Anew flower recently popped open, one that’s given me quite a bit of trouble up until recently: Loasa tricolor!
I shared a relative not long ago, Blumenbachia insignis; these are similar but more striking. Divided fluffy looking leaves hide tiny glandular and spiky hairs that show themselves to be the classic nettle defense system if you brush against them too hard. The plants may reach anywhere from 6 to 24 inches tall, before sending out short stalks topped in five-petaled blooms that steal the show: the petals are folded hollow and almost shaped like a really deep canoe, ranging from white to lemon yellow, and frame oversized swollen stigma bases that are colored sequentially in yellow, red, and white toward the middle.
This has proven to be a picky plant needing good quality loose sandy soils and very strong light. In the wild it’s found in the semi-desert valleys of central Chile and neighboring Argentina tolerating winters dropping just below freezing and growing rapidly in fall and spring before setting seed and dying back in summer droughts.
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