Tulilp Tree

Have you ever seen a tulip tree? It is named as such because of the flowers that it produces. They are green and bright orange and are in the shape of a tulip flower. They are quite lovely. The wood is used for cabinet and furniture framing.

Wikipedia states Liriodendron is a genus of two species of tree in the Magnoliaceae family, known under the common name Tulip tree. Liriodendron tulipifera is native to eastern North America, while Liriodendron chinense is native to China and Vietnam. Both species are large deciduous trees.

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Poinsettia

Poinsettias are beautiful plants that grow in red, pink, and white. They are usually associated with Christmas. According to Wikipedia, poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are flowers native to the Pacific coast of Mexico, some parts of central southern Mexico, and a few localities in Guatemala. I have seen them in Maui of the Hawaii islands.

Alternative names for the poinsettia are Mexican flame leaf, Christmas star, Winter rose, Noche Buena, Lalupatae, Atatürk çiçeği ("Atatürk's Flower", in Turkey) and Pascua. Go here to learn more. Go here to learn more about these lovely adorning plants.

Corona de Cristo (Crown of Christ)

This plant is a type of cactus, and small heart-shaped red flowers. In Spanish, it is called, Corona de Cristo which means Crown of Christ in English.

According to Wikipedia,a cactus (plural cacti, cactuses or cactus) is any member of the succulent plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also crop plants.

Cacti are distinctive and unusual plants, which are adapted to extremely arid and hot environments, showing a wide range of anatomical and physiological features which conserve water. Their stems have expanded into green succulent structures containing the chlorophyll necessary for life and growth, while the leaves have become the spines for which cacti are so well known.

Go here to learn more about Cacti.

Petunia

Petunia plants include a wide variety of plants. They are often used as ornamental plants that are displayed in houses, on lawns, and in offices.

According to Wikipedia, Petunia is a widely-cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, in the family Solanaceae. The origin of P. x hybrida is thought the be a hybridaization between P. axillaris and P. integrifolia. Many open-pollinated species are also gaining popularity in the home garden. A wide range of flower colors, sizes, and plant architectures are available in both the hybrid and open-pollinated species.

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Ivy

Ivy are climbing plants that are often used as adornment. Ivy can be seen on lawns, on buildings, and in houses.

According to Wikipedia, Hedera (English name ivy, plural ivies) is a genus of 15 species of climbing or ground-creeping evergreen woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to the Atlantic Islands, western, central and southern Europe, northwestern Africa and across central-southern Asia east to Japan. On suitable surfaces (trees and rock faces), they are able to climb to at least 25–30 metres above the basal ground level.

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Aloe Vera

Have you ever seen an aloe vera plant in the ground? I've seen acres of this plant grown in Costa Rica. Aloe Vera has many uses including healing burns and adding moisture and nutrition to hair, skin, and food. Many cosmetics include Aloe Vera in the ingredients. Go here to learn more about this useful plant.

Cranberries

Cranberries are traditionally enjoyed at a Thanks Giving meal. It complements turkey, shortening, and other food items. Additionally, cranberries make a very healthy juice that helps to correct urinary tract infections.

According to Wikipedia, cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the genus Vaccinium subgenus Oxycoccus, or in some treatments, in the distinct genus Oxycoccus. They are found in acidic bogs throughout the cooler parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to 2 m long and 5 to 20 cm in height, with slender, wiry stems, not thickly woody, and small evergreen leaves. The flowers are dark pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. They are pollinated by domestic honey bees. The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially white, but turns a deep red when fully ripe. It is edible, with an acidic taste that can overwhelm its sweetness.

Happy Thanks Giving to you and yours!

Oak Trees

Oak trees are very sturdy and tall trees. They are very common in woods and are used to make building and furniture. Did you know that oak trees are used to build barrells to age wine?

According to Wikipedia, Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with a lobed margin in many species; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with a smooth margin.

The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6 to18 months to mature, depending on species. The "live oaks" (oaks with evergreen leaves) are not a distinct group, instead with their members scattered among the sections below.'

Please Go here to learn more about these majestic trees.

Orchids

Orchids are lovely flowers. I've seen them growing in the rainforest in Costa Rica. They come in an array of colors, sizes, and designs. They are useful for decorating tabletops, homes, and are a popular flower for the prom. Did you know that there are about 22,000 accepted species in the orchid family? Go here to learn more.

Bromeliads

Bromeliads are exotic and beautiful tropical plants. According to Wikipedia, Bromeliaceae (the bromeliads) is a family of monocot flowering plants of around 2400 species native mainly to the tropical Americas, with a few species found in the American subtropics and one in tropical west Africa. The family includes both epiphytes, such as Spanish moss Tillandsia usneoides, and terrestrial species, such as the pineapple Ananas comosus. Not surprisingly, the pineapple plant is part of the Bromeliads family.

