Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with flower

Wildflowers near Los Angeles?

klangklangston — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:59:45 -0800

Wildflowers day trips from Los Angeles? Girlfriend and I want to see wildflowers in the wild. We live in LA, and would prefer to be able to do this on a single day (she's got some furlough time coming up).

Where are the best? What did you like about them? What's can't miss? What specific dates should we shoot for? What's the best season to see which flowers?

I know very little about the plants in Southern California, mostly because I grew up in the Midwest.

And personal experience is very much appreciated—I've found a fair passel of vague pages on the internet (some Parks Service, some not) that don't really have the "Go here the third week of February" specificity that I'd like, being a total newb and all.

What is this pot plant and how to treat it?

procrastinator — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:40:26 -0800

We got this pot plant in our office as a gift but we have no idea what its name is or how frequently we should water it or where to keep it (direct sunlight? shade?). Please help.

I'm a lost little plant, what's my name?

dpcoffin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:20:44 -0800

What's this Plant filter? Seems to be a 2-ft.-tallish volunteer in an abandoned pot on our back deck in southern coastal Oregon, but then again, it might just be something we forgot we planted.
TIA!

I want grass without the fuss

reenum — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:31:31 -0800

I'm thinking of replacing my lawn with artificial grass or some other thing that doesn't require constant upkeep. I'd like to hear your experiences with such horticultural matters. I hate mowing my lawn. Always have and always will.

So, I'm thinking of having Astroturf or some other artificial grass installed. I've also been researching ground covering, which appears to be the growing of ivy or some other plant that will cover the sod, but not require mowing.

Has anyone here replaced their grass lawn with either of these alternatives. Anything I need to watch out for? How often do I need to replace artificial grass or ground covering?

All opinions and suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Name That Plant

escher — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:15:04 -0800

It's time for another round of Name That Plant. I got a flat of plants for free and i'm not sure what they are. Can you help identify? pic here The picture is a closeup of a 4"x4" square single plant, i think the flat has 9 of those or so. Currently the plant stands about 4-5" tall.

What is this plant?

srboisvert — Sat, 02 May 2009 05:51:04 -0800

What is this plant? [2,3] More details: I'm in the UK, West Midlands. It is growing in close to full sun.

Will my flowers grow?

boulder20something — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:59:22 -0800

How long is a pack of flower seeds good for? I have 4 packs of flower seeds (sunflowers and morning glorys) that I bought last spring but never used. They have been sitting in my dark, cool pantry unopened since then. Will they grow if I plant them? Or will I be wasting my time, hoping for flowers that never come?

Flower Identification assistance required.

srboisvert — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:43:03 -0800

What is this plant/flower 1 / 2 / 3? I'm a renter (Birmingham, UK) and have had already had one summer in my current flat but these flowers didn't make an appearance last year (or at least I don't remember them if they did). This spring there are clumps all over the place. This suggests a biennial (or my pending senility) to me.

The only flower we had in such abundance last year was crocosmia but the ones we have flower much later in the year and grow taller leaves that stand up more (the leaves are already coming back).

I know I could just wait and see but I would like to know what to expect.

What is this flower?

anifinder — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:30:50 -0800

FlowerFilter: Can you identify this flower? These flowers bloom in the late winter and spring months in my father's yard (in southern Louisiana), and he is curious to know exactly what they are.

He thinks they are some kind of wildflower or weed, though neither one of us know very much about plant life.

Some internet searches suggest it could be False Garlic, but my eye is not really trained enough to make a definitive confirmation.

Thanks for your help!

Nelumbo lutea in southern Vermont?

doomtop — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 08:14:18 -0800

Nelumbo lutea in southern Vermont? In search of Nelumbo lutea anywhere near southern Vermont. Northern MA, NH, upstate NY? Can it be found anywhere near here?

Help me identify this muted-purple plant

aleahey — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:22:43 -0800

Help me identify this live-forever lookalike (sort of) I recently went to Duke Gardens (a local horticultural garden) and my girlfriend was really enamored by this particular plant. It was a small leaved, sort of round-lobed, purple-ish leaved, thingy. The purple was a muted purple, kind of like, dusty.

