Cucurbita maxima ‘James Robinson’, an Heirloom obtained by James Robinson, an Amish gardener in Maryland. Pale orange oval-shaped fruit with flesh measures up to 5″ in thickness and the largest fruits weigh 60-80 pounds. Firm moist flesh is excellent for making pies.
Photo: Burt’s Farm, Dawsonville, GA, 20120916
Source: Wikipedia, Seed Saver Exchange
Cucurbita maxima ‘Jarrahdale’ [100 days] is an Heirloom native to Australia with wonderful blue grey skin and heavy ribbing. Decorative as well as flavorful. Jarrahdale has a flatten deep ribbed pumpkin shape with shiny light blue-gray skin. 6-120 pounds. Jarrahdale’s tasty flesh is thick, sweet and rich golden-yellow to orange in color. It has a very small seed cavity and thin but extremely hard skin.
Photo: Burt’s Farm, Dawsonville, GA, 20120916
Source: Wikipedia, Local Harvest
The Long-tailed Skipper [Urbanus proteus] is a spread-winged skipper butterfly found throughout tropical and subtropical South America, south to Argentina and north into the southern part of the United States of America. It cannot live in areas with prolonged frost.
^ The white spots on the wings are translucent.
It is a showy butterfly, with wings of light brown tinted with iridescent blue, and two long tails extending from the hindwings. The robust body is light blue dorsally. It has a large head, prominent eyes, and a wingspan between 4.5 and 6 centimeters. The adults feed on nectar from flowers.
Photos: Burt’s Farm, Dawsonville, GA, 20120916; Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, Georgia, USA [20130913]
Source: Wikipedia
Cucurbita maxima ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’, Cinderella Pumpkin, is vivid red French heirloom will carry you off into a fairy tale where maidens ride in pumpkins and wear glass slippers!
Flattened fruits average 10-20 lbs and resemble a red cheese wheel. Edible pumpkin with an exceptionally deep orange flesh and a sweet strong pumpkin flavor. This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds.
Photo: Burt’s Farm, Dawsonville, GA, 20120916
Source: Wikipedia, High Mowing
Catharanthus roseus [Madagascar Periwinkle] is a species of Catharanthus native and endemic to Madagascar. Synonyms include Vinca rosea, Ammocallis rosea, and Lochnera rosea; other English names occasionally used include Cape Periwinkle, Rose Periwinkle, Rosy Periwinkle, and “Old-maid”.
It is an evergreen shrub or herbaceous plant growing to 1 m tall. The flowers are white to dark pink with a darker red center.
In the wild, it is an endangered plant; the main cause of decline is habitat destruction by slash and burn agriculture. However, it is widely cultivated and is naturalised in subtropical and tropical areas of the world.
Photo: HortPark, Singapore 20120630
Source: Wikipedia
Plumbago auriculata, also called Plumbago capensis, Blue plumbago, Cape plumbago or Cape leadwort, is a well known houseplant originally from South Africa.
^ Plumbago auriculata var. alba: White Plumbago
Plumbago auriculata grows fast and to 1.8 meters [6 feet] tall. It has light blue to blue flowers and also variations with white [Plumbago auriculata var. alba] or deep blue [Plumbago auriculata ‘Royal cape’] flowers.
Photo: HortPark, Singapore 20120630
Source: Wikipedia
Phryganocydia corymbosa, an abundant canopy vine in all parts of the forest in South America.
Pleiostachya pruinosa named Wheat Calathea for its inflorescence, which is reminiscent of Wheat and carries small purple flowers.
Pleiostachya pruinosa is a graceful and elegant foliage plant that grows upright and reaches a height of 1.50 to 3.0 m [10 feet]. Long, dark-green leaves are purple-maroon on the undersides high on thin stalks.
Photo: HortPark, Singapore 20120630
Source: heliconiaparadise.com
Anthurium is a large genus of about 600–800 species of flowering plants, belonging to the arum family [Araceae]. Anthurium can also be called “flamingo flower” or “boy flower”, both referring to the structure of the spathe [leaf like bract] and spadix.
Anthurium flowers are small [about 3 mm] and develop crowded in a spike on a fleshy axis, called a spadix, a characteristic of the Araceae. The flowers on the spadix are often divided sexually with a sterile band separating male from female flowers. This spadix can take on many forms [club-shaped, tapered, spiraled, and globe-shaped] and colors [white, green, purple, red, pink, or a combination].
^ Anthurium sp.: Inflorescence
The spadix is part of an inflorescence, the outer portion is called the spathe. The spathe may be a single color [yellow, green, or white] or possibly multicolored including burgundy and red.
^ Anthurium sp.: Unripe berries
The fruits are usually berries with one to multiple seeds on an infructescence that may be pendant or erect depending on species. Ripe Anthurium berries may range in colour from bright red to black, and may also be bicoloured or shaded.
Photos: Cloud Forest, GBTB, Singapore 20120629
Source: Wikipedia
Azaleas are flowering shrubs comprising two of the eight subgenera of the genus Rhododendron, Tsutsuji [evergreen] and Pentanthera [deciduous]. Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks. Shade tolerant, they prefer living near or under trees.
Azaleas differ from rhododendrons in being generally smaller and having one blossom per stem rather than blossom clusters.
In addition to being renowned for its beauty, the Azalea is also highly toxic–it contains andromedotoxins in both its leaves and nectar, including honey from the nectar. The Azalea and Rhododendron were once so infamous for their toxicity that to receive a bouquet of their flowers in a black vase was a well-known death threat.
Photo: Flower Dome, GBTB, Singapore 20120629
Source: Wikipedia
