Giant Chincherinchee Flower

Giant Chincherinchee
Ornithogalum saundersiae
(or-ni-THOG-al-um)

This is a bulb from South Africa that you don’t see too often growing in the garden but is sometimes available as a cut flower. I have never grown it myself but would like to someday. Since it tender it would have to be lifted out of the ground here every winter and stored in a cool dry place.

Ornithogalums are mostly native to South Africa and Europe. Here is a good reference page of the different species with pictures. Bulb Society dot org. It should be noted that this plant is considered poisonous to both farm amd domestic animals.

See more flowers from all over the world at Today’s Flowers .

For a bonus picture here is a Black and White Bee on Butterfly weed.

Sun Star Flower

Sun Star
Ornithogalum dubium
(or-ni-THOG-al-um) (DOO-bee-um)
Synonyms: Snake Plant, Yellow Chincherinchee

This picture was actually taken this spring. A friend of mine grew this little flower in a pot. It really was a wonderful shade of orange. A native of the Cape Province of South Africa this plant can be a bit of a chore to grow from what I read. It is considered perennial but this person was growing it as an annual and felt if it reappears next year, great, if not it is going on the compost heap.

Here are some more climbing roses from the farm. The smell almost made me dizzy.


I haven’t been taking my camera to work so there isn’t a lot of new flower pictures to post. Even if I had been taking it since it is a new house there aren’t a lot of flowers yet. That is why I dipped into the archive for this flower.

Golden Brodiaea

Golden Brodiaea
Triteleia ixioides 'Starlight'
(try-TELL-ay-uh) (iks-ee-OY-deez)
Synonyms: Pretty Face, Brodiaea ixioides, Calliprora ixioides, Ornithogalum ixioides

This West Coast native is often sold as a perennial and it is except to us Zone 5 and 6 gardeners. I have never got it to come back so I treat it as an annual. Other experiences and viewpoints are always welcome here at Digital Flower Pictures.com, so if you have had good luck over wintering it I would like to know. Golden Brodiaea likes to grow with full sun and well drained soil. It likes to be dry in the summer and is nice for rock gardens. You see that this is a plant that has had a lot of name changes. Especially cool is the stripes on the buds and back of the flowers.

I took yesterday off from blogging but not from work. I had to leave early and got home late. Driving to the garden was 1.5 hours each way and that was with the light weekend traffic. I got everything done so that was good. Today I am continuing to uncover the roses at the big rose garden. The roses did well and look poised for a good season. Before this last winter the owners were having their people use an 18 inch diameter Rose Guard with compost and then they put up burlap around the perimeter of the garden. Last winter I suggested we put a foot of leaves over the entire garden and it worked. Losses went from 50 roses last year to about 4 this spring. The roses are all burnt where they were sticking out of the leaves but they are green under them. Removing all the leaves have been a chore but worth it.