Tis Flowering Season!

Tis the season to be flowering and what jolly big flowers they are too!  The flowers are the size of a saucer, measuring up to 15cm across.  They have delicate white waxy petals which pull up like a lady's skirt when curtseying for the queen!  They open as the sun sets and within 20 minutes are fully dilated, so you can literally watch them as they open. The blossoms stay alive for just 24 hours so by the time the sun sets the next day the flowers are spent. Baobabs in South Africa flower have their peak flowering season in November and range in number from 10 flowers per tree to up to a thousand flowers per tree at a time!  Dr. Sarah Venter has spent two years studying the flowering baobabs making notes on variation between seasons, trees and landscapes in which the trees occur.  But aren't they just exquisitely beautiful?

Nina Geraghty