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Written By John West

Don't repot an orchid when it is in bloom.
So I repotted my orchid and all the blooms fell of.
Another shoot started growing.
This is the first new bloom.
It took about 6 weeks.
I won't repot for a while.
A bouquet of beautiful roses. Perfect choice Rob with help from Kat.
Marigold flowers with anthers and stigma on show. at the Rotorua tree trust.
An extra one for no other reason than I like it.
Magnificent magnolias at the Rotorua Tree Trust.
Slightly weird plant.
Helleborus flowers repurpose their petals when pollination is complete. Anthers drop off and chlorophyll is pumped into the petals. Party clothes off and working clothes on.
Difficult to keep looking good. :)
The white tulip's tale; off with her head.
In this episode the stigma crown is brutally chopped off to reveal the fused ovaries.
The nect layer in before the big pothole in the middle is the tissue the pollen tubes tunnel through looking for an egg to fertilise. If you see a "thread" in any of these tulip pics its probably a pollen tube.
Time to stop obsessing about tulips.
The Tulip's Tale.
Tulips flowers look pretty but their seed producing equipment is rather redundant.
Takes at least five years starting from seed to grow a bulb that will throw out a good bloom or so I've read somewhere.
Anyway yellow stigma on top to catch excitable pollen grains that grow a large pollen tube tool to fertilise eggs in the ovaries
Three ovaries fused together each with two parallel chambers.
The lime coloured tablets stacked on top of each other will become seeds when the pollen tubes penetrate them.
Anthers with pollen grains.
Sorry the flower didn't survive. Slicing it's neck with a pair of scissors ensures a better outcome for next year's bulbs growing undergound. Life is cheap in the garden.
Red tulips are officially my favourite flower. Tulips posing in these pics are free range and move with breeze.Tulips hate being locked down indoors.
Everything about these flowers is larger than life. Bright red colour, big flowers and large yellow stigma sitting on a star shaped bee magnet.