WONGA WONGA VINE

Pandorea pandorana, commonly known as the wonga wonga vine or wonga-vine, is a species of flowering plant in the family Bignoniaceae and is native to Australia, Malesia and the southwestern Pacific region.

It is a woody scrambler or climber with pinnate leaves, juvenile leaves differing from those of mature plants. The flowers are tubular or funnel-shaped and white with purple markings and the fruit are capsules containing winged seeds. It is easy species to germinate and is a popular garden plant.

Common cultivars include the yellow-flowered Pandorea 'Golden Showers', the white-flowered P. 'Snowbells' (shown here), and the pinkish P. 'Ruby Belle'. The wood was used in making spears for woomeras in the Central and Western deserts.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

TRUMPET VINE

Campsis radicans, the trumpet vine, or trumpet creeper (also known in North America as cow-itch vine or hummingbird vine), is a species of flowering plant in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae, native to eastern North America, and naturalised elsewhere. Growing to 10 metres, it is a vigorous, deciduous woody vine, notable for its showy trumpet-shaped flowers. It inhabits woodlands and riverbanks, and is also a popular garden plant.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme

JACARANDA

Jacaranda mimosifolia is a sub-tropical tree native to South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its beautiful and long-lasting blue flowers. It is also known as Jacaranda, Blue Jacaranda, Black Poui, or as the fern tree. Older sources give it the systematic name Jacaranda acutifolia, but it is nowadays more usually classified as Jacaranda mimosifolia. In scientific usage, the name "Jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the Blue Jacaranda.

The tree grows to a height of 5 to 15 meters. Its bark is thin and grey-brown in colour, smooth when the tree is young though it eventually becomes finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag; they are a light reddish-brown in colour. The flowers are up to 5 cm long, and are grouped in 30 cm panicles. They appear in spring and early summer, and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seed pods, about 5 cm in diameter, which contain numerous flat, winged seeds.

The Blue Jacaranda is cultivated even in areas where it rarely blooms, for the sake of its large compound leaves. These are up to 45 cm long and bi-pinnately compound, with leaflets little more than 1 cm long. Melbourne's climate is well suited to these trees and every year we have spectacular displays of blooms during early summer. 

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

PODRANEA

Podranea ricasoliana, the pink trumpet vine, has been out of fashion in Australian gardens for a long time, for no particular reason seeing it is a very attractive plant. As well as pink trumpet vine, this showy plant is also commonly known as Port St. John creeper, after its place of origin in South Africa. Its genus name Podranea is an anagram of Pandorea, the genus name for a group of closely related Australian native vines all in the Bignoniaceae family.

It is a vigorous, evergreen scrambler with glossy compound leaves. The beautiful trumpet shaped flowers are pale pink with carmine stripes and yellowish shading in the throat. Flowering time is summer and autumn. The fruit is a bean-like capsule containing winged seeds. Pink trumpet vine will grow best in the warmer parts of Australia, and is well worth a try in inland areas. It has low water needs once established.

It looks good grown over fences or walls pruned into a shrub or weeping standard. Pink trumpet vine grows best in a sunny position, but will tolerate light shade. It needs a well drained soil and a strong support if it is to be grown as a climber. Water well until the plant becomes established. Prune to shape and control growth immediately after flowering. It is high maintenance if pruned as a shrub or standard. The reward is a lovely plant with hardy attractive flowers, very free flowering, virtually pest and disease free and drought resistant.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

BLOOMING IN THE GARDEN...

Pandorea jasminoides is a species of woody climbing vine in the family Bignoniaceae. It is native to New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. It forms large pointed pods filled with papery seeds. It is easy to germinate, having two-lobed dicotyledons. It grows in USDA zones 9 and 10.

Flowers range from magenta through to white, often with a darker trumpet, and produce a fragrant, jasmine-like scent. Their petals can grow up to 55mm long.  Pandorea is slow growing at first, but will cover a reasonable distance once established.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 147 - TECOMA CAPENSIS

Tecoma capensis (common name Cape honeysuckle) is a species of flowering plant in the family Bignoniaceae, native to southern Africa. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the true honeysuckle. Synonyms include Bignonia capensis, Tecomaria capensis and Tecoma petersii.

An erect, scrambling shrub, it grows to 2–3 m in height and a similar width. Normally evergreen, it may lose its leaves in colder climates. In certain habitats it may scramble, meaning that it shoots out long growth tips which lean on the stems and branches of other plants, as well as boulders, trellises, fences and walls; this can lead to the plant appearing untidy. The leaves are up to 15 cm long. They are opposite, slightly serrated, green to dark-green, and pinnate with 5 to 9 oblong leaflets. The flowers are tubular, narrow, about 7.5 cm long, and are produced at different times throughout the year. They are grouped in 10–15 cm long terminal clusters. The flower colour ranges from orange to orange-red to apricot.

The species occurs naturally in South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique. It is cultivated in other areas of the world, such as in South-east Asia, Australia, Hawaii and California. It can be considered invasive in remote islands such as the Azores (as seen at the island of São Miguel, near Ponta Garça). 

Tecoma capensis has been in cultivation for many years and is often used for hedging, as it is a scrambling shrub. It can be propagated from cuttings or by removing rooted suckers during the active growth phase. It can be planted in semi-shade to full sun. In cold areas young plants should be protected from frost. To keep this shrub clean and tidy, it must be pruned back in late winter to promote new growth and flowers. The application of a balanced fertilizer after pruning will enhance the growth and flowering. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Orange you Glad It's Friday meme.

