The back of a sunflower is interesting. The stem is the long, narrow part and is referred to as a peduncle for composite (although it looks like a single flower, a composite flower is made up of many smaller flowers, sometimes called florets) flowers. The green, hairy structures that resemble leaves are called phyllaries.
Back of a Sunflower
Sunflowers Facing the Sun
Crinum lilies are tender perennial bulbs in the Amaryllis family. Lily-like flowers (to 4” wide and long) bloom in clusters in summer atop leafless scapes (to 3-4’ tall) above a clump of strap-shaped green leaves. Flower colors in whites, pinks, and reds.
‘Ellen Bosanquet’ is an old but very popular hybrid whose parentage was never revealed. It was hybridized by Louis Bosanquet in Florida in the period of 1915-1920 and was named after his wife. Bell-shaped, wine red (rose-purple to red-purple) flowers are noted for having a spicy fragrance. Flower scapes typically rise to 3’ tall.
Crinum -Ellen Bosanquet-
In the United States, the Magnolia tree symbolizes luck and stability. It’s a staple in Southern gardens and delights people with its flowers in the early to mid-spring. In the east, the white blooms of the magnolia represent nobility and purity, while many of its parts are used in traditional folk medicine.
Southern magnolia, is a large, broadleaf evergreen tree that is noted for its attractive glossy dark green leaves and its large, extremely fragrant flowers. It is native to the bottomlands and moist wooded areas in the central and southeastern coastal plains from North Carolina to Florida and Texas.
Magnolia Bud
Bloomed Magnolia
These small buds bloom into vibrant colored flowers of yellow, magenta, red, or orange, and then eventually the bloom gives way to the prickly pear fruit, also known as a tuna. Prickly pear cacti are predominately known for their edible pads and fruit, but the buds have remained relatively unknown as a consumable item.
Prickly Pear Buds
Hibiscus is a large genus of flowering plants in the Malvaceae or mallow family. The Malvaceae family includes many plants grown for their ornamental flowers and vegetable and fiber plants, such as okra and cotton. Perennial and annual hibiscus and other closely related members of the mallow family are grown as ornamentals in South Carolina.
Hibiscus
We end our series on bonsai with Bougainvillea Bonsai.
The Bougainvillea is an evergreen shrub, little tree, or thorny vine with little trumpet-shaped flowers that grow in clusters of three and come with three pretty bright papery bracts, most often magenta or purple colored.
Bougainvillea Bonsai
This is a large fruiting Pyracantha. It is an Asian evergreen with small, bright green leaves and clusters of brilliant red berries that are bitter when raw but can be cooked into delicious jams, jellies, and marmalades. The Pyracantha blooms in April with starry-white flowers and berries from September through December. These Bonsai love sunlight.
Pyracantha Bonsai
We end the series of images from J C Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh, North Carolina with a photo of Pink Crinum Lily. This vigorous hybrid Crinum lily is perennial, blooming in summer with large, fragrant lily shaped flowers.
Pink Crinum Lily
Calibrachoa are also called million bells or trailing petunia because of their prolific, bell-shaped flowers and their resemblance to petunias. Flowers come in a wide variety of colors and often have more than one color to them.
Flower Color Combination
Phlox is a genus of 68 species of perennial and annual plants in the family Polemoniaceae. They are found mostly in North America in diverse habitats from alpine tundra to open woodland and prairie. Some flower in spring, others in summer and fall. Flowers may be pale blue, violet, pink, bright red, or white.
Phlox
A hybrid tea rose with a unique combination of color and fragrance. The large, elegant flowers appear right into the autumn with their well-known silvery lilac color.
Rose Mainzer
The Banana Split daphne is a winter daphne shrub with variegated leaves and fragrant flowers. The plant has dark green leaves with wide yellow margins, and pink flower buds that open into white, creamy flowers with a sweet, citrusy scent. Banana Split daphnes can grow to be 3–4 feet tall and wide, and bloom in late winter to early spring.
Daphne -Banana Split
Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name gibōshi. Brother Stefan offers spectacular large variegated hosta with thick corrugated leaves that offer good slug resistance. White flowers in summer. Full shade to filtered sun.
Hosta -Brother Stefan- Plantain Lily
Japanese anemones, also known as windflowers, add a timeless grace to any late-summer or fall garden with their beautiful, nodding blooms on long, wiry stems. The foliage isn’t particularly interesting, but the flowers fill the midsummer-to-fall gap in gardens, appearing when few other perennials bloom. These perennials come in many shades of whites and pinks, with petals ranging from single rows to frilly doubles.
Japanese Anemone
White Japanese Anemone
The blend of flowering plants and grass type elements add to the variety of landscape at J C Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, North Carolina
Flowers and Grass
The JC Raulston Arboretum is a nationally acclaimed garden with one of the largest and most diverse collections of landscape plants adapted for landscape use in the Southeast.
Here is an image of flowers midst greenery with a blue sky in the background.
Flowers Against Greenery and Blue Sky
The second route on Walk of Hope went by Duke Cancer Center and continued through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. More than 600,000 visitors from all over the world visit Sarah P. Duke Gardens annually, enjoying its 55 acres of specialized gardens in the heart of Duke University. Blooming flowers made the walk more pleasant.
Duke Gardens
Colorful Flowers
Blooming Flowers
Although this magenta plumeria has lost the leaves on the branches, the blooming flowers still create beauty.
A large conically-shaped planter for flowers in Santa Monica, California
Harry Potter fans come because it looks like Diagon Alley, but The Shambles in York has also been voted Britain’s most picturesque street in the Google Street View awards. The buildings on either side of this 14th-century walking precinct are decorated with hanging flower baskets.
