Saturday, August 8, 2009

TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ 26 Winter Wonders

All images are better when enlarged!

A double flowering Prunus, one of a pair that survived
the drought.



In the winter cold, a welcome snack to hungry bees.



This is the normal time of year for Almond trees and
ormanental Plums to begin blossoming . Not so for
the usually much later flowering Malus floribunda, which
has been confused by the winter rains into thinking that
it is growing time again, as have all the Roses.
Normally this particular Crabapple is the showiest tree in
the garden. After the prolonged drought, there are just a few
out of season florets on it. It at least, unlike so many other
trees, has survived..



Daphne odora, that I grew from a cutting and gave my
eldest g-daughter for her 21st birthday last year.
Amazing what the granddaughters managed to do with
a bit of sink water, it is beautifully healthy and blooming
all over.



There is frost on the ground in the mornings and yet
the roses, having been dormant during summer and autumn ,
are asserting what life they had left in them, by bringing
forth flowers of unimaginably rich colours due to the cold.
Colours that are totally unexpected, below is 'Charles Austin'
normally a gentle apricot, blushing with embarrasment at being
caught out of bed so early in the season.



A mutant flower on 'Abraham Darby', again a much
deeper colour than in Spring.



Luckily not all the blooms look like they have been hit
by Chernobil and have turned into London double
decker buses. The flower below is normal except for the
colour, normally pink with a light blush of apricot.



Oxalis, a proclaimed noxious weed, is doing magnificently.
It has such happy yellow flowers and looks so pretty but
is almost impossible to keep in check after a long dry spell.



The ever hardy Lachenalia, commonly called Soldier
Boys because of their red jackets. Come hell or high
water, they will survive!


This winter there is so much flowering in the garden
that I have not even touched the half of it in this post.
There are no mass displays as yet, but there are
countless single blooms here and there so that it is a
discovery trip every time I go outside.

For more Flora of different seasons, click on the Logo.
*
Congratulations to Luiz Santilly Jr. for creating this most
popular and delightful meme and for keeping it going with
the help of his idustrious elves week after week for its first
successful year. With the list of participants growing daily,
I hope this meme continues for many years to come.

33 comments:

  1. All those blossoms are beautiful!
    Too bad they got mixed up with the seasons though.
    Happens a lot now these days all over the Globe :(

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  2. That's one happy bee, in that second photo...

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  3. Arija, these are all so beautiful even if the colors are not normal. Glad you have color around you. Hope it continues into the real spring.

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  4. You always capures such vibrant and beautiful flowers.

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  5. It's amazing how much you have blooming in the winter. Great shots!

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  6. That is great for winter blooming stuff. I like the Solider Boys, I hadn't seen that before.

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  7. Magnificent set of flowers, Arija! My comments are beginning to get boring! But they are well meant! I hope you will have more rain than last year.

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  8. How lucky you are that plants flower in winter. However, I do not envy your drought at all!

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  9. How interesting that your flowers have responded by showing strange variations of their normal colors. I was very interested in the mutant rose (I have a mutant coneflower for my post today.)

    The crabapple bloom is just beautiful.

    Thanks for sharing your excellent photos.

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  10. Happy you that have all this beautiful flowers!

    Have a nice week!

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  11. So many beautiful images. Love all the pink blossoms~

    Spirithelpers

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  12. Arija it is great that you had the rain and your garden is showing a beautiful comeback with all the flowering plants. Daphne is beautiful and quite fickle so well done. I admire so much the flowering almonds. Here too the roses change the colours to deeper or lighter depending on the season.

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  13. So many really beautiful blooms of flowers and trees!
    Such lovely capture of the dappled light in some of them.
    Your gardens must be so lush with color. I'd like more plants but as the deer got the daylilies this week I don't think I will.

    My post is here: Carletta’s Captures.

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  14. Arija, these are lovely! If these are what you show in Winter, how much more in the spring! A beautiful garden of flowers.

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  15. Hard to believe you are showing winter blooms! Beautiful!

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  16. A lesson in Australian flowers. Great!

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  17. Such gorgeous and exquisite flowers, Arija! Beautiful colors and I do love the bee!!! It does seem strange to see such colors in the winter!

    Have a lovely week!

    Sylvia

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  18. Beautiful photos of the flowers, aren't we lucky to have such wonderful weather to grow almost year round. The colours are beautiful.

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  19. Beautiful blooms and blossoms. Thanks for sharing these photos. And thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your comment!!

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  20. What a special gift for your granddaughter's 21st birthday :) She'll always have those beautiful flowers to remind her of you.
    I also like to mark special occasions in my daughter's live with plants or flowers. This year we celebrated her new stage in a female's life by planting her own pot of French lavender. When it grows a little stronger, we'll transplant it right under her bedroom window. This way she'll be able to enjoy the scents of our Portuguese fields every time the breeze brushes on the lavender and enters the room.

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  21. Fascinating and informative post with lovely photographs. Thanks for visiting my blog and your advice about sunflowers.

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  22. Beautiful flowers - I love to visit Australia and see the flowers that are just not in season in the UK. A

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  23. You have a beautiful garden and you are lucky that so many have survived the drought. You must have worked hard to keep them alive. Well done. Love the bee shot.

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  24. what a beautiful pink flowers. i love all your post, great shot.

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  25. This is beautiful collection of lovely pink blossoms and other gorgeous flowers of various colors and shapes. Your Soldier Boys, which I’ve never seen before, look so beautiful and interesting.

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  26. Beautiful blooms - fancy the roses getting embarrassed - LOL! It is amazing how plants can survive the unkindest of conditions - thank goodness they do.

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  27. Hi Arija

    Wonderful series!
    Marvelous flowers on your post!
    Thanks for posting!

    Luiz

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  28. Beautiful variety of blossoms, Happy Spring!

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  29. What a wonderful winter garden - amazing, really!

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  30. love the cute pink blossoms, seems me and the bees have the same likings :-)

    http://my-crossroad.com/2009/08/we-think-we-know-ones-we-love.html

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  31. the bees thrive where beautiful flowers are :-)

    http://racelyn.com/2009/08/todays-flowers-52.html

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  32. And I thought 'winter' meant 'nothing is blossoming' - all these flowers are beautiful.
    Thank you also for suggesting why I found an apple blossom next to a ripening fruit.

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