Poppy

Poppy
• The Golden Poppy plant has Fern-like leaves with single flowers on a long stalk.
• Golden Poppy leaves are 3/4-4" long divided into narrow segments on long stalks.
• Golden Poppy bloom in open areas, grassy or sandy slopes.
• Golden Poppy is found in southern California to southern Washington, east to Texas.
• Golden Poppy flower is used in landscaping for a temporary spring display by scattering the seed in the fall.
• California Indians cherished the Golden Poppy as both a source of food and for oil extracted from the plant.
• The true poppy genus is Papaver, but many flowers of related genera are also called poppies.
• The milky sap of Golden Poppy's unripe seed pods is the source of opium and several other similar drugs, e.g., morphine, codeine, and heroin.
• Golden Poppy seed, also called maw seed, is not narcotic and is used as birdseed and for a flavoring or garnish in baking.
• Golden Poppy seed is also ground for flour.
• Poppy oil, derived from the Golden Poppy seeds, is employed in cooking and illumination and in paints, varnishes, and soaps.
• The Golden Poppy has been the symbol of the dead and of sleep since antiquity.
List of all State Flowers

Jasmine

Jasmine
Jasmine flower and the essential oil extracted from the flower are being used extensively in cosmetics and perfumery, and as a calmative (relaxing properties, sedative) and aphrodisiac (intensifies sexual desire).
Jasmine is a very popular flower around the world, especially in tropics because of its unique fragrance. The Jasmine is native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the old world.
Jasmine flowers are white in most species, with some species being yellow flowered. Jasmine is believed to have originated in the Himalayas in western China.
Kingdom
Plantae
Division
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Lamiales
Family
Oleaceae
Genus
Jasminum
Unlike most genera in the Oleceae family, which have four corolla lobes petals, Jasmines often have five or six lobes. Jasmines are often strongly and sweetly scented. Jasmine is widely cultivated for its shining leaves and beautiful clusters of fragrant flowers.
Flowering in Jasmines takes place in summer or spring, usally six months after planting. The Jasmine flower releases its fragrance at night after the sun has set and especially when the moon is waxing towards fullness. Jasmine flower buds are more fragrant than the flowers.
There exists a true Jasmine and a false Jasmine, and the two are commonly mistaken for each other because of the fragrance the plants release. The true Jsmine belongs to the family Oleaceae, is primarily a bushy shrub or climbing vine, and is non-poisonous.
True Jasmine has oval, shiny leaves and tubular, waxy-white flowers. The false Jasmine, on the other hand, is in a completely different genus, Gelsemium, and family, Loganiaceae, is considered too poisonous for human consumption.

Gardenia

Some Interesting Facts about Gardenias
• Gardenias are grown for their beautiful foliage and they make great cut flowers.
• Gardenias flowers from about mid-spring to mid-summer, i.e., May through July
• Many of the gardenia species are strongly scented.
• The genus Gardenia is named after Alexander Garden, a physician in Charleston of South Carolina.
• Gardenias can be used as screens, hedges, borders or ground covers.
• In France, Gardenia is the traditional flower which men wear as boutonnieres.
• The most popular cultivated species is the Cape jasmine, native to China.
• Each gardenia flower is followed by 6-sided berries of rich orange-red with long, elegant stems.
• Gardenia thunbergia produces a woody fruit which has hard, angular seeds inside.
About Gardenia Flower and Plant
Gardenias are very fragrant creamy-white flowers with glossy, dark-green leaves. Gardenia flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white or pale yellow. The gardenia flowers are with a tubular-based corolla with 5-12 lobes petals from 5-12 cm diameter.
Gardenia plants are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1-15 m tall. The Gardenia plant leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four. They are dark green and glossy 5-50 cm long and 3-25 cm broad, with a leathery texture. They are simple, entire, and hairless, with wavy margin.
Growing Gardenias
• Gardenia plants need high humidity.
• A loose, well-drained organic soil is recommended.
• For best results plant gardenias in full sun, partial shade, or shifting shade.
• Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball.
• Thoroughly mix one part soil and one part planting mix.
• Check that the top of the original root ball is slightly above the level of the surrounding soil.
• Take the soil mixture and make a gentle mound of soil sloping away from the plant so that the water drains away from the trunk.
• Remove any air pockets, if present.
• Water the plant with a root stimulator.

