Thursday, May 10, 2007

Oh, My Heart's Afire



I have no idea how a plant produces such a florescent color. I took some other views to show you how it looks in comparison to its near neighbors. It's just as glowing in real life. If you click on the pic, it really jumps out.



This plant is bizarre on the color front in several ways.

First: that glow. It's just amazing.

Second: it's the leaves, not flower petals, that make that color.

Third: The leaves start out green. They change color after the leaves have already grown out. They do this upon some sort of *Orders* from the plant.

Fourth: The plant can go back and forth about the leaves coloring up.



About a year ago, I had this plant growing in a pot out back - one mother and one pup. The mother plant started the color change, meaning it was getting ready to bloom. I got all excited and transplanted it into the ground in Walter's Western Garden, where it lives today.

After I did that?

It decided NOT to bloom after all. It retracted the florescent coloration from the leaves, and they became plain green again.

In other words? It changed its mind.



Perfectly harmless to the plant, it appears. It simply went about its business of living and making some new leaves, and it set off a third pup. Hello, little one!

One year later, here we are with the self-same plant deciding, once again, to bloom.

As you can see, this time it meant it.

The difference in the size of the flower stalk, and the first time appearance of the individual flowers, has taken place in one day. Maybe a day and a half. Look at the difference between the last pic of this flower. It's only one post down, okay?

Mother Nature rawks.

7 comments:

Desert Cat said...

Wow. Almost trippy. The little purple flowers exploding from the central phallic stalk are interesting too.

k said...

Aren't they though? This thing just fascinates me. It grows that inflorescence so fast it makes me long for a webcam.

If you click it, you can see how lethal those thorns are. To me, they look just like rattlesnake fangs.

Desert Cat said...

Seriously. This is one of those things I can't stare at too long because I hear Mother Salvia rattling around the back of my brain. This is definitely one of her kind of plants.

Nevertheless, a rather arousing inflorescence.

Kirsten N. Namskau said...

I envy you your garden. That's all I can say

k said...

This is one of those plants that brings forth the lustiness of nature like a whack on the head with a baseball bat.

Ahhh, kirsten. I'd give so much to be able to find you a patch of ground somewhere to call your own. I've been through long *dry spells* in my gardening life too, and it can really affect my peace of mind.

This is the only house of my own in my entire life. That's surely one reason I groom the land so much.

Pretty Lady said...

This plant is blowing my mind. I am obsessively clicking on the pictures.

D.C., who is Mother Salvia? I took some tincture of salvia once. It was not a particularly pleasant experience, though quite insightful.

k said...

PL, actually I'm doing the same thing! It just sucks you into its vortex.