Travel Theme: Blossom

Jo Bryant, , , , ,

Blossoms…having reverted to rather chilly mornings having blossoms as the travel theme this week brought me back, if only in my dreams, to the softer days of spring. I am missing them. Last week my fire died, well the flue part of it, and I am waiting on it to be repaired, keeping my fingers crossed the temperatures don’t drop any further until it is.

I would really love your help identifying some of these. I do love flowers, and grow a few but am hopeless when it comes to knowing what it is I have half the time.

I do know that this is a protea. Hard to miss that one. No idea what type though.
I do know that this is a protea. hard to miss that one. No idea what type though.
This is a nasturtium right ? Again...no idea what type.
This is a nasturtium right ? Again…no idea what type.
Help !!! What the heck is this ??
Help !!! What the heck is this ??
So out of my league here. I found this beauty on a walk with Chevvy.
So out of my league here. I found this beauty on a walk with Chevvy.
I admit defeat with this one. Found in a garden in Matamata.
I admit defeat with this one. Found in a garden in Matamata.
Thought I should end on a high note. These are daisies...right ???
Thought I should end on a high note. These are daisies…right ???

Now…just because…

Published by Jo Bryant

I was born in the land of Banjo Paterson, gum trees, and weather extremes. I am a freelance photographer. I love to make images that make people happy. To capture forever a precious moment. I am also a freelance writer/editor. I live in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, but still like to claim my Australian heritage. I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications in 2008. I am writing my first novel. I love to write poetry, short stories, and also write for the web. And there is nothing that is on a par with a sunny summer's day spent at Waihi Beach.

73 Comments

  1. The red and yellow bloom with petals folded right back ? – hemerocallis. Working on others as we speak …

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      1. Multiple flowerhead beauty found in Matamata – smells lovely ? I think it might be a lilac … Is that the lot ? 😉

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    1. Me too Gilly…me too. Though it looks as if the colder weather is starting to settle in. The fur babies are beginning to huddle UNDER the duvet…not a good sign I fear.

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  4. I gardened but not for some time and didn’t know a lot of my garden. These photos are gorgeous. Everyone. Does it matter what their names are?

    You flue died? Mind died in November. It cost $200. for repairs. Again it died. I gave up. Froze. Begged my son-in-law to light the darn thing. Until I realized it going out all the time wasn’t dependable or good. Called service again. More than $200 again and it went out AGAIN. I’d like to hear your solution and I’ll share mine. Service is supposed to be coming again on Tuesday as Monday is a holiday here. Good luck.

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    1. No…actually you are right…it doesn’t really matter but I knew someone out there would know and I am a curious wee thing…hehehehe.

      Yep it died. I knew that the part where it sealed in to the firebox had broken down. My plumber said that it wasn’t dangerous but I thought I’d get him to seal it before the cold set in. So there he was pulling the flue out when he noticed around the back of it had rusted. Badly. There is a huge hole in it…so that meant getting a new flue delivered. It is here but I just have to wait for him to have the time to come and replace the old with the new before I can light the fire. Is yours blocked maybe?? You might have to get a chimney sweep in. it is all too much for me to understand really.

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      1. Sounds expensive.
        I paid over $200 in November and pilot light kept going out. Had S-i-L get it going for me a lot. It’s only six years old and it was cleaned last November.
        Repair guy didn’t get back to me after his last visit and my $240 bill. The pilot light went out again. Tomorrow’s a holiday here, he says he’ll be in touch Tuesday and come see me.
        “How much will it cost this time?” I asked
        “Nothing.”
        As well as going out, it hasn’t been supplying the proper heat and the last gas bill doubled. Something is WRONG.

        Hope your flue is installed soon and works like new.
        ❤

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          3. Still not. Went to store Friday but they’d moved. Came home and plugged their phone number into Google and got a new address. Too upset to go back out until this morning. Had a ‘happy chat’ with myself not to lose my cool. For the most part, I was good. Didn’t smack anybody.
            Excuse is repairman now busy with air-conditioning. Heating isn’t important. My MONEY is important. I paid for something that didn’t work and still doesn’t. I was told the message will be passed on yada yada yada.

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  6. What a wide selection of spring flowers you had, Jo, from dry land Proteas to tropical Gloriosa to cool temperate Lilacs – a real paradise!

