Faded.
Fresh.
(I stopped to do a little more protea research at the Arboretum on my way back to Pacifica today. These are leucadendrons or cone flowers.)
Faded.
Fresh.
(I stopped to do a little more protea research at the Arboretum on my way back to Pacifica today. These are leucadendrons or cone flowers.)
nancyland.com 
Love the colors. The plants look substantial but the shading is so delicate.
They do go in for colors! Definitely not plants for a tidy formal garden, either, with their sprawling ways and woody structure. I love them :)
Beautiful. The dried one looks so dangerous, while the fresh one is alluring.
They look stabby, but they’re not all that prickly. At any stage of growth or decay, they’re just… not very domesticated. Part of their appeal :)
Flaming foliage
A sun within the center
Burning black the Funk
Bright leucadendrons
Sprawling in a last hurrah
A dark cone their heart
beautiful, a good inspiration!
hugs
I think they’re inspirational, too!
Wow! The dried version looks like a pine cone grew out of the leaves – so interesting! Bet they’d look amazing in a dried fall floral arrangement!
Yes, Jodi! That’s one of the appealing things about proteas: the cut flowers last a long time, and they dry into fantastic shapes. Not for the genteel I’d guess, but for those of us who appreciate a natural appearance of things, proteas deliver :)
Dried proteas, especially the King Protea, are often used as decoration in South Africa. A few decades ago, if you lived in a house with a fireplace, during the summer when the fireplace was not in use, a floral arrangement of dried proteas would be the appropriate thing to display inside it.
What a charming custom! I was able to take photos of the various stages of bloom and fade, all on one bush, on my last visit to the UCSC Arboretum. Fantastic shapes!