The Infomaniac Garden Photos Event 2025

 Welcome to the 15th annual I N F O M A N I A C  GARDEN PHOTOS EVENT, and the 6th to be hosted here at Inexplicable Device! 

  

 Thank you to everyone who sent in photos - and to those of you who haven't yet got around to it but will do soon.  And certainly by Tuesday the 4th!  Without you  - even the slackers and lallygaggers (whom do not include Savvy this year as she got her photos in BEFORE the original deadline!!) - there would be no Garden Photos Event.

 

 As of this writing, there are 11 sets of your garden and/or pot plant photographs waiting in the wings to be published throughout November.  

 Unfortunately, The Very Mistress herself is not taking part this year - in her words: "I have nothing" - so I have included this sunflower from the gardens of Hexenhäusli Device in honour of her 2020 contribution.  

 And also, in the continued absence of the Infomaniac Duck (and last year's stand ins, the Hexenhäusli Device Dove & Jackdaw), may I present our special guests, the Canberran Cockatoo & Magpie:

 

 

 Some of you may recognise the above pair from another blog, Elephant's Child, run by Dinahmow's friend Sue.  Sadly, Sue lost her battle with cancer at the end of September, so Dinah asked if we could feature her garden as she left it - bright, colourful, and full of the joys of spring.  Of course I agreed, so you'll be able to see Sue's spring bulbs and other blooms about midway through the Event (garden #5).

 

 So, what else is coming up? 

 

 As well as the requisite flora & foliage photos, this year we'll also be seeing some of the gardeners themselves (tentatively titled "Thumbs and Bums"), a couple of familiar Familiars, and there'll also be an "Unofficial Official Animals in the Garden" section. 

 

 Exciting, eh?

 

 

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 However, before all that, let's attend to the aftermath of yesterday's TERRIFYING TRIFFIDERY and match up the triffids with their handlers (and any remaining body parts with their hapless owners).

 For anyone who's not yet had a guess, scroll down no further and visit yesterday's post to see the triffids and see if you can work out who sent what.

 

Here is the TERRIFYING TRIFFIDERY poster and my Gladiola 'At Night' from which it sprang.

 

 

Triffid #1 from Dinah: Pittosporum crassifolium, Maori name Karo.  Salt-hardy so is often used as coastal hedging.  Its nectar is a Tūī favourite.

 

[Dinah did not send a specific Triffid pic, hence her confusion yesterday,

but I rather liked the 'mouthiness' of this little Karo flower - IDV]

 

 

Triffids #2 & #9 from Ms Scarlet: I have my Triffid pictures! The colour picture is a close-up of a big mauve shrub thing that was taken on a very sunny day, and it's been cropped beyond recognition.

 I think my black and white effort is a little more disconcerting as it looks to me as though a group of hooded people have strung up a hare in a thicket. I can assure you that no small animals were hurt in the making of this photo - it's actually a black and white version of the same shrub featured in the colour picture.

 

 

 

Triffid #4 from Savvy: The Plant That Took Over The World

 

 

 

Triffid #5 from Jon: Here's the Dolores Delargo Towers entry for this year's Hallowe'en event!

One "Alien" and two reveals - Aquilegia chrysantha...

 

 

Triffid #6 from Ms Nations: HOLY SHIT WHAT IS THIS NIGHTMARE OBJECT EW ICK GET IT AWAY FROM ME NO NO  NO NO NO

 

Whew! Ha ha! See it is only a bunch of cuttings that I am starting in a glass of water.

...or something my husband found in the tub after I was done taking a bath, and we decided to keep alive in a glass.

 

 

Triffid #7 from Mitzi: I grew a mango plant from seed, doesn't it look horrible? After scraping the flesh off the stone, I used scissors to get the seed out. I used the paper towel and freezer bag method, to speed up germination, it only took a few days. I don't think I'll be keeping it though, because the mango was brought from Aldi and it's lousy with the gnat!

 

 

Triffids #3 & #8 from me, IDV: Yes, the protruberance (and sandworm) is mine!  Although, if I had something like this down my pants I don't think I'd show it off...

 As you can see from the pictures below, my triffids were both derived from my pond dwelling pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea I suspect, considering its look and that it survived being frozen a couple of times last winter because I forgot to bring it in...). 

 

 

Triffid #10 from Mistress Maddie: Here's is my selection for the Terrifying triffid category! The before and the after. It's called Justicia carnea or the Flamingo plant. The before is the bud and the color one is what comes when it blooms.

 

 

And, finally, Triffid #11 from Mago: The Original Sin

 

 

So, how did you do?  (Maddie and Jon have done well with their guesses.)

 

Oh, mind my woodsman on your way out - he's just subduing some of the more persistent triffids...

 

 

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 As with previous years, I shall hand over hosting of each garden photos post to its respective blogger and try to match the typeface (and colour, if possible) with the one on their blog so you'll know it's definitely them and not some imposter.  For example, on her Wordpress blog, Ms Scarlet speaks in Libre Baskerville (and quite loudly, too, if her font size is anything to go by...), but the red colour is too dark to be seen here against my charcoal background, so I've lightened it considerably. 

[However,  I may duck in with an addendum or two depending on the circumstances.  I'll try not to hog the limelight, though, and stick to my usual (well, usual for the GPE, anyway) unobtrusive right-justified, square bracketed grey Trebuchet.]

 

 Speaking of Ms Scarlet, hers is the first garden we'll be visiting - on Tuesday!  (Because, also as with previous years, the gardens will be published in order of entry into my in-box, and Ms Scarlet was FIRST!)

 So, see you all in Devon in a couple of days time!

 

☙❧

 

P. S. I've started to put together a map so you can see where in the world all these gardens and their gardeners are.  It is a work-in-progress at the mo, but I intend to add any latecomers and finish it by the end of this year's GPE.