Floss flowers images.

  Ageratum plants are covered with clusters of small, fuzzy flowers. Most types are mounding plants six to ten inches tall and wide, but there are taller types. Plants bloom from spring planting until frost in fall.

Related varieties: The blues include Blue Horizon for cutting and Blue Lagoon and Blue Danube for pots and bedding.

 How to grow: Grow in any well-drained soil in full sun or partial shade. Space six to ten inches apart for solid colour. Deadhead or shear back slightly if plants become untidy.

  Propagation: Start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before planting. Seeds germinate in five to eight days at 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Uses: Place in the front of borders and beds. Use them for their scarce blue color, which is seldom found in annuals. Taller, sometimes older, varieties make good cut flowers.

Scientific name: Ageratum houstonianum

jasmine flowers pictures.

Jasmine is a flowering shrub in the olive family. Jasmine is indigenous to warm climates throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Some types of jasmine are evergreen, while others are deciduous (their leaves fall off in autumn), and they flower in late spring or early summer.

 Jasmine produces a heavenly scent that many gardeners prize. It is easy to grow and can make for the perfect choice for your yard or deck.

Foliage

Leaves are either evergreen or deciduous, and the leaf arrangement is opposite in most species. The shape of the leaves are:

• Simple
• Tri-foliate
• Pinnate with five to nine leaflets

Leaves can grow up to two and one-half inches long.

 The plant prefers full sun to partial shade and a warm site. It grows well in moist, well drained, sandy loam to clayey garden soil with moderate level of fertility. Adding of leaf moulds to the soil makes it better for the growth of the plant. Mild fertilizer should be applied during spring.

 Some blossoms are yellow, but most of the species bear white flowers which are one inch in size. The petals have strong and sweet fragrance. Flowering takes place in summer or spring, usually six months after planting.

Plenty of water should be given during summer but this can be reduced during winter. If the plant is to be grown indoors, then bright, indirect or curtain-filtered sunlight should be given. In winter, these indoor plants should be provided with full sunlight up to at least four hours a day. Temperature should range from 68 to 72 degree Fahrenheit at night, during day 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit will be an ideal range of temperature.

Plant Care and Propagation

One or two initial ploughings are required to remove the weeds present in the land. It should be followed by the digging of pits at a size of 30 centimeters.

Planting Months

Bushes should be planted during June to November. Plants should be kept at least eight feet apart in order to allow for the full grown size of the plant. Additional fertilizer should be added each spring. Phosphorous and Potassium should be applied in two split doses, once after annual pruning and again during June and July.

Flower Propagating

Younger plants should be tied with the stems to give a fairly heavy support. Tips of the plants should be pinched to stimulate lateral growth and frequent pruning should be done to restrain growth. If the vine is to be grown as a ground-cover, the upward twining stems will need trimming. First irrigation should be given immediately after planting and subsequent irrigation at an interval of seven to ten days. Stem cutting and sowing of seeds are handy methods for the propagation of the plant.

• Mild fertilizers are required for best growth.
• Temperature must be controlled.
• Jasmine needs regular pinching and shaping to control growth.
• If not planted at a proper distance, plants will quickly become crowded.
• Containerized plants should be planted in the fall.
• Fully developed, unopened flower buds should be picked in early morning.

Plant Variations

Many creeping groundcovers can also transform upwards. Jasmine is no exception. This flowering vine is a perfect decoration for an unsightly fence or wall. Although it needs some support as a vine, the flowers will extend your garden up, offering the opportunity to hide an ugly view or create some privacy. Adding beauty as well as carrying its lovely scent through the wind, it is an excellent choice. There are many variations such as:

• Star: This variation makes a wonderful groundcover. It has luxurious and dense foliage and works well in sun or shade.
• Shrubby: This wiry looking shrubs can be placed on dry banks and produces small yellow flowers.
• Indian Yellow: This plant is hardy for wall culture and has evergreen foliage, which adds to its value. It flowers freely, and has yellow blooms.
• Japanese: Not a true climber, the Japanese Jasmine vine will need some strong string or wire to support its height. Blooming in the spring and summer, this plant prefers sun or light shade.
• Common White: This variation has flowers that are fragrant. It displays white blossoms in the summer and is ideal for trellises or arbors.

Perfect Addition

Since there are many variations of Jasmine to consider, it is perfect for any garden or landscape. Its sweet scent and beautiful blooms are sure to make any gardener pleased and eager to show it off.

Water lily flowers images.

The water-lily is the first flower mentioned in world literature. In Asia, the flowering water-lily, called the lotus, symbolizes absolute truth and purity.

The bloom became associated with Buddha himself. The Hindus in India believe that, before its creation as we know it, the world was a golden lotus.

In the West, the water-lily flower was given the botanical name Nymphaea, referring to those Greek nature goddesses, the nymphs

These water plants, with their flowers of pink, white, and blue, often bloom only at night, their perfume spreading across the dark surface of a pond.

Meaning from The Mystical �Language of Flowers� From the Elizabethan era (Victorian era) when the meaning of flowers flourished into a form of communication.

