Friday Flower Fiesta (1/25/13) — The Proteaceae family
One of my favorite plant families is Proteaceae, of which its best known plants are Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea, Hakea, Dryandra, Leucadendron, Leucospermum, and Macadamia. If you think Macadamia might be macadamia nuts, well, you would be right. Most of their flowers look like pincushions, which is a common name for many of them.
Except for one King Protea currently blooming near the giraffes at the San Diego Zoo, this family generally blooms when it’s hot and dry. They also don’t like a lot of water, so San Diego’s climate suits them well. Unfortunately, very few plant nurseries carry these beautiful plants, so you’re best ordering them online from some place like Australia or South Africa. If you want to see a great collection here in San Diego, head on out to the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego (link to Google map) in June and July.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Proteaceae family, all of them from either the San Diego Zoo or the Water Conservation Garden:
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Posted on January 25, 2013, in Flora, Friday Flower Fiesta, Mother & Father Nature, Photos and tagged banksia pictures, cuyamaca college, dryandra pictures, embothrium pictures, grevillea pictures, hakea pictures, leucadendron pictures, leucospermum pictures, macadamia pictures, protea pictures, proteaceae pictures, rancho san diego, san diego zoo pictures, water conservation garden. Bookmark the permalink. 37 Comments.
protea-8-1002 is my fave pic, followed by img_7896.
This truly IS a flower fiesta! Beautiful all around, Russell!
ps. Thank you for camping out in my blog today!
Unusual and beautiful…I love the architectural forms of these blooms. I really needed some color as my office view is white snow & grey bark…luckily the sky is blue & the sun is out otherwise it would be really depressing.
Beautiful delicate blossoms!
They look like something from outer space.
Reblogged this on bearspawprint.
Beautiful photos! They are such gorgeous flowers! I’m waiting for my grevilleas to grow and looking forward to autumn when I can try dwarf banksias again. Last summer was not good for seedlings where I live. Thank you for sharing such lovely photos.
Lovely. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! You could have been in my back yard (in Australia) to take these flowers. Aren’t they wonderful? I’ve even got a big old macadamia tree, but those are definitely tough nuts to crack.
Ciao, Zoey.
I WAS in your backyard. I rang the doorbell but you weren’t home, so I just helped myself to pictures………..lol
Highly unusual blooms you photographed. Very pretty,.. Do these grow in your garden or do you only have the cacti and the rose that you can not kill? I did not have time to read the entire post. I know these are all exotics or at least I think so.
My gardens are cactus and succulents, and that stupid rose. These proteas are at the San Diego Zoo and the Water Conservation Garden.
Wonderful post of our flowers.. thanks Russel.. not sure they are indigenous to Australia.. I think they are purely South African..
Wikipedia …Protea (pron.: /ˈproʊtiːə/)[1] is both the botanical name and the English common name of a genus of South African flowering plants, sometimes also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos).
Proteas are from South Africa but I’m talking about the Proteaceae family. In it are plants from Australia, South Africa, Central Africa, South and Central America, India, eastern and southeastern Asia, Oceania, and New Zealand, according to Pole in his article “The Proteaceae Record in New Zealand,” published in Australian Systematic Botany, 1998. Fossil records and genome identification indicate that they were quite widespread in the Southern Hemisphere.
Ok Russel I was commenting on the Proteas of which I recognised some.. others of your post I don’t even know… sorry if I upset the comment s page…
Maybe my bad for lumping all of the plants together?
Fantastic, RR
Ah yes, you said you’d do a post specifically for them. You’ve got some beautiful shots there. Wonderful.
lovely
some really unique looking flowers!
Interesting texture … I’ve never seen them before. Thanks for the intro.
What an artist you are!
Lovely pics Russell! You are a great photographer.
A flower like fireworks ！
Just beautiful! I love the colors and textures that these photos show us!
These are amazing photographic compositions. Showing the imperfect symmetry of the flower and the colors that are startling in their richness and depth.
Russel, great work.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom
Breath taking pictures ,most of these flowers are the proof of the
creator.Thank you for liking (A day without tomorrow.) Please visit again.You have a lovely blog.indeed.jalal
Wow. Gorgeous photos and what beautiful, unique flowers. Thanks.
nice selection.
Up close & spectacular. Bottle Brush is a personal favorite. Thank you…
Those plants do resemble pin cushions, lol. I especially like the pink one that resembles a sea anemome.
I meant sea anenome.
Wow! What photos. Thanks for following my blog. Yours is great!
I live in Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, and often see examples of these beautiful plants, both in National Parks and in residential areas. They are stunning!
With our continuing loss of water during all months – we may see more and more of these beautiful plants.
Grevilleas are so graceful and spidery. I’m not fond of proteas though.
Love them too – and the only times I get to see them is when I’m somewhere tropical like Maui. Then I’m merrily clicking away until the family protests loudly!
Beautiful pictures of flower blooming. It’s been ages since I’ve seen big red bottle brushes like that!
Thanks for sharing
Rohan.