The flowers of Pseuderanthemum reticulatum are borne on upright spikes. The 4-petaled white flower has a magenta throat, spreading outwards into speckles and dots.
A lovely spike of delicate flowers interspersed with buds which are ready to pop over the next few days.
Pseuderanthemum reticulatum is a fuss-free plant. Young leaves are yellowish green, becoming darker green with yellow veins or reticulations as they age.
It can be grown as a border plant to provide an effective and attractive screen.
A flower fly landed on this petal to contemplate the goodies within.
An ant joined in the exploration of this flower.
A female Jacintha Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina jacintha) fluttered by and perched on the flower spike.
She immediately started on plumbing the deep recesses for the coveted delicious liquid.
This spider made a sudden appearance on a young flower spike.
It smelt the presence of grub and is bidding time to switch on to predator mode.
A soldier beetle is waiting on the underside of a leaf, also bidding its time.
It did a long stretch upwards to reach the leaf above.
And then its a heave-up to position the whole foot on the leaf.
In this upside-down position on the underside of a leaf, it rested for the entire day.
While removing these unsightly 'holey' leaves, I came across this snail stuck onto the underside of a leaf.
A floral spike from the garden is used to brighthen up my kitchen window sill. This small vase has been with the family for more than five decades.
Lovely flowers! Wow, your garden is like a zoo. The stretching snail photo is brilliant! Beautiful flower display, and gorgeous vase.;)
ReplyDeleteYeah, now that you mentioned it, it does look like a mini zoo. Never under estimate a snail. The whole stretching exercise was over in about two minutes.
DeleteŚliczny kwiatek i sporo na nim "gości" siadać lubi. Zdjęcia wspaniałe. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeletePretty flower on it and a lot of "guests" sit like. Great photos. Yours.
Great to think of them as guests. At least I know that there are creatures who appreciate my efforts.
Delete"The whole stretching exercise was over in about two minutes." - Wow, that's quick! :)
ReplyDeleteWe always denigrate snails; for eg. snail mail, snail pace etc. So, I was quite incredulous when I witness the whole episode. Now, I have better respect for snails.
DeleteI have got too many snails in my garden. I don't like it at all. This rainy summer has increased this snailproblem.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful flower!
I have a avalanche of snails. They are crawling all over my garden :(
DeleteI was wondering what is the common name for this plant and found that it is still more or less almost complicated as its scientific name.
ReplyDeleteI used to see this plant planted along in my school those days and usually admire the flowers and the coloured foliage.
I don't think I would ever want any snails in my garden. Anytime I find them - just squashed them with my slippers.
Yes James, the common names are not of much help for eg. Yellow-Vein Eranthemum or Golden Pseuderanthemum. When I first saw them as roadside plants, I know it must be a hardy type, so that's how I decide to have it in my garden.
DeleteI feel bad about squashing them esp when they are my photographic subjects thus have some sort of empathy for them. What I do is to collect them and send them elsewhere :I
Stiletto, that snail is having a feast! But your P. reticulatum looks extremely healthy. So don't think that snail can harm the plant hehe... Thanks for these super cool photos! Btw, you can scatter broken egg shells at the ground to prevent the snail from climbing up the shrub ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie, Thanks for the eggshells advice,but do you really think this helps? I have seen snails climbed over the vicious thorns of the Aechmea chantinii towards the centre to munch on the flower buds. Till today, there are no blooms. I saw one living in the centre of one of the plants. I didn't bother to remove it because of the thorns.
DeleteFlowers are always generous to give their nectar away equally to any critters. They will forgive snails for small number of holes. Your snail looks like a spiral shell.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your comment, the angelica in my post seems to have been used for folk medicine but I’m not sure if it’s used for baking as you wrote. Do you mean the candied stems which are used in making cakes or sweets? I like that light green color stem coated with frost-like white.
Yoko
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●Feliz Fin De Semana●
★MaRiBeL★
What a pretty plant! Both the foliage and the flowers are so beautiful. I love the photos of all the little critters, especially the snail. The photo of him stretching out his little neck was so cute!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by. I don't think the gastropod was cute. Actually i want to cry out murder. However I must admit that I was throughly amused by its antics.
DeleteI love that first photo. And that spider is kinda creepy!!! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, that particular spike was almost perfect, with all the flowers intact and fresh.
DeleteWhat a beautiful flower! I've never seen this!!! Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit. Looks aside, they are easy to cultivate besides blooming non-stop. Cuttings take easily with success rate of almost 100%.
DeleteThe flowers are gorgeous, they almost look like orchids.
ReplyDeleteBesides being eye-catching to humans, the racemes of flowers are insect attractants. Thanks for dropping by and best regards.
DeleteHi Stiletto, Love the photos of the exotic flowers, and of your garden visitors. Love that butterfly! I enjoyed your post. All the best! :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks. It is not fussy plant and to me that is the most endearing part. Minimum effort but amply rewarded by its blooms and foliage.
DeleteScatter more and lots of them ;-)
ReplyDeleteI will give it a try but my garden snails are not afraid of sharps. In fact they just glide nonchalantly over thorns.
DeleteThe snails are the uninvited guests . Anyone care for some escargots? They are big, meaty and juicy, thanks for the free meals in my garden.
ReplyDelete