Meanings from The First widely accepted book of flowers Meaning Le Langage Des Fleurs which was published in 1819 by Charlotte De Latour.

History:

Blue and white water lilies were the most important cultivated ritual plant of ancient Egypt. They grew wild in ponds and in the lowlands of the Nile and were planted in all natural and artificial bodies of water. They were esteemed for their beauty, their enchanting hyacinth-like scent, their symbolism, and probably also their inebriating effects. The buds and flowers were popular head and hair ornaments. Both the living and the dead were festooned with garlands made from the plant. The garlands in the grave of the great pharaoh Ramses II (1290-1223 B.C.E.) were almost entirely of white and blue lotus. The Egyptian lotus was described by Dioscorides, who was certainly aware of the blue lotus as well.

The Blue Lotus was found scattered over Tutankhamen's body when the Pharaoh's tomb was opened in 1922. Many historians thought it was a purely symbolic flower, but there may be some reason to believe that ancient Egyptians used it to induce an ecstatic state, stimulation, and hallucinations, as well as being widely used as a general remedy against illness.

Rumored to contain apomorphine - a dopamine agonist - as well as perhaps nuciferine. Where unfounded when in 2000 at Dr. Vic Garner's laboratory for forensic analysis is Manchester, England, the Egyptian mummy Azru was the first mummy to undergo mass spectroscopy. She had no narcotics or painkillers in her. They found phytosterols, bioflavonoids, and phosphodiesterase, the active ingredient of viagra, all from blue lotus. No drug use has ever been found in ancient Egypt. Azru, is an Egyptian mummy donated to the Manchester Museum in England, in 1825. Living on the Nile, in 2700 B.C, Azru was royalty, a noblewoman of Thebes, later called Luxor, a former capital of Egypt, a chantress at Khonsu - the moon god was the son of Amon and Mut. The main temple at Karnak is dedicated to him. Three times a day she would bring food and wine with blue lotus tincture or extract, fetch garments for the gods, priests and Pharaoh, and dance and sing for the royal court. She had wealth, and her own home and servants, where she stayed until scheduled or called to the temple. There is evidence to suggest that it was a very sexually oriented society due to their pictures, writings, and religious beliefs. And, that blue lotus was historically, traditionally and effectively used, to relieve pain, increase memory, increase circulation, promote sexual desire and create a feeling of euphoria and ecstasy, without the use of narcotics.

Traditional and Ritual use:

Traditionally made into a tea or smoked to induce hypnotic and relaxation effects. Sometimes used to reach calm sensations with alterations of perception. Indeed, this flower essence's purpose is to accelerate spiritual evolvement and enhance healing on every level within the system.

In ancient Egypt, the blue lotus was closely linked to the detailed and visionary concepts of the afterlife and rebirth. Numerous buds, petals, and garlands have been found as mummy decorations and grave goods. The flower stands for the enlightened and reawakened consciousness of the deceased; it is �that lotus flower which shines in the earth�. (Book of the dead, chapter 174). In the story of the battle between Horus and Seth, the lotus flower appears as a symbol of the divine, all-seeing eye. When Seth tracks down the resting Horus beneath a tree in an oasis, he rips both eyes from the sleeper and buries them in the sand, whereupon they are transformed into lotus flowers.

Because of the mythological, cosmological, symbolic, and artistic significance of the water lily, William Emboden (1978) has suggested that the ancient Egyptians used the blue lotus for its narcotic effects to produce a shamanic ecstasy among an elite priesthood. Since the blue lotus is usually portrayed in association with mandrakes and poppy flowers, it is highly probably that these images represent an �iconographic recipe�. A psychoactive ritual drink consisting of lotus buds, mandrake fruits, and poppy capsules is entirely conceivable.

Traditional medicinal use:

The perfume of this flower was not only pleasing to the Egyptian, but they saw it as healing as well. In ancient Egypt, water lilies were prescribed to treat the liver, to remedy constipation, to counteract poisons, and to regulate the urine. Blue lotus was also used in Ancient Egypt as a key to good health, Sex and re-birth. An aphrodisiac for men and women as well as a general remedy for all illness; enhancing sexual vigor and general good health. It�s regarded as a tonic richer like ginseng, pain reliever richer than arnica, circulation stimulant richer than ginkgo biloba, and an excellent sexual stimulant; creating a feeling of well-being, euphoria and ecstasy.

Constituents:

Blue Lotus is Rumored to contain aporphine or apomorphine (6a-beta-aporphine-10,11- diol [Merck]) - a dopamine agonist - as well as perhaps nuciferine (1,2-dimethoxy aporphine). However, up to date, no real scientific data or pharmaceutical properties are known concerning the active constituents of this beautiful plant.

Lotus is considered a very sacred flower in India and the evidence for their affiliation with the Indian culture and Hinduism can be found from their history and ancient Indian mythology. According to the Hindu beliefs, the Lotus symbolises divinity, fertility, wealth, knowledge and  enlightenment. Although Lotus is commonly known as �Water Lily�, but in India it is known as Lotus. This aquatic plant is grown in small water bodies throughout in India and the flower floats on broad leaves.