Garden Pics....

Big surprise...Clivia!!! peeking out... The sun came out today for about 10 mins....so I had fun taking pictures.... Enjoy... Wish you could walk around the garden with me....

This Vireya is one of my favorites...yes...the color is that vibrant!!!

Dave knows the name of this one...Bob and I keep forgetting and HE forgets to write it down!!!

Here is my very favorite Agapanthus...called Storm King. It was sent to me by a friend in FL years ago and it is the most gorgeous mixture of blues!!!

Blue Jade Vine/Green Jade Vine....

Hi Carol, I wished I could be there and enjoy your garden too. Happy Spring!

This is Yoshino Cherry's blossoms:
Kim

Hi Carol! It's Ludovia lancifolia.

It's amazing that Spring is well under way down at your place, yet it is still flooding up here!

Here's the lancifolia part.

Wonderful pictures. I long for that blue Jade... mine died :-(

Thanks Dave...now, to remember that name...Ludovica. Hmmmm. I think I will put that name to a Northern Italian waiter and call it Ludo.... the rest will follow. See how small brains work!

Ah, we are still wet and cold...can't wait to see what happens when it DOES warm up and dry out!!!!

Hetty...did it get too cold for your Strongylodon?

Hi Aloha,

Exactly what do you consider COLD? lol

Hap

Any weather which causes you to shut windows and put clothes on, is cold!

I'd love to visiting Hawaii just to be able to feel 'cold' ^_^ Ahhh, I'm dreaming.
Kim

AHHHH, it's the ol' "Put The Clothes On Problem"....

ROTFLMBO

Here is a newly opened flower of Magnolia figo, the Banana Shrub. They smell peculiarly like bananas!

These "Queen Emma Lily" (Crinum) flowers smell so good that they make you want to chase the bees away just to sniff them!

This Bromeliad flower just opened! Not sure what to call this one.

Bromiliad flower" works for me...I like it!

I love the Banana Bush!!! But to me it smells like Juicy Fruit Gum (remember that?)...and they are only fragrant above a certain temperature or a certain amt of light because they aren't fragrant until about 10a.m. Do you find that Dave?

Carol

I have noticed that the Banana Bush doesn't have much smell early in the morning or when it's raining a lot.

I miss the morning garden walk around! Nice pics Carol. Bring that camera and come Visit Wayne and I...When you get tired of me, you can move to Waynes place down the street. LOL

HHHHhmmmmmmm mind is working....can you hear the hummmmmmmm. LOL

and you know a person who works for an airline....do I hear a faster hum?

What a beautiful morning stroll, great idea Carol! Thanks, Carol and Dave, and Lily! I had my morning coffee with you all, walking through and looking at your spring flowers!

I LOVE SPRING! (well, I love each season, each for different reasons...)
Alexandra

I so enjoyed as well.

Beautiful pic's everyone.

Rachel

Here is a newly exposed inflorescence of Pinanga caesia. It has not begun to dump pollen, and the bees have not found it yet.

I will show it later today when it starts doing it's thing!

This is the newly opened red frond of Chambeyronia macrocarpa, a native of New Caledonia Island.

Center is the black crownshaft of Neoveitchia storkii. An endangered palm from Fiji.

It is wise to stay away from the trunk of Verschaffeltia slpendida, of the Seychells!

This is a young Red Latan Palm, Latania lontaroides, of the Mascarene Islands.

Here is one of the world's smallest palms, Raphis laoensis, of Laos.

The inflorescense on the Pinanga is amazing. How often does that palm bloom?

Rachel

And this one is from the Big Island: Pritchardia beccariana, a Hawaiian Loulu Palm (pronounced: low-loo).

Pinanga caesia produces viable inflorescences during the warmer part of the year.
The flower-bud swells behind the crownshaft, then the frond falls off exposing the bud, and the bract encasing the inflorescence then falls away.
The frond fell off last evening, and the bract (seen by the frond) came loose this morning.

Nice palms...seems like you have as many as Bob does down the street. I've never seen so many different types before...and that thorny one..now that's one paranoid palm

Palms have many ways of protecting themselves! I think this one is Licuala jenkinsiana.

It's difficult to get near this Calamus. There are thorns on everything but the leaflets.

We were told that the palms from the Seychelles have thorns as the Civet Cat climbs to get the fruit (seeds) and over the centuries the palms have evolved to keep them away. Once I tripped in the garden and fell...put my hand out to catch myself and guess what palm was there!!!? Yep...took weeks to get the thorns out...

Funny how things sometimes backfire in Nature. Here is a Betel Nut Palm, Areca catechu, which produces a toxin in it's seeds to keep them from being attacked, yet Hominids have learned to chew the seeds and suck the juice out of them!

I tried to grow one of those..one of my co workers originally from Guam, brought me back seeds..which sprouted, but didn't make it after I put them in the ground. Not sure if it was from being to dry, or wet...they are nice looking trees

Betel Nut Palms love to be wet!

Clockwise from the left are Betel Nut Fruit recently off the tree, Betel Nuts being cleaned, and a cleaned nut sliced and spread on a Betel Pepper leaf (Piper betle) ready to be folded into a quid and chewed.