13 May 2010

Flowers of the Eastern Cape #1 - Strelitzia Juncea

I have often said that there is always some plant that is flowering in the Eastern Cape, no matter what time of the yearit is. I have decided to put my theory to the test and will publish a photo a week, at least until spring.
My first flower this series is the Strelitzia juncea, which grows naturally in the Uitenhage and Patensie areas, just to the North of Port Elizabeth. 


This photo is not the best quality, as it was shot from my car window at a traffic light in Uitenhage yesterday evening, in a hurry. And in case you are wondering I was not driving. I had to be very quick as the light was about to change and my camera was still in its bag. Up until that point I did not know where I was going to find my first subject.

These are ideal plants for beautifying the road verges because they are very drought resistent and as we are in the middle of a terrible drought at the moment need no tlc.

6 comments:

Eileen Mariane aka Marmsk said...

Great photo, funny how sometimes a photo grabbed from a car window can turn out well. I try to keep my camera in my lap when a passenger.

Katney said...

We had them in our yard in Southern California when I was growing up. We called them Bird of Paradise. I once brought one home to the Northwest to show my first graders. It was totally amazing to them.

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

That is the beauty of our country Max, always something in bloom and making a pretty show. We are so lucky to live here.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

that's got to be a beautiful drive, with those exotic (well, to me anyway) flowers along the road. The verge! (a new word for me, but I figured out what it means.) I think that some kind of flowers all year is probably true for Florida too (we're newish here, and don't spend all year).

Firefly the Travel Guy said...

Strelitzia are very interesting and beautiful flowers. I have been threatening for so long to plant some in my garden, but have kust never gotten round to it.

Paty said...

These are quite common here in Mexico in gardens as well as commercial plantings since they are drought resistant. I saw a lot of them practically everywhere in the Caribbean.