These are Some of My Favourite Kinds of Flowers. Not just Because They are Native Plants, Unique to Australia. I LOVE Them, Because of Their Innate and Exotic Sculptural Quality. BEAUTIFULLY Formed and GRACEFUL Lines. Their Various Colour Combinations. Depending upon the Cultivar, Hybrid, and Sub-Species. The Fact that They are So "Tough", and So Adaptable... You Can FIND Some Sort of Variety, of This Particular Flower GROWING just about Anywhere in Australia... Except Where Nothing Grows At All. They Can GROW in the Worst Soils, under some of the Harshest GROWING Conditions, yet Still FLOURISH in Full Sun or Part-Shade. Their Only "Faults"... are that They tend to GROW Slower than I LIKE... have no Fragrance that I can Detect, can't handle Soggy Soil for Long Periods as a General Rule, and must be Fertilised with a "Light Hand". However... They "Make Up" for Their Perceived "Flaws" . They are Highly Resistant to Diseases, Pests and Drought-Conditions. They come in ALL Shapes and Sizes... ranging from Ground-covers, to Shrubs, Even Trees. These Flowers you SEE in This Image are about As Long as my outstretched hand... from the tip of my middle finger, to wrist. One Flower can FILL the Palm of my Hand, Easy.
When I was a Very Young Girl... I Remember WATCHING "The Wizard Of Oz" Movie on TV for the Very First Time. There is a Scene, When The Farmhouse Taken By the Tornado Out Of Kansas... has been Dropped into Munchkin Land. The Tornado is Gone. All is Silent. Not KNOWING What To Expect... Dorothy Opens The Front Door and Comes Out of the Farmhouse. Her Eyes Wide With WONDER at What She SEES. The Camera pans around the Most ENCHANTING Scenery... Unusual Buildings, and BEAUTIFUL Gardens "CREATED by the Munchkins". At "First Glance"... I SAW What Dorothy SAW. The Most Colourful Flowers She Ever SAW in Her Life, Some Giant-Sized... All Shapes and Sizes. Some Obviously Artificial to My Adult Eyes. But to a Child of 4... PURE MAGIC.
Besides BEING An ARTIST... I'm ALSO A Horticulturist And Garden Designer. With Decades of Practical, "Hands-On" EXPERIENCE. I've RE-WATCHED This Movie Many Times, over the Years. Still One of My Favourite Movies. Every Time I SEE the Gardens in Munchkin Land... I NOTICE Flowers I didn't SEE Before. The Truth Is... I can't REMEMBER IF I Ever SAW Grevillea Flowers "GROWING" in the Gardens of Munchkin Land in That Movie. But I Can Tell You for a Fact... Having LIVED in "Oz" for nearly 18 Years Now... Grevillea Flowers Certainly GROW Everywhere Else I've BEEN, While "FOLLOWING The Yellowbrick Road". Although These Flowers May Not TALK or SING... the Rainbow Lorikeet Parrots that FEED Upon Their Nectar, Can BE TAUGHT TO.
What I LOVE Best About These Flowers is Their Intrinsic BEAUTY. But, Also the Fact that Colourful Rainbow Lorikeet Parrots LOVE to FEED from Their Flowers So Much... that I can Walk right by a Grevillea Shrub GROWING Next to a Sidewalk, and CHANCE to SEE Some Rainbow Lorikeets "Up Close and Personal". Exquisite Birds, Normally SHY and Flighty, Before I can ever get Close Enough to Take Their Photo. Which is Very Frustrating for Me. Except When They are FEEDING on the Nectar of Grevillia Flowers. Then, They are So Distracted... IF I'm Quick Enough to grab my Smart Phone in Time... I can get a Nice Photo of One, or Two, or Three of these FASCINATING Birds... Before They REALISE I am "Too Close For Comfort", Then Fly Off "Quick As Thought"... Squawking at the "Nerve" of me taking Their Photo, Without Their KNOWING (06 Nov 2015) .