Today!! Is this week’s WordPress theme. The challenge is to take a photo today!
These flowers are from the two grevillea bushes which are in flower right now at the front of our house. It has been a beautiful autumn day with a soft breeze and gentle sunshine. It is a lovely transition into autumn and the grevilleas bring nectar feeding birds to the garden. Large parrots and small honey-eaters take turns to gather and feed on the sweet flowers and shoots.
The grevillea is native to Australia (and New Guinea, New Caledonia and Sulawesi) and is a common species of the Protaceae family.
These two plants are large shrubs, about 3metres or 10feet high. The yellowy flowered bush (I think this is called Moonlight) starts branching out very low down on the trunk and as such, it provides a great ‘wine glass’ shape and a cluster platform where birds build their nests. I daren’t get too close at the moment as there is a lot of activity going on.
They seem to come back year after year and I love to leave out bits of cotton or soft wadding for them to collect and weave into their houses. One year, we clipped our dog and left some of her soft, woolly fur outside. Sometime later I found that it had been used to line a little nest!!! Fantastic.
See my previous entries for the Weekly Photo Challenges HERE
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Such beautiful flowers….never seen before.
Wow – it’s so cool to share things across the world.
These are prolific in Western Australia, and yes I think they’re beautiful too! Thanks for stopping by.
that is great louise, i wonder what the pink one is ? we have moonlight too and it is a major source of food year round …. such a vigorous and beautiful plant!
Hi Christine, I’ve been searching the net and due to the size of the bush (about 3m/10ft) I think it is likely to be Grevillea “Caloundra Gem”. It’s a very creamy/pink and quite delicate looking. Gorgeous too!
Amazing flowers- they look crocheted.
Wow – what a cool observation – I didn’t think of that but you’re SO right!!! They DO look like crocheted coat hangers don’t they?
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Really interesting flower Louise – do they have a scent?
Hi Lynne, yes they do. The flowers themselves are not ‘perfumed’ but when they are full of nectar they smell quite like warm honey. It can be quite a heady smell and the birds love it!
The scent you describe sounds similar to the delicious scent of the honey locust in our side yard. What a wonderful scent to greet you in your yard.
What a beautiful flower! I love all the spiraling petals. And it is so cool that the birds love it.
Wow, I have never seen these. I love the colors and the unique design
Judy
These are beautiful – I’ve never seen them before!
Lovely exotic flowers. Look like they could come from a Rousseau painting.
They are wonderful, gorgeous soft colours and I love how they attract so many birds. We have them here in the south west but I’ve only seen small ones I guess because winter is too cold.
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Amazing photos. I just dropped by to tell you I have nominated you for a couple of blog awards (and I see you already have several!). Anyway there’s a couple more waiting for you at my blog – do check it out!
Beautiful flowers! Love how you help the birds build their nests! They reward you by returning every year
Perfect. Stunning flowers!
It looks like you can eat them. Hehe
lovely and original
Thanks Susan – they’re quite amazing. I saw some others emerging this morning that are really quite pink. I’m going to try to get a shot of them this week between rain showers!!