kasvi – Ritva Sillanmäki Photography

Flower a day – Hydrangea

Hydrangea macrophylla

The Japanese are famous for their mesmerizing gardens and revolving stories around their flowers. The hydrangea is no exception: legend has it that a Japanese emperor gifted blue hydrangeas to the family of a girl he loved to make up for neglecting her.

I got a lovely bouquet from a friend and the main flowers was this colorful hydrangea. Loved the details and colors of the pedals. It’s said that including hydrangeas in flower arrangements invites good fortune into one’s home. Purple hydrangeas are said to be particularly lucky as they symbolize abundance and prosperity.

Some facts

For one type known as bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), you can change the color of their flowers by adjusting the soil pH with soil amendments. The more acidic the soil, the bluer your hydrangeas will turn out. The more alkaline, the pinker your hydrangeas will be.

The hydrangea represents gratitude, grace and beauty. It also radiates abundance because of the lavish number of flowers and the generous round shape. Its colors symbolize love, harmony and peace..

Hydrangeas don’t have petals.

Those beautiful petals aren’t petals at all. They are sepals, which are leaves that protect the flower bud. Only after they age do they turn from green to the pigmented colors you see.

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Flower a day – Red-leaf Rose

Flowers

Rosa glauca

also known as Read-leaved rose, Redleaf rose ( punalehtiruusu)

Roses and briars (Rosa spp.) are large-flowered, prickly shrubs. Their leaves are imparipinnate. Fruits are achenes which, however, are not visible, but enclosed by the enlarged receptacle, the whole being called a hip.

The genus comprises between 100 and 250 species, depending on the defining criteria. They are distributed over the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. Roses have been cultivated in China and the eastern Mediterranean at least for 4,000–5,000 years.

Red-leaf rose is native to the mountains of Central Europe. It has been a fairly common ornamental in Finland since the 19th century. This species does not produce suckers. Its stems are erect and fairly tall. The slender, spreading young branches are covered in a waxy bloom. Prickles are fairly sparse, and they are slender and straight or slightly curved.

The little flowers are pink and made up of five petals. They are formed in small clusters and will have a light scent at best.

The orangish-red fruits are called hips. They can help add color during the winter since they can take a while to fall off. You can also cook with them and use them in alternative medicine.

Posted for Cee’s Flower of the Day

Flower a day – Lions Ear

Flowers

Lions Ear (Leijonankorva), Leonotis nepetifolia

also known as lion`s tail and wild dagga, Klip Dagga

Lions Ear, Leonotis leonurus, is a plant species in the Lamiaceae family. The plant is a broadleaf evergreen large shrub native to South Africa and southern Africa, where it is very common. It is known for its medicinal and mild psychoactive properties.

Medicinal Uses. It is said that… ( what I read about it)

Klip Dagga has long been used in African traditional medicine as a treatment for fevers, headaches, malaria, dysentery and snakebite.

It has an effect on the uterus – depending on the dose it will stimulate- or suppress menstruation.

In Trinidad it is a common cold, fever and asthma remedy.

Studies suggest that teas or tinctures made with the leaf possesses anti-nociceptive properties, is anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic and therefore lend pharmacological credence to the folkloric uses of this herb in the management and/or control of painful, arthritic, and other inflammatory conditions, as well as for adult-onset type-2 diabetes mellitus.

Both Klip Dagga Leonotis nepetifolia and Wild Dagga Leonotis leonurus are excellent heart tonics.

They are used for heart conditions associated with anxiety and tension and will calm palpitations, tachycardia and irregular heartbeats.

The dried foliage of Leonotis – both Wild Dagga and Klip Dagga – can be used as a legal substitute for marijuana (ganja, cannabis, hemp).

Smoking this dried herb gives an euphoric-like effect and exuberance.

The flowers are the most potent part and can be smoked or used as a calming tea.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Flower a day – Yellow Toadflax

Flowers

Yellow Toadflax( Keltakannusruoho )

Name also: Butter and eggs, Common toadflax

Look at its glowing yellow flowers.

Toadflaxes are abundant in western Asia and around the Mediterranean. Many of them favour culturally-influenced areas, at least to at least a certain extent.

Yellow toadflax is a perennial, strong-rooted herb which has root buds. It flowers on roadsides right up until late September. In Finland it is native to coastal rocky outcrops. Inland plants may be established aliens that arrived later. Yellow toadflax has a beautiful flower and has thus been transplanted into gardens as an ornamental and found new habitats in this way.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.

Flower a day – Meadow Vetchling

Flowers

Meadow Vetchling (Niittynätkelmä)

Name also: Meadow pea, Meadow pea-vine

Look at its glowing yellow flowers.

Meadow vetchling has never been an important nutritional or medicinal plant, although it has probably been a useful fodder plant.

Meadow vetchling spreads widely through its runner-like rhizome to form large stands. Sexual propagation is however problematic: pods don’t develop on most of the flowers and the seeds are prone to being destroyed by insects. It makes an impressive sight however when it is in bloom, and it stands out easily among the surrounding grasses. It climbs up to become visible by using its tendrils to climb on other plants.

Meadow vetchling is the only yellow-flowered species out of the members of its genus that are established in Finland. At first glance its flowers might look like bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), but the latter has a tendril instead of a terminal leaflet, and it doesn’t use other plants to climb on.

For Cee´s Flower of the Day.