TECOMA IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS

Tecoma stans is a species of flowering perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, that is native to the Americas. Common names include yellow trumpetbush,yellow bells, yellow elder, ginger-thomas. Tecoma stans is the official flower of the United States Virgin Islands and the floral emblem of the Bahamas.

Yellow trumpetbush is an attractive plant that is cultivated as an ornamental. It has sharply toothed, lance-shaped green leaves and bears large, showy, bright golden yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. It is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The plant produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. The plant is desirable fodder when it grows in fields grazed by livestock. Yellow trumpetbush is a ruderal species, readily colonising disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared land and occasionally becoming an invasive weed.

This fine specimen is growing in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, but the species is found in many parts of Melbourne, in parks, gardens, as a street shrub and in yards. Tecoma is also a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 34 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its local government area is the Shire of Yarra Ranges. At the 2006 Census, Tecoma had a population of 2,189. The suburb is named after the shrub Tecoma that grew in the area when the need was identified for a railway station for the timber mill that occupied the site where Tecoma Primary School now stands.

This post is part of the Skywatch Friday meme,
and also part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme,
and also part of the Friday Greens meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 96 - TRIPLE DELIGHT

We are very lucky in Melbourne to have both the climate and the passionate gardeners, which conspire to bring about colourful, flower-filled gardens and streets. While walking this morning, we saw this house, which had three blooming trees in a row: A pink oleander, a blue jacaranda and a yellow tree grevillea.

Nerium oleander is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, potentially toxic in all its parts. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is most commonly known as oleander, from its superficial resemblance to the unrelated olive Olea. It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though southwest Asia has been suggested. It is grown for its single or double flowers in many colours.

Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central America, South America, Cuba, Hispaniola , Jamaica and the Bahamas. It has been planted widely in Asia, especially in Nepal. It has been introduced to most tropical and subtropical regions. The genus name is also used as the common name. Jacaranda caerulea, the species shown here is the commonest ornamental species grown for its abundant, fragrant flowers.

Grevillea robusta, commonly known as the southern silky oak or silky oak, or Australian silver oak, is the largest species in the genus Grevillea of the family Proteaceae. It is not closely related to the true oaks, Quercus. It is a native of eastern coastal Australia, in riverine, subtropical and dry rainforest environments receiving more than 1,000 mm per year of average rainfall. The tree is grown as ornamental for its abundant orange-yellow flowers in early summer.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 53 - CATALPA

Catalpa bignonioides is a species of Catalpa that is native to the southeastern United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Common names include southern catalpa, cigar tree, and Indian bean tree. The tree shown here was photographed yesterday in the System Garden of the University of Melbourne.

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 15–18 metres tall, with a trunk up to 1 metre diameter, with brown to gray bark, maturing into hard plates or ridges. The short thick trunk supports long and straggling branches which form a broad and irregular head. The roots are fibrous and branches are brittle. Its juices are watery and bitter.

The leaves are large and heart shaped, being 20–30 cm long and 15–20 cm broad. The bright green leaves appear late and as they are fully grown before the flower clusters open, add much to the beauty of the blossoming tree. They secrete nectar, a most unusual characteristic for leaves, by means of groups of tiny glands in the axils of the primary veins.

The flowers are 2.5–4 cm across, trumpet shaped, white with yellow spots inside; they grow in panicles of 20-40 and are slightly fragrant. In the northern states of the USA, it is a late bloomer, putting forth great panicles of white flowers in June or early in July when the flowers of other trees have mostly faded. These cover the tree so thickly as almost to conceal the full grown leaves. The general effect of the flower cluster is a pure white, but the individual corolla is spotted with purple and gold, and some of these spots are arranged in lines along a ridge, so as to lead directly to the honey sweets within. A single flower when fully expanded is 5 cm long and 4 cm wide. It is two-lipped and the lips are lobed, two lobes above and three below, as is not uncommon with such corollas.

The flower is perfect, possessing both stamens and pistils; nevertheless, the law of elimination is at work and of the five stamens that we should expect to find, three have aborted, ceased to bear anthers and have become filaments simply. Then, too, the flowers refuse to be self-fertilised. Each flower has its own stamens and its own stigma but the lobes of the stigma remain closed until after the anthers have opened and discharged their pollen; after they have withered and become effete then the stigma opens and invites the wandering bee. The entire Pink family behave in this way.

The fruit is a long, thin bean like pod 20–40 cm long and 8–10 mm diameter; it often stays attached to tree during winter. The pod contains numerous flat light brown seeds with two papery wings.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 27 - TECOMA

Tecoma stans is a species of flowering perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, that is native to the Americas. Common names include yellow trumpetbush, yellow bells, geelklokkies (Afrikaans), yellow elder, ginger-thomas, and esperanza (Spanish). Tecoma stans is the official flower of the United States Virgin Islands and the floral emblem of the Bahamas.

Yellow Trumpetbush is an attractive plant that is cultivated as an ornamental. It has sharply-toothed, lance-shaped green leaves and bears large, showy, bright golden yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. It is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

The plant produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. The plant is desirable fodder when it grows in fields grazed by livestock. Yellow Trumpetbush is a ruderal species, readily colonising disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared land and occasionally becoming an invasive weed.

The leaves and roots of the plant contain bioactive compounds, especially monoterpenes, which may have medicinal uses; Honey bees are attracted to it, but-unlike most flowering plants-the honey produced from Yellow Trumpetbush's nectar/pollen is poisonous.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.