Powder Puffs

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Powder Puff Flowers

There seems to be
a preponderance of puffy flowers
blossoming around town at present

So I sent my camera out on a mission
to track down some of the red puffs

Next door I found one
called the New Zealand Christmas Bush
Pohutakawa in Maori

See the beetle emerging
from the starburst flower
with bright glowing tips

The little fuzzy frosted buds
tight balls of pent up energy






the flower cradle
now empty of its bloom

Not far from home
I found the Powder Puff Bush,
the Calliandra
which comes from Brazil

The Pohutakawa and the Calliandra flowers
are similar but the leaves
and buds quite different.

Even within the same species
I noticed a colour variation
as I went from shrub to shrub

The buds nut-like clusters
and the spent flower like
tousled cotton threads

The tips of this bloom
also glowing yellow

(Click to see up close)






The flower an unopened
tightly packed sphere of life
beside the cotton candy






One bud bursts ....

and then some more

now almost a scarlet tutu

before it becomes a pom pom

a thing of beauty

a red powder puff



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