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Growing in the rill by the roadside just along from our house are these unusual flowering plants with their big broad green leaves and bright orange flowers.

Their tall stems rise up towards the sky reaching almost two metres in height. On each are several evenly spaced green pompoms.

From each pompom explodes a series of little orange flowers which turn the green bud ball into a fiery orange one.

As each individual orange blossom drops,  a sculptured green ball is left behind with little hollow tubes like mouths agape, where the blossoms had once been.

I found a variety of insects including assasin bugs, ants and lady beetles all crawling in and out among the blooms.  I have no idea what the plant is.  Is it an escaped garden flower or a weed? And where have the seeds come from to produce this bed of beauty?

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Grevillea

The spidery blooms of Grevillea

These flowers are encouraging honey eaters to the garden and one pair has built a nest at the bottom of the steps into our house.

Honey eater in grevillea

Cream blossoms

I never tire of their beauty.  Have a lovely Sunday.

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White Beauty

Flowers whisper "Beauty!" to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall.  ~Dr. SunWolf

Winter came quickly this week with a drop of 9 degrees below average for this time of the year.  It has been wet, windy and very chilly for the past three days. 

I was beginning to despair of a photo for today when the sun struggled through the clouds around midday.

These tiny, delicate little blossoms were in the gardens of the Discovery Centre.  They've all suffered a dusting as roadworks threw a blanket of dust over the centre earlier in the week, then 25mm of rain, wind and cold weather to end the week but still they whisper "beauty" to the world.

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Zygocactus

My Zygocactus grow in hanging baskets under a persimmon tree. 

When the leaves drop from the tree the zygote come into bloom.

These two are very special to me as they were my father's.  He was very proud of his collection.  He had his courtyard draped with zygotes.  With our extended years of drought since his passing at this time back in 2000, I have only been able to save these two colours from his original collection.

For My Dad.  May he Rest in Peace.

Thank you to all who commented on my flowers last week.  It was a pleasure to be guest presenter. 

Be sure to visit Today's Flowers for more flowers from around the world.

Lovely Golden Wattle

The wattle is the Floral Emblem of Australia.

There are over 900 recorded species of wattle in Australia.  Here are three growing by the roadside.  The plant in the foreground has the little pompom flower of many species while in the background, the bigger tree has the long cylinder type flowers of other species. To the left is the silver wattle native to this area.

Because in southern states, wattle blossoms herald spring, September 1 is National Wattle Day...

...but here in Central Queensland the roadside is a blaze with colour to welcome winter.  With over 900 identified species across Australia it is said there is always a wattle in bloom somewhere across the country.

Wattle blossoms have a strong perfume; are loved by bees, especially our tiny native bee and form dense clusters of bright yellow or orange flowers.

The lovely green and gold of the tree has become the colour of the uniforms of our national sportsmen and women in all sports.   Hoorah for the Green and Gold!

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A Living Gift

Last Sunday my daughter gave me a pot of tulips for Mother’s Day.

I’ve never seen real tulips before and I’ve been able to enjoy them everyday since. 

What a lovely gift! 

I find it amazing to have a spring flowering bulb blooming so beautifully during autumn in Central Queensland, Australia.



     Visit Ubobo Travellers for more reflections on life in Rural Australia.

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They close each night and with each morning comes the promise of a new surprise by lunchtime when they are fully open again.

Milkweed, Praying Mantis and Aphids

 



Milkweed, Praying Mantis and Aphids.

 

Four generations of my family celebrated Mother's Day together today. My grandaughters cooked their Mum and me a late breakfast then we went down to the creek so the little ones could play in the clean, fresh sand left by the floods. It was too cold to swim but they enjoyed the sand and plopping rocks. The bigger ones skipped their stones across the water and had fun taking photographs with grandma's camera.  While they played I discovered this miniture "city" on a milkweed growing by the water's edge.



Milkweed also known as Mexican Butterfly Weed

 These wildflowers are the food plant for the caterpillar of the Monarch Butterfly but today there were no butterflies only millions of the bright yellow Oleander Aphids. 

The aphids produse their babies live and all these little fellows were gathered along the main stem.  Those with wings were out on the leaves. 


Yellow wingless aphids onthe stems
Winged aphids under the leaves

 

I have always loved these beautiful little flowers.  They look like dancers in yellow headdress with swirling red skirts.  The buds are like miniture balloons and reveal nothing of the yellow centre hidden beneath their red cloak.



Miniture ballerinas



Ladybirds or ladybugs like to feast on the aphids but they too were absent today but a little wasp and a praying mantis were visiting.  I wonder if they feast on these tiny little yellow creatures.  I know the ants like to suck the honey dew they excrete and that the honey dew also encourages a black mould on plants.  The milk weed seems to be handling the infestation of aphids better than my garden plants would.  



The poser



Once this praying mantis realized the big eye of my camera was on him he would move and pose, move and pose.  I loved this shot of him staring straight down the camera lens and the little buds...you can almost see through them.  Don't forget to visit Today's Flowers   and enjoy other flowers from around the world.