Monday, April 23, 2018

Earth Day ~ blooms from my gardens in April

Good afternoon Friends ~ This is a good day, being Earth Day, to write up a post. Have quite a few photos to share as I’ve not posted in awhile.

Thank you all for bday wishes, get well wishes and wishes for rain. We have gotten some much needed rain in the past week or so. Rains letting me know gutters have clogs that need attending too. The rain is so good for everything and saves me spending $ on my water bill to water gardens and potted plants. We had rain last night, this morning and it looks like we could get more. The sky is gray and there’s a stiff breeze from the west.

Right now I’m enjoying a cup of green tea and ginger tea combined, sweetened with honey. The scent of gardenias is right here in my little space and smells heavenly. That scent is one of my earliest memories from Florida. My grandmother had a big bush that would be filled with the blooms, it was intoxicating.

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Pink hibiscus

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Pink begonia

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This begonia is scented and just wonderful.

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Spiderworts, which some consider a weed, but not this gardener and it is one of my favorite flowers.

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This beauty is tibouchina. First one a fresh bloom in the shade, second photo an older bloom in the sunlight.

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This is a vanda orchid, ‘Miss Joacuim’. This grows like a weed, spreads nicely. I can break off bits with some roots hanging off and just plop them anywhere. Another favorite.

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Blue Salvia with Tahitian Gardenia in the background

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Salvia coccinea greggii spreads by self-seeding another favorite

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This orchid bloom was a pleasant surprise the other morning. It is attached to the stem of the Tahitian Gardenia.

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Tahitian Gardenia ~ These are absolutely wonderful!!! Huge scented blooms.

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Bougainvillea from friends Nanci & John

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This is Confederate Jasmine ~ blooms once a year. I have three of these vines and look forward to their scent filling the air every spring.

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This is an orchid I bought at a yard sale soon after my dear husband went to be with his Creator. It is called Dancing Ladies or Butterfly orchids.

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This lovely orchid was given to me by friends/customers from my time of working at an antique shop for 17 years.

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An unknown ~ another surprise the other day. I forget about them when they aren’t in bloom.

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These tiny orchids are ‘Reed Orchids’ another orchid that grows like a weed with little care from me.

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I don’t know what the plant is in the next two photos, two different colors.

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This is a ‘Tropical Hydrangea’.

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‘Miss Atwood’

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Something snacked on this while it was a bud. The holes are interesting.

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‘Mozart’

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A sweet little carpet rose.

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‘International Herald Tribune’ rose a real sweetie.

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‘Miss Ruth’s Wavy’ rose

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Hibiscus

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Two views of the same shell.

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1st year anniversary gift I created for young friends.

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That’s it for now.

Be well, count your blessings, love God and love others.

FlowerLady

***

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass,

the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,

whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass,

and herb yielding seed after his kind,

and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:

and God saw that it was good.

***

34 comments:

September Violets said...


You have such an incredible garden of beautiful, tropical, exotic flowers!! I'm amazed that you still know the names of all of them too. I doubt most of these would survive our climate, but they obviously love your plot of land. So nice to visit and be welcomed by these bright flower photos. Have a great week!
Wendy xox

Nancy J said...

Your garden, a combined creation, and always so beautiful. My Tibouchina had some wind damage, and I have taken several pieces to try and cultivate. It flowers almost all year round, in a sheltered spot, apart from when we had almost gales from the south, I see there is another one with slightly different coloured petals. Pink, and a near white, but the deep purple is always stunning.

Cheryl said...

So many beautiful things there in your garden! A feast for the eyes . . . and nose too (if i could smell those wonderful aromas through cyber space)!

BeachGypsy said...

Hi there Lorraine, so glad you stopped by. I am glad to see you have a new post up. I just love visiting your pretty garden and seeing what all you have growing! Wow...so many gorgeous flowers! I love seeing them all, and learning the names of the ones I don't recognize (which are quite a few!). Your gardenias are lovely, ours are getting ready....but no blooms yet. Looking forward to their scent!! I have spiderworts and I guess some people say they are a weed...but I think their blooms are so pretty and I make pictures of them all the time! LOL Mr. Front Porch leaves me a few clumps of them right in the middle of they yard when he mows because he knows I like to see them in bloom each morning. We have no idea how they got here, birds I guess. The rains started here this morning and have been coming down steadily pretty much ever since. It will be great for all the flowers!! I like rainy days.

Kit said...

Hello!! I love your new header! Your photos are wonderful and it is good to see you. Love, KK

jerilanders said...

I've never seen or smelled a Gardenia! What interesting petals they have, it reminds me of the folds in a satin wedding dress. Spiderwort a weed? NEVER! I agree with you, in fact, I love the way they spread in one compact bunch and have decided to split mine up to make a short spiderwort border-hedge along a garden path.
"In the beginning, God." Gardens play such an important part in the bible, they are mentioned over and over again. Well, of course, God being the first gardener, no wonder we feel so close to HIM, while we putter away in our own little plots of beauty and earth.

Henny Penny said...

Your flowers are amazing!! Wish I had thought of putting gardenia blooms in small containers to enjoy them inside. I no longer have gardenias. For three years in a row the cold hurt them and they turned completely brown. I love them but got tired of three big dead looking bushes. Glad you got some rain. It's raining here today.

lil red hen said...

It's always such a pleasure to see all your pretty flowers, most that I've never seen before. I do have spiderwort plants, and mine are of the wild species. They quickly overtake the beds and are almost impossible to dig out because of their thick roots. However, they do add a lot of pretty blue color.

