Saturday, October 03, 2009

Tall Thangs


Oviposit much?


The hopper is sitting on top of a swamp sunflower blossom in my front yard. Swamp sunflower is a native, often found in damp areas, but it can handle average Florida yard soil moisture too.
Years ago, a friend gave me some from her yard and said, " Just throw them where you want them, they will survive and conquer."
She was right about the survival part, even though I did actually plant the poor wilted things. They conquer at a very manageable pace, nothing I would call invasive, just ... enthusiastic.
They stay almost flat to the ground, just a little rosette of leaves, for much of the year, and then ...SPROING! They suddenly shoot for the sky, arriving there in late summer/early fall.

I don't know what their maximum height can be, but I bet it's up there around 15 feet. I have some towering over my porch roof and I've driven by some that look even taller than mine.

In the picture above, 5'10'' of Pure Florida hombre is stretching his hand up for a reference. In my house, when I do that, I can just touch our 8 foot ceiling, so if we assume my finger tips are at the 8 foot mark, these plants must be 10 or 12 feet tall.



My timber bamboo transplants continue to amaze me. Every day when I park the JEEP nearby, I go over and check on how much they grew since I left that morning.
Talk about your crazy mitosis. These guys are over the top!
That tall curving shoot is the little one I showed you a couple of times in previous posts. When I transplanted the bamboo a couple months ago, it was shorter than the large cut culm it is growing from.

The bamboo in the background is an older stand of a fishing pole sized variety ... I planted it so long ago, I'm not sure of the species.
So there you have it, a short post on tall things ... or thangs if you have one of those sweet southern accents.

10 comments:

threecollie said...

Awesome sunflowers...like, wow! And I am enjoying your bamboo a bunch. Must be neat to grow fishing poles.

h said...

Helianthus Floridanus or Helianthus Giganteus perhaps.

"Swamp Sunflowers" don't get as tall as those beasts of yours.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous shot! Are you the guy that always has an eye for a beautiful flower? hmmmmmm

R.Powers said...

3C,
They are something! A nice signal of impending fall in a place that is fall color challenged.

Troll,
Neither does H.floridanus, so I think your H. giganteus might be closer to the correct answer. I have called this by the wrong common name for a long time. It's not often that anyone teaches ME something about FL nature I dont already know, Thank you.
I stand corrected.

Anon,
Yes, that would be me.

Sandcastle Momma said...

Those are amazing. I've seen them in the swamps here but only as low growth - I had no idea they shot up like that.

I have a moth id question if you have a minute to stop by.

Anonymous said...

Hi FC,

I was going to Gainesville yesterday and saw these all over Waldo Rd and Archer Rd. I was wondering what they were since they were so tall. Thanks!

Patti

lisa said...

That is great that the bamboo is doing so well!. The sunflower is awesome!

MamaHen said...

Pretty, pretty sunflowers! I think it must be the same plant I have here. Close up of blossoms look exactly the same.

Ericka said...

sunflowers, regardless of variety, are wonderful. they're one of my favorites!

R.Powers said...

SCMomma,
Gave it a guess, but I didn't double check and you see how I was wrong on this flower!

Patti,
They really DEMAND our attention, so strikingly pretty.

Lisa,
I am totally infatuated with this bamboo!

Annie,
I thought so too when I looked at your pics a while back.

Ericka,
They are just so bright and bold.