Blaze of Fire (2024)

07/03/2023

When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.

- Ronald Reagan

13/02/2023

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.

- William Arthur Ward

07/02/2023

Stay close to people who feel like sunshine.

14/10/2022

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." -Mother Teresa

18/06/2022

What fire does not destroy, it hardens
Oscar Wilde

22/05/2022

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
Ferdinand Foch

31/12/2021

Bergeranthus scapiger ‘Polvygie’

Part of the fig-marigold family, ‘Polvygie’ or Bergeranthus scapiger is a drought resistant succulent, and like many plants in the genus, this is a dwarf plant.

It produces bright yellow flowers, and the leaves are a lovely display in their own right.

As a succulent, this plant needs sandy to rocky areas, and is best kept in a container where water will freely drain from the soil.

Other than that, this plant is extremely low maintenance, like many succulent plants.

23/12/2021

Oxalis hirta

Oxalis hirta or hairy oxalis is a plant native to the Western Cape area of Africa. It grows from a bulb in loamy to sandy soil in a variety of sunny to semi-sunny locations. Soil pH levels need to fall in the neutral to the acidic range.

The hairy oxalis is considered easy to grow and maintain. Flowers are ornamentally attractive and open in shades of reddish-purple on stems with multiple branches.

12/12/2021

Acacallis cyanea orchid

Aganisia cyanea (formerly Acacallis cyanea) is a showy species of orchid native to Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil and widely cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental.[1] It is remarkable because some cultivars of this species produce blue flowers, the color blue being quite rare among the orchids. They are considered difficult to maintain in cultivation without a controlled growing environment.

Aganisia cyanea is found in very wet, lowland rain forests in northern South America growing on lower sections of the trunks of large trees. The plants can be submerged under water during monsoons for several weeks due to flooding in habitat with no apparent harm.[2][3]

The plants grow from a creeping rhizome with inter-spaced pseudobulbs with one apical, usually pleated leaf. These plants bloom from the base of the pseudobulbs, and produce a raceme of up to 10 flowers.

The flowers of these plants have a metallic, almost surreal appearance and appear to be made of bluish metal. This is very striking. The flowers take on a more bluish cast when not exposed to direct sunlight.

In cultivation, they are best accommodated on tree fern or cork bark slabs mounted bare root and given high humidity and abundant water and feeding year round, and moderate shade. They prefer moderate to warm temperatures.

The species is much sought after in cultivation because of its blue metallic flowers. These plants are protected under CITES II and local and regional laws and should not be removed or disturbed in habitat.

The plants are available commercially from flasked seedlings of varieties that are amenable to cultivation and these plants are easily obtainable.

05/12/2021

Pink rock lily or Dendrobium speciosum

Dendrobium speciosum, commonly known as the rock orchid or cane orchid,[2]: 403 is a species of highly variable Australian orchid. Its varieties can be found in a range of habitats as epiphytes (on branches or trunks of trees) or lithophytes. It has a continuous distribution along the east coast of Australia and in distinct populations along the Tropic of Capricorn. As a lithophyte, it forms gigantic spreading colonies on rocks and cliff faces, often exposed to full sun, with its roots forming dense, matted beds across the rock that anchor the plant. It can be found at altitudes from sea level to 900 metres (3,000 ft)

Dendrobium speciosum is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with spreading roots and cylindrical or tapered pseudobulbs 50–1,800 mm (2–70 in) long and 10–60 mm (0.4–2 in) wide. Each pseudobulb has up to seven, usually thick, leathery leaves originating from its top, the leaves 50–250 mm (2–10 in) long and 10–80 mm (0.4–3 in) wide. The leaves can remain on the plant for up to twelve years. The flowers vary in colour from white to bright yellows and there is considerable variation in the length of the flowering raceme, the number of flowers on it and the size of the flowers. The length of the flowering stem ranges from 50–800 mm (2–30 in) long and the number of flowers from two to two hundred. The flowers are 12–70 mm (0.5–3 in) long and 20–80 mm (0.8–3 in) wide. The dorsal sepal is longer than the lateral sepals but narrower and the petals are about the same length as the lateral sepals but only half as wide. The labellum has reddish purple spots or streaks and three lobes, the sides lobes erect and curved and the middle lobe pointed, rounded or more or less square. Flowering occurs between August and October for most varieties but some flower as early as May and others as late as November.

29/11/2021

Wahlenbergia albomarginata

Wahlenbergia is a genus of around 260 species of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae. Plants in this genus are perennial or annual herbs with simple leaves and blue to purple bell-shaped flowers, usually with five petals lobes. Species of Wahlenbergia are found on all continents except North America, and on some isolated islands, but the greatest diversity occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

Plants in the genus Wahlenbergia are annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs, and sometimes have rhizomes. The stems are erect, circular in cross section and have simple leaves. The leaves decrease in size up the stem and usually have small scattered teeth on their edges. The flowers are borne on the end of the stems, either singly or arranged in a cyme. There are five sepals that remain until the fruiting stage. The petals are blue to purple and are joined at their base to form a bell-shaped or funnel-shaped tube with five lobes. There are usually five stamens, the style is often branched at the tip and the fruit is a capsule containing up to fifty seeds.