Many bromeliads are able to store water in a "tank" formed by their tightly-overlapping leaf bases. However, the family is diverse enough to include the tank bromeliads, grey-leaved epiphytic Tillandsia species which gather water only from leaf structures called trichomes, and a large number of desert-dwelling succulents.The largest bromeliad is Puya raimondii, which reaches 3–4 m tall in vegetative growth with a flower spike 9–10 m tall, and the smallest is probably Spanish moss. Go here to learn more.

Oak trees

Oak trees are very sturdy and tall trees. They are very common in woods and are used to make building and furniture. Did you know that oak trees are used to build barrells to age wine?


According to Wikipedia, Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with a lobed margin in many species; some have serrated leaves or entire leaves with a smooth margin. The flowers are catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a cup-like structure known as a cupule; each acorn contains one seed (rarely two or three) and takes 6-18 months to mature, depending on species. The "live oaks" (oaks with evergreen leaves) are not a distinct group, instead with their members scattered among the sections below.'

Go here to learn more.

Dogwood Trees

Dogwood trees beautifully adorn the woods in the spring time. The leaves display flowers in shades of white and pink. According to Wikipedia, the Dogwoods comprise a group of 30 to 50 species of deciduous woody plants (shrubs and trees) in the family Cornaceae, divided into one to nine genera or subgenera (depending on botanical interpretation).

Most species have opposite leaves and a few have alternate. The fruit of all species is a drupe with one or two seeds. Numerous varieties of Dogwood are represented in the insignia of U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Go here to learn more.

Lilies

Lillys are gorgeous flowers. They adorn gardens in the spring and summer. They are perfect for giving away to express one's love or affection. According to Wikipedia, The Liliaceae, or the Lily Family, is a family of monocotyledons in the order Liliales. Plants in this family have linear leaves, mostly with parallel veins, and flower parts in threes.

Many plants in the Liliaceae are important ornamental plants, widely grown for their attractive flowers. Many plants in the family are poisonous if eaten. A floral pattern said to be based on a lily or lily-like flower is used in heraldry; see Fleur-de-lis.

The Lily family was formerly a paraphyletic "catch-all" group that included a great number of genera that are now included in other families, and some in other orders, such as Agavaceae, Alliaceae, Amaryllidaceae, Anthericaceae s.s., Asparagaceae, Asphodelaceae, Convallariaceae, Hyacinthaceae, Melanthiaceae, Nartheciaceae, Smilacaceae , Tecophilaeaceae, Themidaceae, Tofieldiaceae, Trilliaceae and Uvulariaceae. Go here to learn more.

Bamboo

Bamboo plants adorn homes, offices, and restaurants. When given as a gift, they are considered as good luck plants. Did you know that there are about 1000 species of Bamboo? They are found in cold climates and hot tropical regions. They can be seen in Asia, India, Australia, Africa, United States, Europe, Canada, and Antarctica.

According to Wikipedia, Bamboo is a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. New shoots of some of the larger species can grow over 1 meter per day. They are of economic and high cultural significance in East Asia and South East Asia where they are used extensively in gardens, as a building material as well as a food source. Go here to learn more about these plants.

Romantic Roses

Roses are lovely flowers that spell romance. They are popular for courting and romance, although there doesn't have to be a reason to give away a rose. It can be "just because." Did you know that what is commonly known as the "thorns" are actually called "prickles?" These prickles are outgrowths of the outer layer of the stem.

According to Wikipedia, a rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa, and the flower of this shrub. There are more than a hundred species of wild roses, all from the northern hemisphere and mostly from temperate regions. The species form a group of generally prickly shrubs or climbers, and sometimes trailing plants, reaching 2–5 metres tall, occasionally reaching as high as 20 metres by climbing over other plants.

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Rose species that produce open-faced flowers are attractive to pollinating bees and other insects, thus more apt to produce hips. Many of the domestic cultivars are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips.

Muscadine Plant

Muscadine plants have some of the most beautiful fowers. The picture below is of a flower that bloomed from a muscadine plant in the wild. It is pretty extravagant! Did you know that there are over 300 kinds of cultivated muscadine plants in the United States?

According to Wikipedia, Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) are a grapevine species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century. They are well adapted to their native warm and humid climate; they need fewer chilling hours than better known varieties and they thrive on summer heat.

The muscadine berries range from bronze to dark purple to black in color when ripe. They have skin sufficiently tough that eating the raw fruit often involves biting a small hole in the skin to suck out the pulp inside. Muscadines are not only eaten fresh, but also are used in making wine, juice, and jelly. Go here to learn more about this very useful vine.

