Floral picspam

[curiouswombat]

If spring is the season of yellow flowers, running into late spring's blues and violet colours, and then the rainbow of the summer flowers, then autumn is a time of orange....

And posting these pictures is rather mean of me, as I know I have friends who cannot grow crocosmias no matter how hard they try, but the simple version, known here as montbretia, naturalised a long time ago and grows wild. And flowers well into the autumn.

I stopped to take a picture of a patch yesterday in a remote part of the island.

Comments

[estelcontar1.livejournal.com]

Beautiful flowers! Their colouring is splendid!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are really pretty. They are originally African, I think, but they have grown wild for a long time and are at their best at this time of year.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Those are gorgeous!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Such pretty pictures!They are everywhere here too even in my jungle.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

They are natives of South Africa...but grow all over. Except here in southern Spain...at least I've never seen them here. I do remember their cheery orange from the US, though.
Beautiful!

[shirebound]

Thank you for sharing these lovelies.

[huinare.livejournal.com]

Lovely flowers! Autumnal color schemes are my favorite.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! Fall's colors - including fall flowers - are my favorites in nature.

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Those are such lovely photos! My folks have a slightly different variety of crocosmia growing in their front garden and they're doing very well in the climate here on the Washington coast, probably because it's very similar to the climate there on the coasts of Britain. *g* Thank you for sharing these. :)

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

They do make a lovely splash of colour. i had them growing in my last garden, but resisted the urge to bring some with me, as they are a very invasive weed here, as is every plant from South Africa. Originally Africa and Australia were part of one larger continent, and so plants from there just love the soil here which is exactly what they are used to. I think they must like acid soil, but also our soil would have the same minerals.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Very autumnal!

[chaotic-binky.livejournal.com]

I have them growing in my garden. Didn't plant them - they just sprang up one summer.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are, aren't they? My grandfather really liked them - we had them in the garden when I was a child.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. They are brilliant, the way they have naturalised all over the place, a real splash of colour - but I remember one of the American friends bemoaning that she had been nurturing crocosmias as she thought them so pretty, but they hadn't survived.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are really cheerful - and look so nice as the trees begin to fade. They must have been imported everywhere as garden flowers - but clearly they are very good at self-seeding because they are such a common sight in the hedgerows in so many places.

But, on the other hand, you have your own citrus fruits - I think you've got the better deal, there!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

A pleasure. Is California one of the places they are rare - or do they grow all over the place there, too?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are really just right for autumn - a real splash of colour.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I do love the first signs of spring - but the oranges and browns of autumn are gorgeous. Although sometimes the montbretia are the only sign of those as high winds often blow the leaves off the trees before they have a chance to turn colour.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Yes - I can see they would do well over there. Do you have escapees as well that have naturalised?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are a really pretty garden plant - but I know what you mean about the worries of importing plants. My mother in law was very sad that she couldn't have a couple of her favourites when she moved to Australia, but realised it made sense.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are, aren't they? It feels like it here, too.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I love the way they seem to self-seed and just turn up - hence this big clump growing in the middle of nowhere.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are just lovely!

- Erulisse (one L)

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Lovely - and much more enthusiastic about flowering than the two currently in bloom on my balcony.

[shirebound]

They do look familiar, but I had never heard that name before.

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

I used to have crocosmias - I must plant some more in the garden. I love their firery flowers!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They really brighten the roadside - and seem to be at their best this year.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They seem to be very happy to flourish in amongst the brambles and ferns!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

They are really bright, aren't they? I like the cultivated red ones even more than the wild orange ones.

[sulien.livejournal.com]

I may have seen one or two crocosmia, but they don't seem to have strayed from their garden beds as much as some other plants, but that's actually a good thing. I love Scotch Broom (Yellow Gorse?), but it is considered a noxious weed here because it has spread to the point of choking out a lot of native plant species and it is very difficult to eradicate. Unfortunately, we've got a lot of invasive non-native species like that up here, including yellow flag iris and Himalayan Blackberries. I love both of those too, but they are seriously threatening native plant species and changing the habitat of local wildlife as well. :-/

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We use gorse as a hedging plant. That and fuchsia together makes a good hedge, and is pretty.

We have yellow flags growing wild too -

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/voirreys_pics/4717972318/)

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Oh, that photo is beautiful! Well worth having enlarged and framed. :)

Yes, I love yellow flags too, unfortunately they are choking out native water plants and blocking small streams here that are necessary for the survival of several species of frogs and small fish. It's sad to realize that things in nature have almost as much trouble cohabiting an area as people do. :-/

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Japanese knotweed (http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=218) is one of the worst invaders in the UK - and it isn't even all that pretty.

American signal crayfish in the rivers, and grey squirrels, are also endangering the natural wildlife. But at least the grey squirrels are cute!

[sulien.livejournal.com]

Since I'm not all that familiar with cray fish, I looked up the species you were telling me about and found this (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/gallery/2009/sep/30/george-monbiot-crayfish). If you live in an area that has a big problem with the Americal Signal crayfish, you might consider making your own trap and having them for dinner fairly often. There are a lot of Cajun recipes for cray fish that I hear are quite excellent that you might consider trying as well. It's a pity the local restaurants haven't put them on the menu, the population of American Signal crayfish could be brought under control in short order if they did.

As for the squirrels, I seem to recall that they taste similar to rabbit (my grandfather loved squirrel and used to hunt them once or twice a month when he lived out in the country, once upon a long time ago), but I don't know how much hunting you're allowed to do there. That said, I agree, gray squirrels are adorable and I don't think I could eat them unless I was unlucky enough to find myself in some sort of survival situation. I know that's terribly hypocritical of me, but I enjoy watching squirrels scamper around too much.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

We don't have them on the island - nor squirrels - we have few incomers than the British mainland.


But the problem with the American crayfish is making sure you only trap them, not the native ones. To protect the native ones people actually need a license to put traps even though they intend to only catch the American ones.

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

It is probably just as well they have restrictions on plants coming in to Australia. It is particularly noticeable in Tasmania, which has become badly infested by Scottish thistle, gorse, Spanish broom, and many other things. Even willow is now on the list of weeds. A pity, as it looks so pretty along the banks of creeks.

When you arrive in Tasmania by air or sea you are required to discard any fruit or plant matter you may have with you, but also that applies coming in to Australia from overseas.