Christmas Bells

Christmas Bells
Christmas Bells - Blandfordia nobilis

Friday, May 14, 2010

Tree Dahlia makes it to flowering stage.

I love my Tree Dahlia plant. To me it symbolises the eternal struggle to succeed. In truth it might not be suitable for this climate, as it barely manages to flower, before the frosts cut it down.

Bare stems (canes) of the plant
and several arching branches carrying flowers.
In my experience, this plant needs other bushes near it
to support the heavy flowering heads.

My Blogging colleague, Martin, shares my interest in these flowers, and told me (in comments on his blog) that when he lived in Canberra, he grew them there, and they would last until the first moderate frost would arrive. It seems that where he now lives, he can no longer grow Tree Dahlias. My commiserations.

This year, my Tree Dahlia has flowered better than in previous years, as Robertson has had a long, dry and warm autumn season. In fact it started life badly as the first tall stem was knocked over by strong winds in late spring, and the plant had to start all over again.

But it has made it.
The pendant flowers always look like "Pixie's Caps" to me
(Well, as Pixie's Caps are traditionally illustrated).A close-up of the "eye" of the Tree Dahlia Flower.
Click to enlarge it, to see the details.
Just lovely, in my opinion.

3 comments:

mick said...

Lovely flowers indeed. The texture of the petals in the close-up is exquisite!

Ellada said...

In did, it's lovely.

Denis Wilson said...

Thanks Mick and Ellada.
These flowers are "simple" by comparison with my beloved Orchids, but charming none the less.
Mick's comment about texture is spot on.
That and the fact that they work so hard to get to flowering stage is what impresses me most.
A veritable Jack and the Bean-stalk example.
Cheers
Denis