The Great Slipper Orchid Scam.
Pollinating the slipper orchid is a tale of deceit and occasionally death for an unsuspecting pollinator.
Despite this plant’s allure, it’s a complete scam for winged visitors, clever advertising but no product. Paphiopedilum Inca Harvest rely on their appearance to attract pollinators and don’t waste time producing nectar or essential oils.
Pretty flower, mantis killing machine.
Giant swively-headed mantises have been around for a long time. Fossil traces were found in a disused iron mine in the Canadian sub-Arctic. Dated to around 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous it would have foraged insects from the early ancestors of slipper orchids I am interested in.
El Penon de Guatape
Not far from Guatape, Columbia stands this massive structure carved painstakingly from igneous intrusions dating from the late Cretacdeous 70 million years ago.
Poppy Seeds.
Pollen grains land on the stigma crown before sending pollen grains into the ovary where they deposit sperm cells in an egg.
Calceolaria flowers, bright bursts of yellow hitting retinas and CMOS sensors.
Bright reds and yellows mixed with dull greens.
Why do some colours have a powerful visual impact?
It turns out that specialised, light sensitive cone cells packed onto retinas are responsible.
Hibiscus magic
Giant exploding plate-sized blooms.
This hibiscus bud opened properly in the late evening with a rapid burst before dawn. The flower must be open for business early to catch the first pollinators. It has a short shelf life.
The flower was at its best on that first day, fading on the second and dropping off on the third.
Otakamiro point Muriwai, the land that time remembered.
Our property in Kumeu stands on land once submerged 2 kilometres below the sea 20 million years ago.
Then, a deepening sea (Waitemata Basin) collected sediments washed from massive marine volcanoes in the west and a coastline to the North composed mainly of durable greywacke rocks.
Calceolaria flower shower in red yellow and orange.
Pollinators can’t miss this feast of colour.
Slipper Orchid is showing off its opening routine.
My slipper orchid executing a flower build using techniques perfected over the last sixty million years. Early ancestors appeared during the Palaeocene and genes responsible for this marvel reboot with every successiove generation.
Zygopetalum flower surprise.
There are flowering plants and then there are orchids. Orchids thrived in their adopted niche as they evolved a distinctive flower structure and root system.
Calceolaria flowers say “come to the party.”
All is not as it seems. Calceolaria has followed an evolutionary path less often followed.
Lachenalia, pretty flowers and an old camouflage jacket.
Bright yellow flower tubes hanging around for a pollinator. Large dark dots cover the leaves and spike like a camouflage jacket.
Streptocarpus Parviflorum with delicate blue flowers is worth a second look.
I bought this plant on a whim. It looked tired and jaded and past its best in the plant shop. It did have several curled-up stems that were beginning to grow; I felt sorry for it. The flower has an unusual stigma and anther configuration. I’ll leave it alone and have a closer look later. Our new cat, Freddy, has also taken a closer look. He broke several flower stems in the process.
Collins Bay with pillow lavas and a large block of conglomerate.
The south end of Collins Bay and the Conglomerate Block’s Story.
Cobbles, boulders, and gravel forming the conglomerate block in the picture are on a journey that began in the early Miocene.
Cicadas are back in town!
The distinctive deafening sound of cicadas accompanied my mid-morning stroll in Kumeu a few weeks ago.
Savage garden and an attack by a killer mantis.
A giant mantis dismantles its prey.
A white butterfly flutters gently on a pot plant decorating the fence line beside the tree nursery. It is rushing to fill the tank with carb-rich nectar. It’s dangerous to park here for too long. Something is amiss? The delicate wings are beating with too much urgency.
Savage Garden and an attack by killer wasps.
Chemical warfare in a tiny Rotorua garden.
On a sunny afternoon relaxing in suburban Rotorua, above the lake not far from the CBD, bad things happen in tiny gardens.
A solitary green bottle with onboard advanced drone technology.
My tiny vegetable garden has many surprises.
Dallying with Dahlias
Dally for a while, and look closely at this dahlia plant.
A violent volcanic eruption on Takapuna Beach with little warning. The forest close to the cafe was destroyed.
Auckland is the only city in the world built on a live volcanic field and the Takapuna eruption opened the show.
Large masses of partially molten lava under Auckland City rise relentlessly to the surface.