Cactus

Do you think that cactus only grow in the desert? Well, surprisingly they are found in most climates. They grow as trees, shrubs, or ground cover. Cacti are commonly used to adorn the outdoor gardens of homes.

According to Wikipedia, A cactus (plural cacti, cactuses or cactus) is any member of the succulent plant family Cactaceae, native to the Americas. They are often used as ornamental plants, but some are also crop plants. Cacti are distinctive and unusual plants, which are adapted to extremely arid and hot environments, showing a wide range of anatomical and physiological features which conserve water. Their stems have expanded into green succulent structures containing the chlorophyll necessary for life and growth, while the leaves have become the spines for which cacti are so well known.

Cacti come in a wide range of shapes and sizes. The tallest is Pachycereus pringlei, with a maximum recorded height of 19.2 m, and the smallest is Blossfeldia liliputiana, only about 1 cm diameter at maturity. Cactus flowers are large, and like the spines and branches arise from areoles. Many cactus species are night blooming, as they are pollinated by nocturnal insects or small animals, principally moths and bats. Cacti's sizes range from small and round to pole-like and tall.

Go here to learn more about these beautiful plants.

Tree of Palm family

Did you know there are about 2600 species of Palm trees? The tree in this picture is in Maui of the islands of Hawaii. I was amazed to see it because I had never seen such an unusual tree. It is a kind of palm tree that bears fruit that resemble pineapples.




According to Wikipedia, the Palm Family, is a family of flowering plants belonging to the monocot order, Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and possibly warm temperate climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, compound, evergreen leaves arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, many palms are exceptions to this statement, and palms in fact exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics. As well as being morphologically diverse, palms also inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts.

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Evergreens

Can you guess why these plants are called "Evergreens?" I'm sure it has to do with their color. Also, these trees keep their leaves all-year round.

According to Wikipedia,in botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose all their foliage for part of the year.

Leaf persistence in evergreen plants may vary from only a few months (with new leaves constantly being grown and old ones shed), up to a maximum of 45 years in Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Pinus longaeva ^[1]. However, very few species show leaf persistence of over 5 years.

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Cattails

Cattails are neat plants. You can probably figure out how it got its name. Doesn't the plant remind you of a cat's tail?

According to Wikipedia, Cattail has a scientific name of Typha latifolia. Typha is a genus of about eleven species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the monogeneric family, Typhaceae. The genus has a largely Northern Hemisphere distribution, but is essentially cosmopolitan. These plants are known as bulrush or bullrush (mainly in British English), cattail or punks (mainly in American English), or in some older British texts or the current guide book Collins Complete British Wildlife as Great Reedmace.

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Orchids

Orchids are lovely flowers. I've seen them growing in the rainforest in Costa Rica. They come in an array of colors, sizes, and designs. They are useful for decorating tabletops, homes, and are a popular flower for the prom. Did you know that there are about 22,000 accepted species in the orchid family? Go here to learn more.

Tropical Flowers from Hawaii

Tropical flowers can be found on the mountainside in Maui, Hawaii. The flowers are often grown in the gardens of the local residents, and then sold outside of their homes. A boquet cost only $3.

The same flowers can be found in a neighboring store for $15. What an difference! The boquet can be kept in a vase at home and then later dried and kept in a boquet or made into a wreath.

Muscadine Grape Plants

Muscadine plants have some of the most beautiful fowers. The picture above is of a flower that bloomed from a muscadine plant in the wild. It is pretty extravagant. Did you know that there are over 300 kinds of cultivated muscadine plants in the United States?



According to Wikipedia, Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) are a grapevine species native to the present-day southeastern United States that has been extensively cultivated since the 16th Century. Its recognized range in the United States extends from Delaware south to Florida, and west to Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

They are well adapted to their native warm and humid climate; they need fewer chilling hours than better known varieties and they thrive on summer heat. The muscadine berries range from bronze to dark purple to black in color when ripe. They have skin sufficiently tough that eating the raw fruit often involves biting a small hole in the skin to suck out the pulp inside. Muscadines are not only eaten fresh, but also are used in making wine, juice, and jelly.

Go here to learn more about this very neat vine.

Azaleas

Many gardens include the popular Azaleas. They come in a variety of species and colors. An array of Azaleas can make any garden beautiful.

According to Wikipedia (The Free Encyclopedia), Azaleas are flowering shrubs making up part of the genus Rhododendron. Originally azaleas were classed as a different genus of plant, but now they are recognised as two of the eight sub-genera of rhododendrons - subgenus Pentanthera (deciduous), and subgenus Titsushi (evergreen).

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