Pages

Friday, January 25, 2013

Tiger flowers (not Tigerlilies) Tigridias and Sunflowers at their peak

I was shown this beautiful Tigridia at the Parkville garden this week. It goes by the common names of Tiger flower or Shell flower. It does share some attributes with the Tigerlily they are from different families (Tigerlilies are from the Liliaceae family and Tiger flowers are from the Iridaceae family).  Like the Tigerlily its flowers are relatively short lived and are replaced by new ones which enables it to remain flower for a longer period of time. It is native to central American countries and its roots are reputed to have been cultivated for food by the Aztecs. I'm not sure of the species of this particular specimen but using google I've found that Tigridias come in a variety of colours. I certainly would love to plant some at home but I'll have to research whether the climate will permit it. The one shown below was buried amongst the Hydrageas in the central courtyard bed in Parkville. So it is growing in part shade.



Lastly the Sunflowers I planted in Parkville are now in full bloom. All Ten varieties were successful and the ones at home in Macedon are also starting to flower. My mission for next seasons Sunflowers will be to plant out twice as many and plant them in various locations in the Parkville garden. Also I will mix them up rather than segregating them into their different groups. The Giant Russian Sunflowers are huge (approximately 2.3 metres high).





No comments:

Post a Comment