How's your flowers, Pops?

[skc]

This is an old photo... planted this shortly after my daughter's birth. She shares the same name.



I think she is mesmerisingly beautiful...

 

[Julia]

Just gorgeous, skc. Irises are one of my favourite flowers, so graceful.

 

[skc]

Just gorgeous, skc. Irises are one of my favourite flowers, so graceful.

Yes they are... although my 2 year old daughter is about as far removed from graceful as possible.

 

[Ijustnewit]

Not really flowers , but mother nature's carpet. Moss laden fire trails at 400 meters above sea level on my side of Mount Wellington Park Hobart.

 

[Whiskers]

My Wisteria is usually at its best this time of yearView attachment 54387

I like your style waza, the use of natural shade and privacy with the wisteria and palms etc to make the garden very practical... but I might be inclined to get a chainsaw to some of those tall gums nearby. Are they close enough to damage your property if they fall, or spread a fire to your house?

 

[burglar]

... One has recently sprouted this flower/seed head. Is anyone able to identify it for me?

Sorry DocK,

Do you live near Botanic Gardens?
I'm thinking they might be helpful.

 

[Whiskers]

Hi Julia and Burglar and other flower fans,

I have another plant that needs a name , it seems to be some kind of lily thing . It's sprouted up and flowered in the last 3 weeks despite one of the hottest and driest summers ever here in Hobart. Thanks in advance IJN.

View attachment 51282


View attachment 51281

I've got one very similar, red, but with a broader flower petal.

Do they send up long green leaves from the bulb at ground level in spring, die back and the flower pops up later on a hollow leafless stem?

I think mine is called a Surprise Lilly.

 

[Whiskers]

View attachment 54500
Plant or weed?

I have a couple of succulent looking plants that must have spread from neighbour's garden. One has recently sprouted this flower/seed head. Is anyone able to identify it for me?

I think I might know it burglar.

Not sure, but it Looks a lot like Mother-of-millions.

Flower, weed, both. One of those that started out as an ornamental but proliferates anywhere it is spread.

 

[Whiskers]

I have had some good subjects in the garden but the light has been very poor.
As a result of Catastrophic Climate Change, most days have been overcast or raining.

Struth, that's where it all went. I haven't put a mark on my rain chart since 22nd June, until a couple of days ago, 4mm. Desperately waiting for rain to brighten things up a bit. Not even the weeds are flowering here .

 

[sptrawler]

Struth, that's where it all went. I haven't put a mark on my rain chart since 22nd June, until a couple of days ago, 4mm. Desperately waiting for rain to brighten things up a bit. Not even the weeds are flowering here .

South East Queensland, you shouldn't have to wait long before the floods come.

 

[burglar]

Plant or weed?

Hi Dock,

It seems that whiskers has a clue!

mother-of-millions

 

[burglar]

... Not even the weeds are flowering here .

Hi Whiskers,

Struth!
We've got next year's weeds coming up this year!

 

[Whiskers]

Hi Dock,

It seems that whiskers has a clue!

mother-of-millions

That's the one burglar. I'm fairly sure it's probably from the mother-of-millions family, maybe not the original native, but quite likely some hybrid of it.

Dock, if you could provide a close up of the base of the plant I may be able to be more certain if you are not good at plant ID.

 

[Whiskers]

Hi Whiskers,

Struth!
We've got next year's weeds coming up this year!

That 4mm of rain seems just enough for next years pests to emerge here and go on a mating orgy before heaps new larvae return to the soil. Swarms of Damn cane grub beetles, I think their proper name is Brown Cockchafer. The lavae eats the life out of plants by chewing off their roots. Plays havoc with pot plants also.

Not uncommon to plant out seedling or pot plants and find a dirty fat cane grub (known by other names elsewhere) sitting under the plant.

Photos from internet

 

[Whiskers]

View attachment 54500
Plant or weed?

I have a couple of succulent looking plants that must have spread from neighbour's garden. One has recently sprouted this flower/seed head. Is anyone able to identify it for me?

Further update: this hybrid is Bryophyllum daigremontianum X delagoense (Mother-of-Millions hybrid) - weed ... from http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthur_chapman/4972868384/in/photostream/ looks very similar.

Natural hybrids, other domesticated hybrids and different growing conditions can look a bit different again .

 

[Julia]

Yes, that's what I know as Mother of Millions also. It invades coastal land like a plague and is very hard to eradicate. I'm finding it a bit hard to see it as very like the plant in Dock's photo which, at first glance from the top, looked like a Yucca flower, but overall form is nothing like Yucca.

The weed as shown in photo above is about 40 - 50cm high and has the distinctive pinkish 'flowers'. What height is your plant, Dock? Hard to tell but looks larger in the photo.

 

[DocK]

Many thanks Whiskers & Burglar - I think my unidentified plant probably is a hybrid of mother-of-millions. The flower on mine seemed a little more pinkish rather than the red in your photo, but it does seem very close. This is a close-up of the leaves on mine:


The flower spike is about 30cm high, and the flower head about 10cm - so that seems to fit with the description of mother-of-millions also. It certainly has spread in a short time, so will have to eradicate it and keep on top of any new plants that pop up.

 

[DocK]

Much nicer than the invader from next door is this little beauty that is the first of last years bulbs to bloom:



Now if only we'd get some rain! We had a little rain with 10 minutes of hail a couple of weeks ago, but nothing prior for 2 - 3 months! Seems like we Qlders are always complaining of either never-ending rain or a drought

 

[DocK]

Yes, that's what I know as Mother of Millions also. It invades coastal land like a plague and is very hard to eradicate. I'm finding it a bit hard to see it as very like the plant in Dock's photo which, at first glance from the top, looked like a Yucca flower, but overall form is nothing like Yucca.

The weed as shown in photo above is about 40 - 50cm high and has the distinctive pinkish 'flowers'. What height is your plant, Dock? Hard to tell but looks larger in the photo.

Thanks Julia - I'm not a very good photographer, and it's a bit difficult to get a photo of the entire thing just with my mobile phone. It's certainly not as large as it appeared in my first photo.

 

[Whiskers]

Many thanks Whiskers & Burglar - I think my unidentified plant probably is a hybrid of mother-of-millions. The flower on mine seemed a little more pinkish rather than the red in your photo, but it does seem very close. This is a close-up of the leaves on mine:
View attachment 54606View attachment 54607

The flower spike is about 30cm high, and the flower head about 10cm - so that seems to fit with the description of mother-of-millions also. It certainly has spread in a short time, so will have to eradicate it and keep on top of any new plants that pop up.

DocK, I finally found my old QDPI Weeds in Qld handbook. It makes it easier to identify and find names for weeds. It calls it Live-leaf (Bryophyllum spp.) and lists three main varieties.

I can't get a decent readable copy of the page and the QDPI website only has a picture of the typical wild version, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalanchoe_sect._Bryophyllum ...Goethe Plant, looks very much like the hybrid variation in your pic.

They were common in my brand parents garden and newer variations are quite attractive and effective for ground cover in new gardens, but yes they need to be bordered in or maintained a bit otherwise they can spread and take over quite easily.