Round up for F

F

FFFFFinally ffffound fffflowers ffffor F:)Here are the entries for this round of the Flower fest. It would be really wonderful if more people would join in, the sweet anticipation of a grand round up ( if that's possible) at the end of the Fest is building up. Hope the enthusiasm and the interest doesnt lose its momentum, and hope we will see a lot more entries in the next round for G!

False Indigo

Gini has sent in the False indigo or Baptisia australis, from her own garden! It resembles the pea flower, does not require much care except for an occasional trimming of leaves that tend to grow outward.

Two entries for Forget Me Not!

Forget Me Not - Sree

Sree has an oil painting as usual. These are little flat five petalled flowers which belong to the Genus Myosotis and family Boraginaceae. The state flower of Alaska, this annual/perennial prolific is in spring and the color may vary from blue to pink and sometimes white.

Forget Me Not - Nature and Me

Nature and Me adds - It was believed in 15th Century Germany that the wearer of these prety blooms would never be forgotten by their lovers. Hence, the name Forget-me-not. The forget-me-not became the subject of a disco song "Forget Me Nots" by Patrice Rushen in 1982 hitting the Top 10 in many countries. The lyrics include "Sending you forget-me-nots, to help you to remember".Interesting!

Fringe Tree

Manisha has a lovely photograph taken at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, of the Fringe Tree which quite makes up for the absence of a wild flower this week! Chionanthus virginicus, also known as the Old Man's Beard, sports fragrant white flowers with fringe-like petals. The Chinese Fringe Tree is wonderful to have on small lots as it does not grow taller than 10-15 feet. In the wild, it can grow up to 30 feet.

Fuschia

Shilpa, (not to be confused with Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes!), sent in this gorgeous picture of fuschias. This is what she had to say: "These pretty flowers come in shades of red, purple, white, and pink and are tubular or bell-shaped.
So far, I have only seen the double-colored versions. Do you know there are more than 100 varieties of Fuchsia?

Fuchsia plants are valued for their showy flowers and vibrant colors. They are used in gardens to attract humming birds and of course, for ornamental purposes.

I get a few visitors to my bird-feeder but no humming birds. My plan is to get some Fuchsia plants next summer and see if I get lucky!

This picture was taken in a state park in NC, in September this year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuchsia has more info."

If you have entries you would like to send in for F, please do so! G will go live on December 3.

Flower Fest, Flower Fest Round Up, Round Up F

Freak out with F!

F is the letter to focus on.

It's great to hear that there are entries already brewing for this letter.

Please send in all your entries by November 29, 2006 to flowerfestival[at]gmail[dot]com. The round-up will be posted shortly thereafter.

The guidelines for the letter F.

Round up for E- Flower Fest

E

Looks like Echinaceas have won this round of the Flower fest, just as Dahlias did the last!Though it seemed impossible to come up with a name for the letter E, we managed 3 Echinaceas and one wildflower from Manisha!

Erigeron peregrinus

Manisha has captured dainty Subalpine daisies (Erigeron peregrinus) which are a part of the Asteraceae family, the second largest family in flowering plants. Also known as the Wandering daisy, this wildflower is found mainly in the western parts of North America and these blooms are between 1/16th of an inch to 2 inches in diameter.

We have three entries for Echinaceas (Echinacea Purpurea)

Sree has rendered them on canvas with oil. It is also called the purple coneflower a native American herb which is used for its many medicinal properties against cold and other common ailments.



Gini has shot some lovely pictures of the same pink echinacea blossoms, bursting into bloom. Gini adds that these plants require no care. They bear flowers for a long time and attract a lot of bees. Towards fall, when the flowers start to dry out, just let them be. The seeds are a source of food from the birds during the cold. Plant coneflowers for a bird friendly garden.



Nature and Me completes the hatrick with a watercolor of echinaceas. She is currently having computer woes and is unable to update her blog but that didn't stop her from participating in the Flower Fest. (In fact, this is a great example of how you can participate if you don't have a blog or don't want to post the picture of the flower to your blog.)

If you have entries you would like to send in for E, please do so! F will go live on November 19.

Flower Fest, Flower Fest Round Up, Round Up E

E for flowers, not eeek!

E.

You can do it. There are flowers whose common names or botanical names start with E.

If you are new to this blog, please review the guidelines; the letter is now E.

Please send in all your entries by November 15, 2006 to flowerfestival[at]gmail[dot]com.

If you need help with flowers from E, here are a few helpful links:
By scientific name
By common name

Flower Fest - Round Up for D

D

D is for Dahlia! There's no doubt about it. That's the first flower that comes to mind. And we have several beautiful types of Dahlias in the Flower Fest Round-Up for D, sprinkled with a couple of non-dahlia entries!

Pink Dahlia

N&M of Nature and Me has a striking watercolor of the national flower of Mexico, Dahlia. Dahlia is also the official flower of the city of Seattle. Named after Swedish 18th-century botanist Anders Dahl, this flower has blooms that vary in size from 2 to 10 inches!

White and Red Dahlias

Anita made a trip to the Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas recently. She found these perfect beauties near Auli, a famous ski resort!

Butterflies are partial to these flowers, it seems! Read more about dahlia and Anita's trip to Badrinath and Har Ki Pauri on her blog.

Soft Pink Dahlia

Gini has these marvellous soft in pink dahlias in her garden!! She grew them from tubers she bought at a grocery store. Read how Gini plans to care for her dahlias over winter on her blog!

Daffodils

Think of spring and with it come images of yellow daffodils. Sree has a refreshing spring flower in watercolors for us as we go headlong into shorter days and the cold weather starts enveloping us.

Delosperma cooperi

Manisha has planted these metallic pink drought-resistant Delosperma cooperi in her little rock garden. They need very little care and according to her, are late risers and retire early!


I hope you enjoyed this round-up as much as I enjoyed doing it! It's a real treat to be able to do the round-ups and learn more about each flower!

We will be moving on to the next letter, E, on November 5. So put on your thinking caps and brush off those post-Diwali blues and get to work on E!

Flower Fest, Flower Fest Round Up, Round Up D