Blooming Variegated Croton

A few weeks ago when we walked around the Brookside Gardens conservatory, the variegated crotons had the beginnings for flowers. The collage beginning this post shows the buds on the long stalk. They are closely spaced when they first form and then the stalk elongates beginning at the base to give the buds room to grow larger.

Last week the variegated crotons were in bloom as shown in the two images below. The buds closest to the plant open first.

I took several of images with the 8x magnification loupe. The plant is so colorful that the flowers don’t have to be!

Brookside Conservatory - February 2014

It is so cold outdoors today….I decided to ‘think warm’ by picking my favorite images captured at the Brookside Gardens conservatories a few weeks ago. Conservatories are deliciously warm places to visit in the winter!

On this visit - I did some experimentation with by 8x magnification loupe. All the images in the post include a photo taken with the camera and then one or two images captured with the loupe to add to the magnification.

The fuzz on the petals and imperfections become more obvious.

I’d never seen the variegated croton fruit before. They are almost as colorful as the foliage!

The veins of the hibiscus bud stand out in both magnifications.

Next time, I will make an effort to get magnified views of flower parts!

Just looking at the vibrant colors of these flowers makes me feel warmer!