Today was a great day for the butterflies and flowers here . . . I took so many pics I had to recharge my batteries a few times . . . lol
Of all the ones I took, I think I like this one the best. I may add a few more tomorrow when I'm not 1/2 asleep. ;)
Great pic...and what is that flower?! I think I want one!
Aww thanks . . . and yes you probably do if you don't already have any. They're really beautiful and the butterflies and hummers love them. It's called a Red Bird of Paradise aka Pride of Barbados (and a few other names I can't recall at the moment)
I've got several of them and enjoy them a lot. They're easy to grow and pretty much carefree. Water once a week - even in this hot dry summer - and they thrive and bloom from Spring till Fall.
I've got a few cuttings and seedlings started for the SA area RU coming up and I'll have plenty of extra seeds very soon if you're interested?
Check out the PF page for more info and a few more images I posted there of them.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2247/index.html
Here's another one with some pretty little yellows on it.
Here's the "Close Up & Personal* view of the first one . . . is he flirt'n or snack'n? lol
beautiful shots GD
Thanks Donna . . . I'll see if my pokey ISP will let me add a few more now.
I hope the larger versions will load this AM . . . last night they wouldn't seem to load very well.
Here's a few more of the same series . . . since that last one loaded ok, I'll try a few more at the 600 x 800 size so the details show better.
Balancing Act . . .
Dance'n on Paradise . . .
How sweeeeeet it is!!! :)
Hold that pose . . .
ouuuuuuiii that smell
♪ . . . can't ya smell that smell . . . ♫
☺ Twins ☺
That is lovely.
ok . . . one more . . . 3 on 1 . . . have'n fun in the sun ☼
well thank ya Sybil ☺
love the twin shot lol
great series!!! loved every one
gram
Why yes, I do think I need one of those! I have seen a pic of this before from Trois. I thought it might be the same thing.
I tried to get a Bird of Paradise native tree but the tree had already suffered too much from last years drought. I do have some seeds tho but haven't tried growing one. A tree would take so long too.
Thanks everybody :)
I was lucky to get some of those . . . and even luckier to get them to load with my pokey dialup . . . lol
Well KK . . . the ones I have grow really fast . . . I've got several at different stages and all are under 3 years old. The largest is about 5
tall and it froze completely back last winter, so it had to start over. I'm guessing they grow about a foot or so a month - give or take - depending on conditions.
I tend to give my small ones plenty of water to get them off to a good start. Once estiblished I back off to about once a week and feed them a little about once a month.
How about a pic of the entire plant? I'm in need of something interesting. I just can't tend to my Brugs enough to make it happy and perform for me. It needs more shade than I have tho. Does this beauty take full sun?
Indeed . . . full sun - even this blaze'n Texas version of "Full Sun" that most other plants wither away under.
I think there are some full view photos of this one on the plant files page, but I'm not real sure. I can't find any that show the whole thing at the moment, but I'll try to get a few for ya tomorrow sometime.
Oh yeah, the PlantFiles will have it! I always forget. Don't go to any trouble. Our full sun sure IS different. If they can take it then they are tough!
Tough indeed . . . and it was no trouble really . . . I was down there take'n a few more pics anyway . . . of all those yellow butterflies that seem to be go'n nuts over the blooms on this plant this week.
Here's the one that's down in my front field that I mentioed froze back to almost nothing this past winter . . . and it's a little over 5' tall now. That should give you an idea of how fast they grow and as you can see . . . it's in full sun - all day "Texas Full Sun" even . . . lol
do they always for a tree like structure or bushy?
Actually this one was trimmed/trained that way . . . naturally they tend to be more bushy. They get fairly large (for a bush) so I have both styles, depending on where I have mine located and mowing needs etc.
This photo was taken of that same plant from directly overhead, when it was just starting to bloom for the first time this year. You can see how it puts out many branches and the first ones start fairly low to the ground. I trimmed the lower ones and promoted the groth upwards so I can get my ride'n mower around it easier.
Beautiful! I definitely have to have one of these! I'm actually going to write it down on a sticky note and try to remember it! lol Thanks for the info and pics!
Sure thang ;) . . . no problem . . . I love these lil butterfly magnets. I got one a couple years ago and have added a few more since then. This year I'm starting several more from seeds and cuttings to share with friends ;)
