Beauty in My Yard: May 2020

Beauty During the Pandemic

I have essentially remained in my house since the stay at home order went into effect; but I have gone to the grocery store occasionally and have also walked up and down my street or around the block from time to time.

Yesterday, I took photos of some of the plants I’ve been seeing on those short ventures.

Click on any of the photos below to enlarge them.

FOTD

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Vishu!

Today is the Zodiac New Year in India. In the state of Kerala, that day is called Vishu. Amma sent this message on Vishu a few years ago. It seems a very fitting way to begin this post.

The color of Vishu is yellow. In honor of Vishu, I’m going to post a series of yellow flowers I have taken over the years.

And I will add a yellow vegetable and a yellow leaf!

Happy Vishu!

Red Flowering Currant

Last week, I posted two of the blooms on the red flowering currant shrub in my yard. Now that plant is full of flowers!

FOTD

PNW GreenFriends Newsletter: March 2020

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PNW GreenFriends Newsletter: February 2020

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Titan Arum Flower

When I posted today about the Rafflesia flower, MZ & Cho from Chateaux Des Fleurs commented that the flower reminded them of the Titan Arum flower. I looked it up and found that even though the flowers look very different from each other they definitely have things in common, e.g. they come from Indonesia, they are very big and they have an unpleasant odor.

Again, I found some Titan Arum royalty free images on Getty Images. The photo below is from that site. Click on the Getty Images link to see a lot more photos, some free, some not.

Getty Images caption: This very large flower bloomed in January 2018 in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. However the flower is not indigenous to Australia, actually being native to Sumatra island in Indonesia. The bloom attracts people not only because of its large size but also because it really stinks. The unpleasant odor resembles a rotting flesh and is known as the corpse flower. Its scientific name is Amorphophallus titanum, also known as titan arum. The flower stalk can reach over 3 metres in height. These days the plant is seen around the world, particularly in public gardens in tropical cities.

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I also found many Titan Arum photos on Wikimedia Commons. The next three photos are from there but if you click on the link you will find many more.

I think it is very interesting that like the Rafflesia plant, the Titan Alum plant is called a corpse plant, because of its rotting flesh odor.

I have enjoyed learning about these two plants today.

Rafflesia Flower

This week, I read an article on cnn.com that said a scientist had found a nearly four feet in diameter rafflesia flower. It was found in West Sumatran, Indonesia. I didn’t have access to a free photo of that particular flower but found a royalty-free photo of a similar flower on Getty Images.

Blooming rafflesia in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

I also found photos of smaller rafflesia flowers on Wikimedia Commons. The two photos below come from that source.

The article went on to say that the plant doesn’t have any roots or leaves; it is parasitic, feeding off of another plant, drinking its water and taking its nutrients. It releases a foul odor that resembles the smell of rotting meat. To read the full article click here.