In 1814, Heinrich Schrader used the name Wahlenbergia elongata but the name was a nomen nudum. The genus was first formally described in 1821 by Albrecht Wilhelm Roth and the description was published in Roth's book Novae Plantarum Species praesertim Indiae Orientalis. Roth retained Schrader's name Wahlenbergia.[1][6][7] The name honours Göran Wahlenberg (a Swedish botanist who taught at Uppsala University).

21/11/2021

Scutellaria scordiifolia 'Seoul Sapphire'

Scutellaria is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. They are known commonly as skullcaps.[2] The generic name is derived from the Latin scutella, meaning "a small dish, tray or platter",[3] or "little dish",[4] referring to the shape of the calyx.[4] The common name alludes to the resemblance of the same structure to "miniature medieval helmets".[4] The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution,[5] with species occurring nearly worldwide, mainly in temperate regions.

Most are annual or perennial herbaceous plants from 5 to 100 cm (2 to 39 in) tall, but a few are subshrubs; some are aquatic. They have four-angled stems and opposite leaves. The flowers have upper and lower lips. The genus is most easily recognized by the typical shield on the calyx that has also prompted its common name. Skullcaps are common herbal remedies in systems of traditional medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine they are utilized to "clear away the heat-evil and expel superficial evils".[7] Scutellaria baicalensis in particular is a common component of many preparations.[8] Its root, known as Radix Scutellariae, is the source of the Chinese medicine Huang Qin. It is still in demand today, and marketed in volumes that have led to the overexploitation of the wild plant. Its rarity has led to an increase in price, and encouraged the adulteration of the product with other species of Scutellaria.[9]

In North America, Scutellaria lateriflora became[when?] a common treatment in America for rabies.[10] Today it is still a popular medicinal herb.[11] It is widely available as a commercial product used in western herbalism to treat anxiety and muscle tension.[12] The plant reportedly commands prices of $16 to $64 per pound dry weight.

14/11/2021

American Beauty Rose

Rosa 'American Beauty' is a deep pink rose cultivar, bred by Henri Lédéchaux in France in 1875, and was originally named 'Madame Ferdinand Jamin'. The hybrid perpetual has cup-shaped flowers with a brilliant crimson colour and up to 50 petals, situated on long stiff stems. The buds are thick and globular and open to strongly scented, hybrid tea-like flowers with a diameter of 11 cm.[2] They appear in flushes over a long period, but according to the RHS Encyclopedia of Roses, only sparingly.[2]

The height of the upright, vigorous shrub ranges between 90 and 200 centimetres (3.0 and 6.6 ft) at an average width of 90 to 125 centimetres (2.95 to 4.10 ft).[1][2][3] 'American Beauty' has prickly shoots, dark green foliage and is winter hardy up to −29 °C (USDA zone 5), but is susceptible to the fungi diseases mildew, rust and black spot.[2] It is well suited as cut flower, and can be grown in greenhouses, in containers or as garden rose, planted solitary or in groups.

In 1875 it was brought to the United States by George Valentine Nash[citation needed]. It was introduced as a new rose cultivar named 'American Beauty' by Bancroft and Field Bros in 1886, but quite soon identified as 'Madame Ferdinand Jamin'. In 1888, Bassett & Washburn first introduced the rose to other florists for purchase. It became a famous greenhouse variety and was the best selling rose cultivar in the United States until the 1920s. Due to its high price per stem (at least two dollars per stem right from its launch in 1886) and its popularity, the cultivar was called the million-dollar rose.[1] Its popularity remained focused on the United States, while it is only rarely cultivated in other countries

07/11/2021

Marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea)

Sclerocarya birrea (Ancient Greek: σκληρός (sklērós}, "hard", and κάρυον (káryon), "nut", in reference to the stone inside the fleshy fruit), commonly known as the marula, is a medium-sized deciduous tree, indigenous to the miombo woodlands of Southern Africa, the Sudano-Sahelian range of West Africa, the savanna woodlands of East Africa and Madagascar.

The tree is a single stemmed tree with a wide spreading crown. It is characterised by a grey mottled bark. The tree grows up to 18 m tall mostly in low altitudes and open woodlands. The distribution of this species throughout Africa and Madagascar has followed the Bantu in their migrations. There is some evidence of human domestication of marula trees, as trees found on farm lands tend to have larger fruit size.[2]

The fruits, which ripen between December and March, have a light yellow skin (exocarp), with white flesh (mesocarp). They fall to the ground when unripe and green in colour, and then ripen to a yellow colour on the ground. The fruits are drupes with a single seed encased within their endocarp, although up to four seeds can be present.[3] They are succulent and tart with a strong and distinctive flavour.[4] Inside is a walnut-sized, thick-walled stone (endocarp). These stones, when dry, expose the seeds by shedding 2 (sometimes 3) small circular plugs at one end. The seeds have a delicate nutty flavour and are much sought-after, especially by small rodents who know to gnaw exactly where the plugs are located.

The trees are dioecious, meaning that there are male and female trees. Male trees produce multiple male flowers on a terminal raceme. These have red sepals and petals, and about 20 stamens per flower. On rare occasion a male flower can produce a gynoecium, turning it bisexual. Female flowers grow individually on their own pedicel and have staminodes.

Blaze of Fire