Plant Transformations
By Raquel
7 comments
I wondered this year at the coloringof some of my flowers – they weren’t quite as deep as I esxpected, or they had other colors mixed in, which was a little surprising. But as the days have passed I’ve realized that the colors of these flowers get deeper as time passes. All of a suddent, the names make sense! Here is the most striking transformation, that of the lantana “Dallas red”:
At first, the buds that open are orange:
The red buds open as well but there’s more orange than red (at this point I was thinking, why is this plant called “Dallas red”??:
Slowly the orange turns red:
Until at last all of them are a deep red:
The echinacea, which was a pale pink at the beginning, finally lives up to its name of “deep rose”:
My peach-yellow rose is the opposite, it starts out with a deeper color in the bud:
It becomes a beautiful peachy-yellow-orange until it ends up as a soft beige color:
The surprise is my white rose, which I don’t remember being yellow befire turning white! I wonder if I have two different kinds in one pot. The blooms of this one are also much smaller, with many more petals. Did someone switch roses on me?? It hadn’t flowered in a long time, so regardless, I am happy that its blooming – 7 buds in all!:
1 Jul, 2010
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Comments
It is Hywel, and I should have noticed it before, but this is the first time I really paid attention! lol thanks for your comment
2 Jul, 2010
Yes I've noticed that the first flowers are often a bit disappointing in colour. My red nasturiums have just started flowering and I was disappointed that they seemed to be orange at first.....becoming red now though.
2 Jul, 2010
I like the variegated leaves on that lantana! Is that still the 'Dallas Red'? Or is that a 'Lemon Swirl' growing nearby? Lantanas are especially notorious for changing color: 'Confetti' opens canary yellow, changes to peach, and finishes lilac. The white rose may be a "bud sport", where there is a mutation in a bud, which grows into a branch, which winds up producing different-colored flowers (or leaves) than the rest of the plant. One of the less common ways that new varieties are produced.
14 Jul, 2010
Thanks for commenting Lily2 and Tugbrethil. Tugbrethil, the variegated leaves (I loved them too and bought the plant in part because of them!) belong to a lantana variety called "Samantha". It has bright yellow flowers that don't change.I think I've seen "Confetti"in other gardens, it is also a nice set of colors, but in pastel shades...I had never heard of a bud sport, maybe that's what happened to it; it was just funny to see the flowers opening up and realizing they weren't all quite the same as before!
15 Jul, 2010
I looked up 'Samantha', thinking it might be a different name for 'Lemon Swirl', but I think 'Lemon Swirl' has more twisted leaves. 'Samantha looks like a prettier plant, to me.
15 Jul, 2010
Tugbrethil, "Lemon Swirl" sounds interesting, will have to take a look at it...I'll post a picture of "Samantha's" yellow flowers so you can compare...it did take it much longer to bloom than the "Dallas red."
16 Jul, 2010
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It's nice how they change colour like that - some going paler and others deeper. It's always changing in a garden
2 Jul, 2010