What's looking exotic in January 2015

A lovely surprise - Bird of Paradise flower ( Strelitzia reginae) - it's first


Canarina canariensis is still flowering. A lovely sight when there is not much else in flower.


Everyone loves a Dandelion - don't they . Sonchus congestus.

Also I have a single bloom on my Tibouchina urvilleana, and Justicia rizzinii is still in flower. Jasminum polyanthum has started to flower and has loads of buds, but there is no sign of any fragrance yet.

 

Looks like summer Peter.

Good you have the "Dandelion" in flower, just watch out for the seed heads.

Strelitzia looks good, my one in the garden is showing its best ever flowering for this summer, got 8 flower stems at the moment coming up, but I'll have to wait till late June for mine.

 

Thanks Pete - but you raised two points.

1) how do you tell a flower stem from a leaf stem at such an early stage, and
2) does it really take from now till June for the flower to develop. I think mine poped up overnight - I never saw them coming.

 

After a bit its easy to tell Peter, flower stems arise from the leaf axils, never the growing point.
And you just get to recognise them.

On my plant outside, flower stems start to appear in late Oct and Nov, they then go dormant until about April, when often a couple more appear, then they flower in late June/July.

Yours in warmth will probably be growing, all be it slowly, right through winter, so the time between stem appearing and flowering would be less.

 

Congrats on the BoP Peter!

 

Two emerging flower stems.

 

Thanks Pete - I appreciate the photo. I have at least another flower stem looking like yours, which is probably close to flowering as its already taller than the open flower.

I had been looking at intervals, but didn't know what I was looking for. I will have a closer look tomorrow.