It had a small friend. It was similar in description, but its color was more of a blue.

The leaves were thick, and densely aligned along the stem. Think of sort of a bow for a gift. About that height, and about that shape.

If its any help, it was in the "english garden" section of the garden.

Thanks for any help you can give, I would really like to get my girlfriend one of these as a house plant. So, any information on the care of the plant you guess, would be helpful as well.

Also, I'd like an order of fries.

Blooming indoor plants

that girl — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:29:13 -0800

What kind of flowering indoor plants will keep flowering? I'm interested in trying to grow some hopefully-happy indoor plants, and am looking for something to branch out of the leafy-green indoor plant standard (or at least the standard found at my office). Are there any flowering plants that a normal human can get to flower on a semi-regular basis, indoors?

Also, I'm interested to hear if you have any suggestions for indoor plants that can do well with minimal sunlight (irrespective of flowering ability). I live in Pittsburgh, which means that it can be hard to get high-sunlight conditions for plants.

How can I revive my favorite mystery plant?

pokermonk — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:30:49 -0800

How can I revive my favorite mystery plant? So, I'm looking to both identify and revive a plant that was given to me second-hand by my grandmother. (It's been neglected after a move.) Please forgive me because my terminology is absolutely layman.

-It's a vine-type plant but particularly hardy with almost woody stalks.
-It noticeably pursues light making very large movements over the course of a day.
-Its leaves are thick and dense, maybe a couple inches long, and grow in pairs off the vine. Leave sproutings are probably about 4-5 inches apart on average.
-This is the big one. It sprouts little pink flowers that look like candy (about fingernail-size) and are as tough as any other part of the plant. These groups of flowers grow in a semicircle (not a dome, but a wheel) off spoke-like red stalks (half an inch or so). The flowers are in groups of maybe around 8?

It either died or was pretty close to death when I discovered it again. I've taken the most alive section of branch and placed it in a jar of water. It's grown a number of small bumps, but they don't seem to be developing beyond that. In the pot, I still have the rooted plant which I've trimmed down to just a stump other than a separate growth from the old-main one, which has what looks like a fresh sprout coming out of it. This is maybe an eighth of an inch long and very tiny. It also hasn't grown.

The plant was a mystery to my grandmother, so I've never known how to properly care for it but did well for a few years before moving. I felt like I was drastically underwatering it, but it grew incredibly especially considering just how robust it is.

I'd like to either revive or replace it since it's been an entertaining, unusual plant to have among the more common things. So, any help on identifying or caring for would be much appreciated.

How Much is that Blue Flower in the Window?

suedehead — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:11:46 -0800

FlowerFilter: What were these flowers? An year ago, I gave my significant other some blue/violet flowers because they were a kind she especially liked. Fast-forward to now: I'm trying to remember the name of the flowers, but can't. They were blue/violet colored, had multiple flowers on a single stem, and the flowers were slightly droopy, but that's all I remember. Help me, please!

Brazil Flower I.D.

iamck — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 08:36:16 -0800

Can anyone botanical experts identify this Brazilian flower? (From Maranhao, Brazil) I spotted this on the coastal swamp area of Maranhao, outside of Sao Luis. The seeds have a pearlish shine to them. I never found the name for them, even from the locals (I didn't know the word of pearl).

Help me get my flower power back

sociolibrarian — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:30:35 -0800

Can anybody tell me where I can find a flower pen I bought years ago? I got it at a stationery store. That store doesn't carry them anymore (I've been checking back and checking back for a good decade now) and they referred me to this place as a possibility, but when contacted, those folks said unfortunately they don't carry such a thing.

I loved this pen and really want to buy more of them. All my searches, calls and emails have turned up nothing.

It is hard plastic, with 3 or 4 hard plastic petals that open when you push the lever down for the pen to come out. Here's my attempt at a drawing of the flower pen.

