Here is another view of "guess what #2". These are very elegant looking flowers on a special Aloe plant. I'll be honest with you...I do not know the exact name of this plant. I just know it is some form of an Aloe---and there are many many kinds of Aloes.....This is just one of the many in my garden.....
Here....above, they kind of look like Lady Fingers made with Oranges or Orange Dye #9.....The shape of these flowers is so special and very different from a lot of other flowers.
The picture above is a closer look at the top of the Flowers....In this picture above they look like skinny loves of French Bread....lol!
Pulling back a bit.....Above, you see more of these tubular 'petals'.....These are all on one stem and below is a close up of the bottoms of the stems that form the flower cluster on top.......
Each of these tubular petals or individual flower petals grow out of these intertwined stems....The "whole" is quite Magical, I think, as you can see from the next picture.
There are so very many unusual flowers in the Succulent and Cactus world.....Most of them do NOT do well away from the mother plant---It's not like you can cut the flowers and put them in water. And as some of you know, there are some Cactus Flowers that are only open for one day....one 24 hour period. Or, in some cases, only one night---less than a twelve hour period. In July there will be some of those Night Blooming Cereus flowers which are one-nighters only.....Here below is a picture of one of these magnificent blooms......
This is such a delicate amazing flower.....Wide open at Midnight...By morning, this was all closed up.....Talk about...if-you-don't-see-it-that night-you-have-to-wait-a-whole year.....Of course, there might be one night when as many as 22 blooms are open all at the same time, and then, will all closed up the very next morning......
Above....five of these blossoms very close to each other...wide open at Midnight.....Seeing this is completely and utterly magical....There will be more of these flowers in a few months.....Meanwhile.....here below, another very Beautiful Aloe Flower Cluster....Shocking Orange!
More tubular flowers.....This looks like a painting to me.....And this picture above is a 'detail' of the picture below.
Thanks for playing the "guess what" game....There were some very very creative answers....And a lot of you were right about it being a flower petal or something from my garden. The trick would have been actually recognizing what flower and plant it is. A lot of people said they enjoy this "guess what" game, so, I will do it again, soon.....!More To Come.......
- had this to say:
Hey Naomi I was 'blown' away....gorgeous and I was totally mesmerized by all the unusual flowers...very very nice :D
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 12:43:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Beautiful! I am constantly amazed by the beauty of cactus flowers. I think it;s because they sprout from such unassuming looking plants that if anything can look dangerous with all those spines!
Lovely photos's. Your garden should be in the local tour guide!- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 2:25:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Nice macro shots, I love that you can see the "soft plant fur." Micheal sent me :)
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 3:48:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Naomi- I was away from your blog for a few days and am just getting caught up, these are such beautiful photos. I love flowers anyway, but these are stunning.
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 4:32:00 AM PDT
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had this to say:
Hi Naomi: For a little house in the hills, you sure do have a vast garden! Would love to see a long shot of the whole thing - possible?
Beautiful as usual.- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 6:06:00 AM PDT
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had this to say:
Nicely done. I returned to the previous post and was amazed at the way you caught the light on the flowers -- tremendous color.
Cheers.- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 6:33:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
So much for my carrots guess!!! LOL
They are so pretty and what a lovely color!!! Thanks Naomi, I enjoyed this guessing game!
I do hope all goes well with dear sweet Sweetie!!! :)- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:01:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Ohhhhhh, absolutely gorgeous!!!!
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 8:25:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
oh my! Gorgeous! guess it wasn't a gerber daisy huh? hahahaha... as always, you take the most beautiful photo's Naomi!!!
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 8:42:00 AM PDT
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had this to say:
I haven't had a chance to get in here this past week, so I missed out on your quiz. But....not sure I would have gotten it anyway...lol
Your flowers are all gorgeous, as always.
Have a great weekend.
Terri
http://www.islandwriter.net- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 1:29:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Wonderful plant...and it is totally beautiful...
Who would have thunk it!!!!- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 2:24:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I remember doing night drives in the desert just to smell those cereus. You would drive up one wash or another and the fragrance would be overpowering. On a soft desert night, it was the perfect capping.
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 4:06:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I have to show Lucas the photos of your cacti.He's been begging for a cactus plant for awhile now, and my S.O. surprised him with a little one last night.
It's a cute round little thing... I have to look it up and see what kind it is!
Here via michele today. Sorry it's been awhile... dealing with some bullying issues at our place...- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 4:40:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
The most beautiful works of art are growing in your garden!
I knew it was a flower; I knew it! :) I have a typical Aloe plant in my yard, nothing fancy like this. Thanks for sharing!- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 5:06:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Oh dear Naomi,
we do live in a different world when talking about climate and vegetation.
