[normhead]

A peony from the garden. We've been here 10 years and it's never bloomed, but I cut the cedars back this year and the plant responded.

K-1 and DA* 50 1.4

Flower ƒ16, background ƒ1.4 cut and paste.

[WPRESTO]

A peony from the garden. We've been here 10 years and it's never bloomed, but I cut the cedars back this year and the plant responded.

It's also just been an unusually good year for all kinds of flowers in the Northeast. Whatever the combination of temp and precipitation, I suspect the latter in particular, many flowers in my area have been exceptional this Spring.

Below, an annual in one of our planters, and some kind of small daisy-like composite along one of our walks blooming in overwhelming numbers.

[Kerrowdown]

Wots not to love about such a beauty... sunbathing.

[WPRESTO]

Milkweed blooming in some fields. Not a big flower, rather many small ones uniting to make a big impression.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[WPRESTO]

Bigger flowers? This is it = Amorphophallus titanum = "titan alum," commonly regarded as the largest single-stem flower. This one bloomed last week in a greenhouse at the You've-a-Nursery of MessyChewBits. The gigantic flower, up to three meters high (this one was about one meter tall), smells like rotting flesh to attract the flies that pollinate it (common name = "corpse flower" for the stench). The flowers only last a few days and a plant may not flower again for up to ten years. They cut a little window in the bract (AKA spathe) that surrounds the central part (responsible for the generic name) to expose the flower parts, female pistils below, stamen with masses of sticky pollen above. Obligatorily cross-pollinating.

Here are some details from WIKIPEDIA:

The titan arum's inflorescence can reach over 3 metres (10 ft) in height. Like the related cuckoo pint and calla lily, it consists of a fragrant spadix of flowers wrapped by a spathe, which looks like a large petal. In the case of the titan arum, the spathe is a deep green on the outside and dark burgundy red on the inside, with a deeply furrowed texture. The spadix is hollow and resembles a large baguette. Near the bottom of the spadix, hidden from view inside the sheath of the spathe, the spadix bears two rings of small flowers. The upper ring bears the male flowers, the lower ring is spangled with bright red-orange carpels. The "fragrance" of the titan arum resembles rotting meat, attracting carrion-eating beetles and flesh flies (family Sarcophagidae) that pollinate it. The inflorescence's deep red color and texture contribute to the illusion that the spathe is a piece of meat. During bloom, the tip of the spadix is approximately human body temperature, which helps the perfume volatilize; this heat is also believed to assist in the illusion that attracts carcass-eating insects.
Both male and female flowers grow in the same inflorescence. The female flowers open first, then a day or two following, the male flowers open. This usually prevents the flower from self-pollinating.
After the flower dies back, a single leaf, which reaches the size of a small tree, grows from the underground corm. The leaf grows on a somewhat green stalk that branches into three sections at the top, each containing many leaflets. The leaf structure can reach up to 6 metres (20 ft) tall and 5 metres (16 ft) across. Each year, the old leaf dies and a new one grows in its place. When the corm has stored enough energy, it becomes dormant for about four months. Then the process repeats.


Small corm of A. titanum, Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton, Canada.


The corm is the largest known, typically weighing around 50 kilograms (110 lb).[4] When a specimen at the Princess of Wales Conservatory, Kew Gardens, was repotted after its dormant period, the weight was recorded as 91 kilograms (201 lb).[5] In 2006, a corm in the Botanical Garden of Bonn, Germany was recorded at 117 kilograms (258 lb),[6] and an A. titanum grown in Gilford, New Hampshire by Dr. Louis Ricciardiello in 2010 weighed 138 kilograms (305 lb).[7][8] However the current record is held by a corm grown at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, weighing 153.9 kilograms (339 lb) after 7 years growth from an initial corm the size of an orange.[9]

[Fritz]

Prickly Pear.

[ivanvernon]

Here are two larger displays with the 645Z and Pentax 67 55mm f 4.0. This wide angle lens is great for flower work because of its sharpness and MFD, about 10 inches. It is easy to fill the frame with hardly ever any call for cropping.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

View Picture EXIF

File Date

 

[WPRESTO]

I posted a milkweed above. Here's a different version done with a six file stack

[timb64]

Poppies with iPhone 6s

[WPRESTO]

Another image to the "corpse flower" in bloom. The stems to its right are also corpse flower plants but in vegetative growth (notice the similarity of the stems to what's at the base of the flower).

[ivanvernon]

Not as large as the corpse flower but in my view more attractive.

KIT: K-1 with Pentax-A 135mm f 2.8.

[normhead]

From my garden
K-1 and DA* 55 1.4

[Kerrowdown]

Actually not a thistle at all, it's actually a Eryngium (Sea Holly).

Taken this morning on another dreich Highland Summers morning.

[Kerrowdown]

Not what you were expecting from the Thread Title...

More from my Eryngium (Sea Holly).

[Hattifnatt]

Lamb's Ear.