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A bloom shown with its petals not fully opened yet. The blooms are large and "fleshy" with white on the bottom of the petal, which is showing here, and deep red on top. The very prominent stamens are bright red. The blooms are strikingly beautiful. (San Antonio Tx.)
That sure is a striking flower...the anthers really stand out against the red filaments. Looks like a fireworks display going off. Thanks for posting it!
The bloom here is not fully opened and the stamens and anthers really show up. I never really noticed this plant until it bloomed. I practically came to a screeching stop in my car when I saw it. The blooms are outstandingly beautiful. I was going to take a photo of a fully opened bloom, but my Mother is in the hospital and I haven't had a chance to gp back to the plant and do so. The upper side of the petal is a beautiful shade of maroonish red as shown in this photo:
Looked at the hyperlink pic...That would inspire an artist to copy it...so exquisite.
Sorry to hear that your Mother is ill. Hope it is not too serious.
I know what you mean about wishing you had room to plant one more thing...if only we had known about all the wonderful plants out there in the world when we first began to garden, how different it would be!
My Mother hasd 2 fractures in her lower spine that were hurting badly and was going to have a procedure done which glues them to together (not a fusion). This is like a miracle ... the pain is eased immediately and it is a relatively minor procedure. Her heart problems flared up during the procedure and her regular doctor had not consulted with her cardiologist as he said he was going to do. To make a long story short, she needed a pacemaker before any type of procedure could be performed so she could be administered medication to control another heart problem. They inserted a pacemaker this morning and then performed the back injections, but she is in intensive care now because the pacemaker was not set correctly and the other heart problems popped back up. They think it is all straightened out now and they are only monitoring her. Anyway, hopefully by tomorrow morning she will be okay. At least her back does not hurt. At 92, she is one tough Mama and an inspiration to us all.
Yes, I sure would have planned my gardens a lot differently in the beginning if I had known what I do now. I would have surely had a spot for this plant. The foliage is really nice even without the outstanding blooms and fruit.
I have not grown this plant. I have read that it prefers cool winters and moderate summers (80° to 90° F). It is generally adapted to areas where temperatures stay above 15° F. When the plant does not receive at least 50 hours of chilling, flower production is poor. Sudden fall frosts can damage ripening fruit and late spring frosts can destroy blossoms. In areas that have mild winters, the plant responds to warm spells by blooming early and the blooms are damaged by a late frost. Heat stress in the summer may cause them to drop fruit prematurely. Lack of water will cause the fruit to drop. Although it is drought tolerant once established, it should be watered deeply on a regular basis, especially during flowering and fruiting periods. The flowers and fruit will drop if it does not receive adequate water. However, the soil must be allowed to dry out between waterings. Birds eat the bloom petals and fruit. Maybe they are knocking off the blooms and immature fruit.
