Sunday, October 12, 2008

Today's Flower #10 - Bird of Paradise

I may have posted these before back when I first started my blog but since this is one of my favorite flowers I thought I'd do a series on the Bird of Paradise. I've always loved this flower since I was a kid and my mom showed me something. Did you know that if cut these for an arrangement you can kind of force the bloom by opening up the slit and pulling out the petals (I guess you'd call them petals)?
The only thing is the longer they stay in the pod the more color they will have.





If you like flowers, check out the link below for more photos from bloggers participating in Today's Flowers.

27 comments:

Mary said...

These are great! I just looked at more birds-of-paradise from Africa earlier on SAPhotograh's blog. Most be a special day for them! I love all the rainbow colors and the real close-ups you have....and even the ants :-)

Quiet Paths said...

I know very little about these; thank you so much for posting the beautiful shots. WOW - the color abounds. It's a rainbow flower...

SAPhotographs (Joan) said...

Great minds think alike 2sweetnsaxy. I just posted some of these too, Your pics are fantastic!!

Cláudia said...

WE have lots of these flowers here in Brazil, they are really very beautiful! Stunning shots!

Connie T. said...

Your pictures are so pretty. I love the colors. That is a pretty flower.

DeniseinVA said...

Wow, I haven't seen these before and I am glad you posted them again. Great shots, and now I know a little more about the Bird of Paradise. Thanks for stopping by my blog by the way. Always great to see you there.

Arija said...

It is native to Australia and looks stunning in the garden.

JM Vigil said...

They all look so great, but my favorite in the second one, it has a Georgia O'Keeffe feel to it. Fantastic colours.

Anonymous said...

wow. such amazing shots you took. are you a professional photographer? beautiful birds of paradise. i have those in my garden but couldn't take great shots like how you did yours.

Carletta said...

Beautiful!
I love the blue and yellow image!
I see you had some little friends who wanted their photo taken too.

Anonymous said...

Very exotic flowers. Great shots.

Flying Solo said...

Awesome!!
The macros are spectacular!!

Jayne said...

Those are so lovely. Birds of Paradise just always say "tropical" to me. :c)

Neal said...

Those are beautiful. I just saw the Bird of Paradise a couple weeks ago at a place where they raise orchids.

Tom said...

The flower and your photography are fantastic.... love these macro's..

Tom

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

T: You captured this interesting flower very well, they do have a strange shape. Thanks for showing all the ants.

John Theberge said...

Great photos, I love the close ups, they're kind of abstract.

Anonymous said...

I love BOPs too...oh so graceful. They remind me of swans.

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Ants and me do like "Oiseaux de Paradis".

Unknown said...

I have this flower plant too. But you make them looks so much more beautiful in your photos !!

Shelley said...

So mysstical, dreamy & beautiful all at the same time!

Craver Vii said...

It looks very much like a bird at the pet store that tried to bite me. I jumped when it lunged. I was too fast for that bird, but another one got me later. I think I prefer your flower over these birds. A lot. :-)

Anonymous said...

We have those here too. They are strange and beautiful.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photos of gorgeous flowers!

paz

EG CameraGirl said...

Very cool flower but I've never grown one. I've only seen them in florist shops. ;-)

The Birdlady said...

Those are stunning macros.

BNS said...

Very, very nice. We have this flower in our garden. I never knew that 'trick' about forcing it to bloom. Learning something new every day! Thanks.