Utric blooms of spring

[RL7836]

It's been a very good spring for my plants as they've presented me with some flowers that I've never seen before (in person).

I'll start with the flower of the month - U. longifolia ...




.... and now my super surprise - U. nelumbifolia. I got some of these plants late last summer and never expected flowers for some time. One of my plants not only bloomed, it had two stalks (another plant still attached to an aerial stolon sent up a stalk but I clipped it - what was it thinking??).



.... and the one below clearly shows the stripes on the spur - very cool.


... and my vote for the most under-appreciated plant of the group - U. nephrophylla - lovely ivory white offset by colorful protruding eyes....



.... and now the 'Triclops' - three eyes (& yes - that's a 2nd spur)


A few from the 'Little weedy section'... First up - the turtle shell of U. graminifolia...



The plant that gets my vote for most difficult to photograph - U. bisquamata


... to give an idea of the size - here's one that includes my skinny finger... combine this tiny flower with a point-and-shoot camera that doesn't have manual focus or depth-of-field control and you get a lot of %#@*&$#


I'll finish with a group shot of U. livida blooms ...

....some additional shots of U. livida & the others are in my growlist (typically different angles)

[zhilin]

wonderful photos! My untri also has many flower stalks now. I am looking forward to its flowers.

[RL7836]

Ok - I started this thread on April 1st - today is May 19th & my U. longifolia are still blooming! ** The plant with the 1st blooms in this thread still has 4 beautiful flowers & at least one more on the way. Two other plants are still flowering - but not with as many. Here's a pic from today...

As you can see from the swollen seedpod, all of the previous flowers on this stalk were pollinated. Counting the one that's about to open, there are/were nine flowers on this stalk.
** Later edit - still 4 flowers present on Aug 17, 2010.

[jgriffin]

Hi Ron,
Very lovely. In the past, whenver I have had U. longifolia, they have flowered like crazy for me. How long have you grown it before getting flowers?

Thanks,

Joe

[RL7836]

May 27, 2010 20:06:07 GMT jgriffin said:

How long have you grown it before getting flowers?

Hi Joe - did you grow yours in a greenhouse?

When I first got mine a few years ago, I grew it in the basement in a terrarium. It didn't like the conditions and didn't flower or even grow well. I traded the plant away only to find remnants growing in the live LFs which lives in the bottom of my tanks after 6-8 months. I potted it up and grew it on my windowsill & two other divisions were grown under lights in my office (ex-terrarium). The windowsill plant was there for something over a year & the two others for something less than a year when they bloomed. I made an effort to change the light's photoperiod to mimic (or exaggerate) the natural daylight changes.

As an aside, I just noticed some U. longifolia leaves yesterday in the original terrarium in the basement. The last time I found them, I made an extensive effort to get every fragment of longifolia. Once again - I failed - amazingly tenacious plant...