Japanese Maple

Botanical name - Acer palmatum atropurpureum

I fell in love with this tree.  I love these red/purple foliage. They look so elegant.   Not just the colour, look at the beautiful shape of the leaf.  There were so many that we saw on our trip to the UK.   I read that most of the year through the leaves are this lovely colour, but there were some who mention that they are green in summer.  We were there in June, so I cannot really be sure if these leaves were green at all.

There was also this lovely tree (below) – it does not look the same – that we saw from our boat as we cruised along the Loch Goile in Scotland.  What a magnificent tree!

The first two trees were identified by Justin Davis.

I think the main reason some of our trees do not look this lovely are our overhead cables.  Someone is always cutting the branches of our trees unless they are really in the wild.  If they were left to grow without the roots entangled in a concrete mass and branches away from the overhead poles and wires, our trees would have so much more character!

Spicy Jatropha

Also called Peregrina.

This shrub was spotted in a so called ‘function hall’ and that should explain all the yellow wire and the tiny light bulbs all over the shrub. I suspect they grow the shrubs to serve their fancy lighting purposes.

The tiny star shaped flowers grow in clusters.   This perennial shrub has many slender trunks but apparently can also be pruned to a single one.

Botanical name: Jatropha integerrima    Family: Euphorbiaceae (castor family

Shrub photographed at AS Rao Nagar, Hyderabad.

 

Small and White

Common Name:  Yellow-Vein Eranthemum, Golden Pseuderanthemum

I could not get closer to this evergreen shrub to get a better picture. There are tiny white flowers here with purple pink dots in the centre.  And the foliage a shade of yellow to green – though not clearly seen here in the picture.

Botanical name: Pseuderanthemum reticulatum      Family: Acanthaceae (ruellia family)

( Picture taken at AS Rao Nagar, Hyderabad)

The other small white flowers with a little pink centre is the Saxifraga x urbium – the London Pride photographed in Lake District, UK.

Aid in identification of the flower by Justin Davis.  Ideal for ground cover, it produces little pink /white flowers growing from succulent stems.  It grows in neglected spaces.  And is said to have been flowering in the bombed sites in London in the 1940s and therefore symbolic of the resilience of London and the Londoner.  There is even a song by Noel Coward that became popular in WW II .

That brings me to the title Small and White for this post.. remember the song in The Sound of Music?

Bushman’s Poison

I do not know if this shrub has been identified correctly.  Also known as  - Poison Bush

Native to Africa, but widely grown as an ornamental plant in India because of the profuse white flowers that are fragrant.  The latex of the plant is used by tribes in Africa to poison the tips of the arrows.  However,while  all parts of the plant are poisonous, the black seeds that follow the flowering is said to contain the highest amount of the toxin.

The small five petal flowers are white, tinged with pink. Flowering occurs mid February onwards.  And leaves are thick, dark and stiff.

Though fragrant and beautiful, it has been recommended that the plants are not planted in school campuses.

Picture taken in Lodhi Gardens, New Delhi

Botanical name: Acokanthera oppositifolia    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)

Black eyed Susan

More yellow….  like sunshine.   Rudbeckia fulgida – Astraceae family.   Fulgida means shiny or glittering in latin.

Yellow flowers with coarse dark green foliage.  Gardeners feel it looks best when grown in a big circle around a tree.  I can imagine the pretty picture it would make.  But even otherwise the flowers look pretty and they have this brown-black centre and thus the name Black-eyed Susan.

Picture taken by Sa – located in S’s garden, London.

Some useful information here.

Calendula

Common name: Calendula, Pot Marigold, English Marigold  

These are bright yellow and orange flowers belonging to the Sunflower family.  They look similar to the Marigold flower – the most popular flower this season in India adorning doorways and garlands.

Pot marigolds are said to bloom at the beginning of the month and thus got its name from Kalendae, Latin for first day of the month. The petals of the flower are known to have medicinal properties.

Botanical name: Calendula officinalis    Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family).   Pictures taken at Hitex, Hyderabad and Lodi Gardens in Delhi

 

Wisteria

Wisteria a hardy climber.  Seen here in the pretty purple colour.  There are many varieties and I do not know which one this is.. possibly the Wisteria floribunda – the Japanese Wisteria. Family: Fabaceae (Pea family)

They are said to grow vigorously and need to be controlled.  And the blooms seen here are really worth it.  The pictures here were taken of the flowers allowed to trail down the roof of the London Apprentice – the popular pub in Isleworth. For more info check this link

Magnolia sieboldii

Common Name – Oyama Magnolia

Native to Eastern Asia – Japan, Korea.  A small tree.  With white cup shaped flowers with purple red stamens.  Almost look like mini lotuses.  The flowers are fragrant, but I did not notice it in the rain!

Picture taken at Benmore Gardens, Scotland

 

California Lilac

A compact shrub / small tree with bright blue flowers.  Said to ideal for dense ground cover, for low walls, for fences….  And they have nice dark green leaves and therefore the blue flowers stand out.

Beautiful… Seen at the  resort in Hunters Quay, Dunoon, Scotland.

Species – Ceanothus thyrsiflorus repens

Australian Bottle Plant

Common Name : Buddha Belly Plant, Pyhsic Nut.  A native of tropical America.

Australian bottle plant so called because it has a bottle shaped trunk thought to resemble the Buddha Belly!  This one is a realively small plant and the trunk was like this.  
It has tiny flowers occuring in clusters,  that are coral shaped placed on long stems .  The leaves are large and lobed. The flowers are found almost throughtout the year.

These pictures were taken at Gun Rock Colony, Secunderabad.

Botanical name: Jatropha podagrica
Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family)