When I do see your flowers - It's a dream.
By the way, people that can't see the beauty and understand the connections as you so often have said: bees and the flowers - that is the ultimate. That's why you are a fav blogger to read and commrn
As you can see at my last post.
Well,
I'm on the net - but -it takes time. So from now on - my pics had to be click on to be seen properly.j
But when coming to culture, I do think we are from the same "breed".
Did I tell you, I might think so, that I was in your "industry" years ago? Representing Norway in " Festival du Theatre de la jeune groupes" Nancy . France 1968. We left on Pril 30. The riots stars in Paris on May 2. Our friends cars were burned. Their homes destroyed.
oooppss -it seems I'm tired.
it's 2:30 AM here
hugs
excuse again for my "Anglais"- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 5:29:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
I thought they were flowers ... I just didn't know what kind. Very cool! They'd never survive our winters.
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:32:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
They are all beautiful, Naomi. I doubt too many people could have come up with the name of the plant from that photo.
- Friday, May 2, 2008 at 7:57:00 PM PDT
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had this to say:
You blowed away my mind with those pictures!
Glad Michele sent me your way today!- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 12:16:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
These are amazing pictures. I've never 'knowingly' seen the Aloe plant before, although there's plenty of 'products' that reference it.
Your plants are so different from the small flowers we have here in England - bluebells at the moment!- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 4:14:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Gorgeous photography, Naomi. You must have a marvellous close-up lens to capture such details! And what a glorious colour.
I didn't know that some cactus only bloom overnight and then wait for a whole year to repeat... what fascinating plants they are! Your garden must be full of interesting plantings... do you have a gardener to look after it all?- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 7:44:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
I love macro and I loved these shots. And what a pretty pretty color. I hate I missed the game, I haven't blogged or been Online much this week unfortunately. I would've never guessed right though! I didn't know there was different kinds of aloe.
- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 7:51:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Pretty photos - as always!
- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 11:29:00 AM PDT
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had this to say:
I am awe of these beautiful photos of your cactus flowers. You surely must have some kind of magical touch. Living where I am I'm afraid these gorgeous would never last. But I am drooling over yours. Keep up the good work.
- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 12:59:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Naomi, they look heavenly...I need more color in my yard. I need to post the pictures of my tomato plants, you can see tiny little tomatoes all over the plants...
- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 1:09:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Naomi, you can make the simplest of things look beautiful and intriguing ! I never would have guessed it was an aloe plant, nor thought they could be orange - lovely ! Hope that you are enjoying this pretty weekend :)
- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 2:39:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Your photos are amazing and I love the fact that you watch them all so closely.
Aren't you enjoying the Civil War letters that Bud is posting? They are truly worth more than money could buy.- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 4:01:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Those photos are just gorgeous, Naomi! Love principally the orange color!
Have a nice Sunday!
Many hugs!- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 4:47:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
hello oldoldlady ... your flowers look a lot like the ones we have in our summer.
It is surprising how everyday objects, looked at from different viewpoints, are almost unrecognisable.- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 6:45:00 PM PDT
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had this to say:
I stared at the original "guess what" picture for I don't know how long. And I thought it must be something other than a petal, cuz that would be so obvious, know what I mean? But omgosh those are beautiful!
Selfishly, I have to say, the picture makes me a bit sad. The house (our dream house) we wanted & bid on, but didn't get, had 2 aloe plants exactly like that in the backyard. :(
How far was the fire from you?- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 7:20:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Those tubular blooms are wonderful! They really do look like soft bread sticks in that one photo. Pass the butter, please.
Those flowers that bloom for one night are incredibly beautiful. They look so delicate and glorious! I bet it just thrilled you to see them.
You capture such amazing shots. These are blooms we would not see otherwise, so I thank you for sharing them. I was fortunate to see your garden and even some of those hummers in person! I was not able to see all the blooms in their various stages and all the other delights you share with your blog buddies.
Yes! I hope you will continue this guessing game.
It's a lot of fun!- Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:27:00 PM PDT
- had this to say:
Hi Naomi! I love and amazed at the cactus flowers. Oh the sweet fragrance of the midnight blooms...great picture. Thank you.
- Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 6:27:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Well I got that wrong. Again!
What a heart-warming blaze of colour. Bravo!- Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 7:48:00 AM PDT
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had this to say:
I got an absolutely visceral reaction to these shots. A shiver in the back of my neck and then my eyes got wet.
- Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 10:23:00 AM PDT
- had this to say:
Ok... when is the next one... I am getting into this... if ever you need me to babysit your cat I am more then happy too... I miss having a cat...
- Wednesday, May 7, 2008 at 9:17:00 AM PDT
x4
