We have been having Palmy weather. Rain off and on and accompanying humidity have inspired the Adonidia Palm in my garden to flower. I have been eyeing the flower to cut for a vase. It’s the white stemmed flower in the middle.
A palm flower is a bit of a process and interesting to watch. A bud shoots up from the base of fronds, and the flower slowly unfurls. Below is a bud and a flower. The green part is the sheath at the base of the frond. The sheath above was shed, and the buds revealed; the buds later move horizontally and flower. The palm flowers eventually form berries that look very similar to the flower and fall off. This takes until late fall; most people trim the flowers off.
I have been watching other types of palms flowering as I walk my dogs in the morning. It is like a trip through the Cretaceous period, cycads and ferns included, no dinosaurs as of yet.
Another view of the vase:
And a closer view:
The glass container is a heavy, old florist vase I found by the side of the road. Orange and chartruese fruit is from Surinam Cherries, sometimes called Pitanga (Eugenia uniflora), My neighbor, a local, explained I should soak them in water to get the worms out before eating. I declined, though I did try them once, the flavor is a bit reminiscent of turpentine. Another fruit left for the birds, though a friend makes jam from them and says it is good. Red flowers are from the native Firebush, Hamelia patens.
I hope everyone is coping with the solitude and enjoying time in the garden. I seem to be moving a lot of plants around with the rain. And planning more gardens…
Thanks to Cathy, hostess of this garden meme, for carrying on with our Monday fun. See more vases at her blog, http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com
The Shrub Queen 
I need to take a better look at my neighbor’s palms. I do have one wild palmetto in my yard, but I cut the flower stem off to keep it from making more. Those cherries are a nice addition to your vase, but I don’t think I would want to eat them.
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Palm flowers are cool.. I don’t have any palmettos though I like them I am afraid they would get away from me. Cherries not for us!
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Who knew palm flowers could be so cool! My favorite feature of your vase this week, though, are the cherries. Thanks to your description I shall NEVER be tempted to eat one should I come across them. But a question: how did you know what turpentine tastes like to begin with?
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Thanks, Kris.I think the Palm flowers are cool too. See Chloris answer above for turpentine..I also hate gin, probably for the same reason.
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Your garden must be so very different to mine, Amelia! Well, I know it is but that photo of the palm just proves it! It is such a treat to see the fruits of this very different each week, as it suggests such a tropical paradise – not that I would swap our temperate UK climate and my own garden for it, of course! What intriguing things these turpentine-tasting berries are – better in a vase, I agree 😉 Thanks for sharing, as always
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It is very different and the plants were foreign to me when we first moved to Florida. I love seeing more temperate gardens. Paradise is in the eye of the beholder?
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Oh yes, I agree about it being in the eye of the beholder – something I have learned in recent years whilst visiting lots of gardens
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I love it, what an unusual arrangement. The cherries look like Christmas tree decorations. Like Kris, I wondered how you know what turpentine tastes like.
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Thanks, Liz..I sat beside my father for years while he painted with oils and cleaned everything with turpentine..clouds of fumes leave a taste in your mouth. Like Pitangas!!
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Nice combo, Amy. The palm spray makes a nice base and I really like the Fire-bush, which look like little fireworks. Sounds like our weather is at opposites in temperature, we both are getting rain, but our temps don’t seem to want to get above mid-40s. Bone-chilling dampness!
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Thanks, Eliza..I would be frozen solid at your house!! The Firebush is a favorite.
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You always have such interesting materials to use in your vases. Interesting to see the palm flowering.
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I cut just about everything to see what happens. Palm flowers are intriguing and so different.
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The berries are very striking but after reading about the worms and bitter taste you have put me off them! 😉 The palm flower is pretty amazing. Have never seen anything like it before. Lovely with the red Firebush flowers.
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Thanks..I like to look at the berries but that’s it..
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It’s the white stem that grabs my attention, especially in the first photo, as it undulates through everything else, its smaller offshoots curling around to grab hold of anything and everything. What a story it tells! The photo itself is superb.
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Thank you, Chris.. it’s an attention getter!!
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My colleague and I refer to the first bloom of a king palm as ‘graduation’. It looks like the tassels that we wore when we graduated from college. It indicates that a king palm is mature enough to bloom, even thought that stage is not as important as when it first launches. Graduation happens a few years after launching.
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I noticed the pygmy date Palm flowering this morning.. also looking like tassels.
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They do not dangle so pendulously like those of king palm do.
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