Flowers in My Son’s Garden… Summer is here..

Vygies or Mesembs… an indigenous plant.

Mesembryanthemum (meaning "midday flowering") is a genus of plants native to southern Africa.

The vygie is a member of the family Aizoaceae; like many members of this family, it is characterized by long-lasting flower heads. Flowers of vygies protect their gametes from night-time dews or frosts but open in sunlight. There is an obvious evolutionary advantage to doing this; where sun, dew, frost, wind or predators are likely to damage exposed reproductive organs, closing may be advantageous during times when flowers are unlikely to attract pollinators.

These plants make up a large group of plants that are found in the more arid parts of South Africa… however they have been domesticated, hybred and now appear in gardens and rockeries ever where…

these photos are early morning shots of one opening… with the low sunlight, the colour really jumped out…