Flower ID

teishu — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:43:23 -0800

What is this flower? We have a large variety of wild flowers that we seeded into the yard, and this one seems to be doing best but doesn't seem to be one of the flowers we planted at all. We think its great but are very interested to know what it is and if it came from us or just dumb luck.

Name this pretty mystery!

cowbellemoo — Sat, 19 May 2007 21:26:26 -0800

What is this flower I snapped at the Botanic Garden? [side view, top view] I made a big print of this for my mom's office for Mother's Day and she'd like to be able to answer her coworkers when they ask "What is it?"

It was in a planted garden outside the actual enclosure, so it's able to grow in Zone 7 (Wash., D.C.). I didn't think to look for a plaque at the time. I tried this flower ident. guide, but no dice. Our best guess was a tulip variant, but I think the texture of the petals was much coarser than regular tulips. And it was pretty huge. 2-3 feet tall and 4-5 inches across.

Thanks in advance!

Can you identify this strange plant?

Mr. Gunn — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:42:32 -0800

Can you identify this strange plant? We live in South Mississippi, and my father has never seen a plant like this in 50 years. It's growing in an area that used to be forest, but became a field after Katrina, and it's on the edge of the field in a fairly sunny spot. The flower kinda looks like clover, but clover has lobed leaves, not grassy shoots like this plant, so we don't think it's clover.

More pics here and here.

Help identify this flower

dvf1976 — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 21:40:05 -0800

BotanistFi: Help us identify this flower... My wife and I were walking around our neighborhood and we saw this flower:

[Picture on Flickr]

We'd like to try to plant them in our own yard, but Google's image search didn't seem to help ( and we're painfully shy with our neighbors).

Leopard Plant?

splatta — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:29:08 -0800

Help me identify this plant. This plant popped up in a friend's garden in Charleston South Carolina. It seems that it took about three or four days to get to the current size, about 3 feet. The leopard/girrafe print on the stalk is very interesting. Any ideas?

How can I learn to plant a healthy garden?

odinsdream — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:25:24 -0800

Please share resources for learning about, selecting, and planting a garden given a particular climate and soil. I'm moving soon, and the yard has great potential. I enjoy growing plants, but technically I know very little about what I grow. Some of my plants thrive, others wither and die.

I'd like to learn more about how to effectively select plants for a given soil type and climate. Of course, I'll also need to learn how to describe and understand my soil (nitrates, pH, hardness, water retention?), and climate.

What are some good resources for learning about what I want to plant, when to plant it, and how to care for it, with a good deal of technical reasoning to back it up?

By the way, I'm interested in herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Thanks!

How do I get cut peony buds to open?

semidivine — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 07:48:56 -0800

I bought four peony flowers at the market, two of them were really tight buds, two were slightly looser buds. The loose ones are opening just fine in the vase (and they're gorgeous!!) but the tight ones haven't budged. I was wondering if anyone had any tricks (ie. something to put in the water?) to make the buds bloom.

Sweet pea flowers in a floral arrangement

NucleophilicAttack — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 11:51:16 -0800

I'm looking to deliver an arrangement of sweetpeas in the continental United States. Cost is no objective, and even the timing is not urgent -- anytime from now until the end of this month would work. However, I can't seem to find any florist that actually offers arrangements with these flowers! From what I can gather from Google and from conversations with florists, there are a few hurdles:

1) The flowers are almost, but not quite, in season. This seems to contradict other sources which say that April is about as late as they still grow, being a cold-weather flower.

2) Apparently they wilt very quickly (1-2 days?) unless somehow specially treated with some sort of chemical(?), after which they can look fresh for up to a week.

3) That they are a "vine" type plant and don't have well-defined stems, and thus are difficult to make into nice arrangements.

Does anyone have ideas?

Bonus: what's with sweetpeas in wedding bouquets, anyway? (especially since their meaning is apparently 'delicate pleasures?')

Picture of Hippie protester placing flower in rifle

spakto — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 07:39:13 -0800

I'm looking for that famous picture of a Hippie placing a flower in the rifle barrel of a soldier, but my Google-fu has escaped me. Where can I find it? Or is it all a conspiracy . . . Please help!