cross will have flowers that are slightly different (more or less dark/light pink, more or less ruffling of the petals), and is an easy and welcome addition to any home orchid collection. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Whenever I see a hibiscus flower I immediately associate it with tropical vacations. Beautiful and large flowers, they come in a variety of stunning colors. In Australia we have a hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diopthalamus) which is also brightly colored, but a dreaded pest to the hibiscus plant. It will pierce through the stem of tender shoots and flower buds to feed on the sap, causing the buds to drop off. These bugs also feed on cotton, a few Australian natives and some fruit trees. Once a female lays her eggs she will stand guard and protect them. In Australia we call them stink bugs because when they get disturbed, they release a very bad smell which triggers mass smell production from nearby friends. Happy weekend everyone!
I’m not sure if any of my followers are orchid fanatics, nevertheless I will tread lightly. This photograph is of a paphiopedilum orchid, and I “think” it is Paph. Lowii but I cant be sure as it was unlabeled. This very cute family of orchids has a pouch-like labellum, and are quite easy to grow, making them one of the most widely cultivated and hybridized of orchids. They come in such a huge variety of colors, and some even have very beautifully mottled leaves (although P. Lowii does not). Paphs will usually only flower from a shoot once. After using a lot of its energy to flower, the remaining energy is put towards making new shoots to replace the parent once it dies. It becomes a cycle of making a new plant, flowering and then dying, and thus it is often possible to see multiple generations of plants in the same pot at once. Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend!
This week has been a hectic one at work, which will unfortunately continue all weekend. So for todays flower I felt the need to counteract the craziness with a peaceful and serene photograph. I have no idea what this plant is named, but it had only a few glorious white flowers on a giant vine. It caught my eye because of the way the light was shining on it. I hope it brings calm and peace to you all for the ending of this week. Have a lovely weekend!
This past weekend was a bit of a cold and ugly one in New York, so I didn’t get outside much. I was wishing for better spring weather, but it seems like winter is trying its best not to let go too soon. So instead I painted my own spring, just a fun, light and colorful piece to brighten up my weekend. I hope it brightens up your week too!
When I took this photo, I never imagined this was actually a dahlia, although now that I look at the buds and leaves more closely it makes sense. The dahlias my granddad used to grow always looked like giant pompoms (which is correctly spelt pompon in French, but was misheard as pompom by the English). Anyways, back on topic… dahlias have such a large array of variations because unlike most other plants which have two sets of chromosomes, they actually have eight! This allows for a multitude of genetic combinations and contributes to the wide diversity seen amongst these lovely flowers. Have a bright and cheery weekend everyone!
This Friday I have chosen one of my favorite orchids to show you… which was terribly hard to choose because I have so many favorites for so many different reasons! This one is Oncidium Sharry Baby. Far from being the biggest or flashiest of orchids, I have chosen it because it smells amazing. Fittingly it is nicknamed the Chocolate Orchid, because that’s exactly what it smells like, and quite powerfully so. It flowered reliably for me every year at Christmas time (summer in Australia), and used to make a Christmas tree like explosion of flowers along a very tall stem. Every day on my balcony it smelled like someone was baking desserts and would make me crave chocolate! A wonderful orchid indeed… Have a fabulous weekend everyone!
Laura Lecce's art and photography 