    Your Protea is a “neriifolia” – it’s beautiful, isn’t it? The nasturtium (Tropaeolum) is the only one in the genus, so no more to think about! The pincushion flower I don’t know – though I’ve seen it in gardens around here. Then comes the Gloriosa lily, native to tropical Africa and India (and Sri Lanka, where I saw it growing in such glorious and lethal abundance, amazed and saddened at stories in the papers of people suiciding by eating its bulbs – true, it is fatally poisonous). The lovely lilac, so easy to remember (in place of Syringa vulgarise), with its heavenly scent was my first great love, apparently. It is to a sprig of lilac that I first intoned “pretty”. Later I loved that it is a relative of the bountiful olive and came from the Balcans – imagine a time when both were growing wild on those dramatic, rocky mountainsides!

    Fingers crossed for a good outcome to your heating problem. 🙂

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    1. I love it when you talk all technical to me Meredith. Makes me glad someone knows what they are on about.
      😉
      I am amazed that lily is so dangerous.
      Your talk of people using it to commit suicide…so sad. This past week the younger sister of one of my daughter’s dearest friends did commit suicide. It has been a very sad week. She was only 21, the sweetest most lovely girl. It is hard to get your head around someone so young feeling so hopeless.

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        1. We have one of the highest rates for youth suicide in the world. God only knows why. My heart is breaking for her family. They have not only the grief of losing a beloved child, but all the other emotions that follow with suicide.

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  10. wish I could help identify- but do not know – if I can later i will come back – but very wonderful photos – so clear – 🙂

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  11. Love the flowers Jo, especially the red & yellow beauty with the inward curving petals. And that cat alarm clock video is just TOO cute! 🙂

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  12. Gorgeous shots of these beautiful flowers Jo! They are so colourful and bright. Love them! 😀
    Thanks for the smiles. Loved the video. Cats are so adorable. 😀

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  13. I am hopeless with flowers too. I just admire them 🙂 As I was scrolling through your post I was quite excited to notice I think I know that one! The purple one 5th down looks like lilac. They can be purple or white and smell so beautiful. They grow on large bushes or small trees. Sometimes many trees sprout if left along and you may have a large ‘bushy’ bunch 😉
    Love all your pics. That first one is SO cool.

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  15. The third one – is it on a tree? I first saw something similar at Arnold Arboretum, in Boston. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151890932505531&set=a.10151573600465531.842106.791500530&type=3&theater
    I hope you can access the photo. Gorgeous bloom! i thought I knew what it was but other than a vague memory of “silk” being in the name, I’ve got nothing *(it appears to be called the “silk tree,” with details here. http://arnoldia.arboretum.harvard.edu/pdf/articles/1968-28–albizia-julibrissin-and-its-cultivar-ernest-wilson.pdf
    Seriously gorgeous, and blooms until fall, as near as I can tell. When we saw them, it was spring, and they were blooming alongside the lilacs (pic 5). A

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  16. Arnold Arboretum celebrates Lilac Sunday every Mother’s Day, but for us, the lure of cute kids dressed as ducks was too much. Plus, the lilacs weren’t fully bloomed, so bummer! But, had we been there, the chance to catch a silk tree in bloom might have been too much. I’ll put it on my list.

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  18. Nature works in mysterious ways. And it’s a great artist. That fourth one looks like art the most for me. You have some flower savvy commentators here.

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  20. Brr hope that flue gets fixed Jo … chilly mornings make for a slow start in some ways Lol
    You’ve isolated those flowers beautifully … and umm I don’t know some of them either !
    What lovely funny kitty wake up calls 😉

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  23. Now if you had posted some English climate photos I would be able to help you lol. And yes They are Daisies LOL .. I hope you get your Fire sorted.. I forget you are going into Autumn and then Winter xxx While we are moving from Spring and Summer.. xxx

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  24. I name this flower…. I haven’t a clue! Fortunately you have lots of knowledgeable friends, Jo. I just like what I like, and I love that curly orange and lemon beauty 🙂 Is it a ‘thingummy’?

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  25. Beautiful images. My flower naming skills are just as good as my bird naming skills. I can say, that’s a flower. And that’s a bird.

    Loved the cat alarm clocks. I have one of my own. He likes to bat me in the head and if that doesn’t work, he rips a chunk of hair out. Sometimes he’ll bit my elbow. And there’s no snooze option.

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  26. What a gorgeous collection of unusual flowers Jo! Love them all, especially the nasturtium and the Gloriosa Superba. Haven’t seen these since we left the plantations!

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