aksimonart

Oregon's State Flower - Or Fruit
#59

© A.K.SIMON - Oregon's State Flower  - SOLD

I love learning about new plants and this one was presented to the class on a Tuesday morning. I had never seen holly leaves and blue berries on the same bush. So of course I "googled" it and Donna confirmed that these are Oregon grapes which is the state flower for, of course, Oregon. The plant is indigenous to Oregon but also thrives in Ohio. So here are some facts about the plant from the "virtualtourist":

I can not count the number of times I have had people make comments to me about "that strange holly plant with the blue berries rather than red ones" because they are unfamiliar with Oregon's state flower: the Oregon Grape.

While the leaves are somewhat like holly, the blue berries are a give away. I have been told that some people use the berries in some types of jam, but the fact is that this is considered a flower and not a fruit: they are generally not suitable for eating.

Also, unlike holly (which you will find in abundance all over the place in Oregon now) it is not an imported plant: as the name implies, Oregon Grape is an Oregon native.

Around late March and early April, yellow flowers appear on the bushes. These are the blossoms. The "fruit" will come much later. The second photo shows what these flowers look like.

As there are a number of public plantings of our state flower in Portland (and Salem and many other cities as well!), both in public places and private gardens and yards, I have more photos of Oregon Grape in the Oregon Grape tip in my Portland section.

Read more: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/p/m/1a65cc/#ixzz20A20kMrr

I was trying some things with texture and background with this one and probably won't use them again so I won't share them here.