Cosmos

Cosmos flowers are produced in a capitulum. Cosmos flower Capitulum is surrounded by a ring of broad ray florets and a center of disc florets. There is a lot of color variation in between the species. Cosmos flowers are 2-4 inches in diameter. Cosmos flowers come in brightly colored single or double flowers which include white, pink, orange, yellow, and scarlet colors.
Facts about Cosmos flower
• Cosmos are herbaceous perennial flowering plants.
• Cosmos flower plants grow to 3-6 feet tall.
• The leaves of Cosmos plant are simple, pinnate, or bipinnate, and are arranged in opposite pairs.
• The word Cosmos is derived from the Greek, which means a balanced universe.
• Cosmos flower blooms twice a year and only once in the season.
• Cosmos flowers blooms heavily, but dies with first frost.
• Cosmos flowers can regrow in the following spring if seed falls on bare ground.
• Cosmos flowers occurs in Solid pink, white, maroon, and pink with deep pink flares.
• Cosmos flowering plants can be grown quickly and successfully in all regions.
• Cosmos seeds are miniature pine needles.
• Cosmos seeds are one of the easiest seeds in the world to grow.
• Chocolate cosmos or Cosmos atrosanguinea, fills the air with its sweet scent of vanilla tinged chocolate.
• Lace cosmos have more rows of petals, and have ferny foliage of a very delicate texture. Cosmos sulphureus plant leaves resemble those of marigolds (member of the Compositae, to which Cosmos belongs).
Growing Cosmos flowers
• Sow the cosmos seeds directly just before the last frost.
• Give 12 inches of space between the plants.
• Spread the cosmos seeds over freshly turned bare soil.
• Press the seed into the dirt, and do not cover the seed.
• Cosmos seeds germinate quickly.
• Cosmos plants normally grow to 4-5 feet in a season.
• Most of the Cosmos varieties are annuals, but there are perennial varieties also.
• Perennial varieties of cosmos are Rhizomes and can be propagated by division.
Caring Cosmos flowers
• Spent flowers should be deadheaded regularly, as it keeps cosmos in bloom for many weeks.
• Overfertilizing and overwatering reduces the flower production.
• Cosmos flower plants are drought tolerant but water Cosmos plants during long dry spells.
• After the plants die after the first frost, remove them, and keep as compost, which helps as mulch for the next year plants.

Orchid flower

Orchid flowers have always been admired for their elegant, exotic and refined appearance making them a sophisticated floral gift for any occasion. The intricate beauty of the orchids symbolize a wide variety of meanings. Historically orchids have symbolized wealth, love and beauty, while today orchids are treasured as symbols of rare and delicate beauty. To the early Greeks, the orchid represented virility, and the Chinese called it "the plant of the king's fragrance." During the Middle Ages, orchids were considered an aphrodisiac and were used in love potions.

Orchids Need Special Care
Orchids benefit from extra special care. Contrary to popular belief, orchids have a good vase life, as long as they are kept in water. When u buy orchids, the stems may come in water tube or wrapped in wet cotton wool. This should be removed, and the stems re-cut and placed in fresh water with flower food as soon as possible. Orchids should be kept away from heat, draughts, fans, air conditioning units and anything that may cause moisture loss. Frequent misting of the flowers with water is recommended. If they look limp, place them in water – flower head and all – for up to one hour. Orchids should also be kept away from fruit, vegetables and decaying flowers, as orchids are especially susceptible to ethylene gas.
Orchid Flower History, Symbolism and Origin
The orchid's name originates from the Greek orchis, meaning "testicle," and its history is one of lust, greed, and wealth. Some orchids are called "ladies' fingers," "ladies' tresses," or "long purples." Orchids were collected extensively during the 1800s; once, four thousand trees were cut down for the orchids growing on their branches.
There are nearly 25,000 varieties of orchids. Greek women thought they could control the sex of their unborn children with orchid roots. If the father ate large, new tubers, the child would be male; if the mother ate small tubers, the child would be female
The paphiopedilum orchid was named for Phaphos, a temple on Cyprus where the love goddess Aphrodite was worshipped. The most famous orchid, the vanilla orchid, was said to give strength to the Aztecs, who drank vanilla mixed with chocolate.

Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum
The flower comes in several varieties but originally the chrysanthemum was just a small yellow flower. After generations of cultivation, the number of varieties grew rapidly. In the Chrysanthemum Book of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), 35 varieties were noted but by the time of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the number had risen to 136. In Li Shizhen's famous book, "Ben Cao Gang Mu", finished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), more than 900 varieties of chrysanthemum were listed. Today more than 3,000 varieties are blooming in China.


Chrysanthemums, or "mums," are any of several annual and perennial herbs in a large genus, Chrysanthemum, of the daisy family, Compositae. Chrysanthemums are widely grown commercially for their showy red, white, or yellow blossoms, which are produced in late summer and fall. The blossoms range from daisylike in appearance to very shaggy.
Although most of the popular varieties are new hybrids, chrysanthemums originally came from China, India and Korea; they are the floral emblem of theimperial family. The Chinese varieties are the tallest, reaching heights of 1.2 m (4 ft) or more. Indian or pompon varieties have smallest flowers. Chrysanthemums should be planted in sunny locations, as they become spindly if grown in the shade

Water hyacinth

Water hyacinth
Water hyacinth is a member of the pickerelweed family. The plants vary in size from a few centimeters to over a meter in height. The glossy green, leathery leaf blades are up to 20 cm long and 5-15 cm wide and are attached to petioles that are often spongy-inflated. Numerous dark, branched, fibrous roots dangle in the water from the underside of the plant. The inflorescence is a loose terminal spike with showy light-blue to violet flowers (flowers occasionally white). Each flower has 6 bluish-purple petals joined at the base to form a short tube. One petal bears a yellow spot. The fruit is a three-celled capsule containing many minute, ribbed seeds.
Economic Importance

Water hyacinths grow over a wide variety of wetland types from lakes, streams, ponds, waterways, ditches, and backwater areas.
Water hyacinths obtain their nutrients directly from the water and have been used in wastewater treatment facilities. They prefer and grow most prolifically in nutrient-enriched waters.
New plant populations often form from rooted parent plants and wind movements and currents help contribute to their wide distribution. Linked plants form dense rafts in the water and mud.