Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Avonia flowers (the story)

I didn't expect it to be so tricky to catch these flowers. Now I know more and can be prepared for the next time. :) The first time I posted a picture of Avonia's flower buds 4.7 and it took them whole three weeks to arrive at this point. It would have been quicker, I guess, if the weather had played along but it was dark, cold, and rainy up untill two days ago. That's when the plant obviously decided to take advantage of the good weather window. Yesterday morning I've discovered that something has changed - there was a little white blob between the petals, and it grew bigger every hour (click the pic for larger version) until around 17:00 the flowers finally opened! Three or four hours later they have closed to never open again. It is a short-lived beauty. :)

22 comments:

  1. For sure, I expected it by afternoon, I ran to everyone I could find to show before it is all finished! LOL! Spectacular! Does it smell sweet? Asking because my A. ustulata was really potently sweet smelling!

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    1. How could you not? :D It's such an event!
      I tried but didn't notice any fragrance at all..

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    2. Interesting! My A ustulata had a jasmine type smell, but 3x more potent - and the flower is small, I guess with the size of this flower, smell is less important! You should also get seed!! Very easy, just do not cover!

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    3. You're probably right about the smell. Flowers themselves are attractive enough. :)
      Are you sure about the seeds? I read that Avonia quinaria aren't self-fertile like other Avonias.

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  2. But what an amazing beauty! Kudos to you for persevering and capturing by photo how lovely these plants are when they bloom. I have the feeling a lot of people who see this blog are going to go to their local nurseries, demanding Avonias!

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    1. It had to go quickly. :D
      I read that it's not too difficult to get them from seeds, they flower early, too.

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  3. Such pretty flowers. I'm currently looking for Avonia quinaria, but am having trouble finding them in Oz, but have found other Avonia seeds; a very interesting genus. Congrats again, well worth the wait. Btw, the time lapse photo is not opening up for me..

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    1. Thanks! Others are very interesting, too. Snow white and pretty, only the flowers are smaller. :)
      Hm picasa makes the time lapse pic smaller for some reason, I tried another hosting... I'll see what I can do, thanks for telling :)

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    2. It seems to work for me. Try again :)
      http://www7.pic-upload.de/25.07.12/k92olhimsvzb.jpg

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    3. Strange, still not working for me in Oz, I can open the other 2 photos but not the vertical time-lapse one. Is it hosted on another site? For some reason, my computer can't access it. I get a black screen with message in the center saying, "Pic-upload.de - Site don't allowed".. Hmm.

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    4. Aaah I see. How about this? http://s11.postimage.org/3notazeup/Avonia_quinaria_ssp_alstonii_compilation02.jpg or this? http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/5743/k92olhimsvzb.jpg

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    5. Whichever link works I'll put it in the post.

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    6. Beautiful!! Both works. Thanks Rika! Awesome photo montage! :-)

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    7. Yay, Finally! Thanks :)
      It was pretty amazing to see how fast the flower bud grew on that day. The white blob in the middle only appeared that morning. What an effort!

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  4. Какая красота! А мне почему то сразу весной завеяло - очень уж вишенку цветущую напоминает!

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    1. Вишенка это точно :) Вот полубовалась, но недолго..

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  5. Rika Очень нужен ваш совет! Я в середине августа буду в Берлине посоветуйте где там можно литопсы купить? Я города не знаю так что подскажите еще и как найти это драгоценное место :) Заранее спасибо.

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    1. Извините, но я в Берлине никогда не была и без понятия, что там есть. Тамошних литопсных огородов не знаю. Все, что знаю, это в других городах... Иногда просто в цветочных и строительных магазинах встречаются, в соответственном виде..

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  6. Ооо вы так быстро откликнулись!
    Жалко что про Берлин не знаете :( А может Гамбург или Дрезден.. Я там буду проездом.... ну очччень хочется...

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  7. Ооо вы так быстро откликнулись...
    Жалко что о Берлине не знаете :(
    А может что то про Гамбург или Дрезден... я там буду проездом -
    Ну оооочень хочется...

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    1. По дороге в Дрезден, можно заехать в Эрфурт и посмотреть Кактеен Хааге. Единственное, что я могу посоветовать. :)

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  8. Спасибо,было бы хорошо ведь Кактеен Хааге это нечто, помнится ваш пост об этом чудном месте ;)

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