Ruth Hiebert said...

Oh my dear friend,I can't even begin to pick a favourite from this post. Each flower has it's own special beauty. I love how you enjoy the fragrance as well. I am saddened to say that I can rarely pick up a scent from a flowerer anything else, for that matter. My nose doesn't work too well, but at least I can still enjoy the beauty of the flowers and all of creation.
Hugs

Leslie Kimel said...

I'm so glad you got rain. I'm always so happy when it rains--it feels like everything is right with the world. I love all your flowers--such beautiful abundance!--and the sweet pillow you made.

bj said...

WOW...you really are the Flower Lady...all of these are awesome.

Karen @ Beatrice Euphemie said...

So many lovely flowers, Lorraine - each one a little miracle. The orchids are amazing - they each seem to have their own unique personality. It must be so wonderful to go out in the gardens to see what is blooming each day. I know it must be lots of work, but the rewards are so beautiful. The beaded heart is such a dear keepsake. I hope you have a good week, filled with sweet blessings. Hugs xo Karen

Anne Payne said...

Oh Rainey!!! The flowers are incredibly gorgeous! God sure does know how to bring beauty to our Earth. I am so thankful for you sharing your lovely garden! And what a sweet gift you made for your friends. It's very pretty. Love you and think of you often~

L. D. said...

Your plants are all so beautiful. The spider wort grows like a weed in our area and I think they call it a prairie flower. Your orchids are splendid.

Debbie - Mountain Mama said...

All those lovely blooms, Lorraine!!! I'm in awe of your garden, and how on earth do you remember all the names? The only thing blooming in my garden is a couple of tiny crocuses and some yellow flowered weed....plus the pansies and violas I planted over the weekend. Soon, I hope!!

M.K. said...

You have so much blooming! Thank you for sharing all that beauty with us. And the little beaded pillow is just lovely too. Happy spring, FL!!

Cathy @ My 1929 Charmer said...

I can't believe how much you have blooming...I see green sprouting up all over here. Daffodils are in bloom and a few other wildflowers. Your blooms are so beautiful. I know all the names too because they feel like an extension of my family...I do love the orchids so much.

Junkchiccottage said...

Oh Lorraine I love seeing all your blooms. They are so gorgeous. I envy you that you can have so many pretty flowers all year round. We are finally getting some spring here in Illinois. Hoping in a few weeks I can get my hands in the dirt and start my flowers. Happy Sunday and have a great week.
xoxo
Kris

Anne Payne said...

I came back to look at your orchids because I rescued a Cattleya Orchid from the clearance bin at Lowe's. Right now it's in front of a window but shaded by another plants leaves because it says 'low light'. It's a small and delicate orchid, hardly recognizable as one because it is so small. But I just loved it when I saw it! My big gorgeous one I had last year died. Anyway, I'm trying again with a different species. Maybe this one will live. :-) I also bought a pink Begonia, Lavender, Petunias, Salvia, Violas, and an unknown house plant.

Pom Pom said...

Hi Lorraine! Oh, your flowers are gorgeous. I can't WAIT for my peonies to bloom in a month or so.

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

SO many beautiful blooms ! I can't help but thinking back...how you and your place were protected from The Lord

Louca por porcelana said...

Adorable flowers!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi There, OH --how I love seeing all of your gorgeous flowers. Many things that you can grow outside there have to be seen around here in the Conservatory at Biltmore --or in a greenhouse somewhere...

I love Gardenias. Their fragrance is probably my favorite --although our Roses have an awesome fragrance also. When I was a Senior in high school in 1960, I wore a Gardenia on my wrist at my Senior Prom.....

We are finally --just this week, getting some 'real' spring here... Winter really hung on this year. Our April was colder than our February was... Crazy, huh?

Hope you are doing well.

Hugs,
Betsy

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

You take amazing close ups of the flowers in bloom! I love when you catch a little bee in a flower! I'm really enjoying your blog and learning a few flower names too! Enjoy your week!

Rebecca said...

It's hard for me to imagine so much beauty in one yard/garden!
You definitely have it! AND share it! Thank you.

outlawgardener said...

What a delight it always is to see your tropical garden. I can't imagine what it would be like to live where orchids spread like weeks and pop up in unexpected places. I can almost smell those gardenias from here! A sweet first anniversary gift; you are so talented!

Janneke said...

I have been away from blogging for some time, just had no spirit to write but now I'm back and see your beautiful photos of your even more beautiful plants in the garden. The Gardenia is my very favorite, difficult, flower. Difficult because we cannot overwinter them here and inside, even in the conservatory there is a lack of sun in winter. Yet, I have a tiny plant on the table in my greenhouse, just for the heavenly scent the flowers produce. Tibouchina, another beauty I tried before, but after a few years they die. What is it, that we always want to try plants which are not suitable for our climate......
The orchids are stunning too, but most amazing is for me that all these plants you show here, just grow and flower in your garden. You are so lucky that heavenly garden is yours.
Kind regards, Janneke

L. D. said...

Your flowers look so great. I need to check on my blue spider wort at the old place. I had two varieties but the just don’t seem to be a very strong plant. Your orchids are just amazing. That miniature rose is so delicate. I wish you to have a great week of gardening.

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

What a beautiful special gift for your friends / your work is amazing :)

Lovely to see all of the flowers. I especially enjoyed the indoor shots of the gardenias.


The only thing I have going on here right now is a flowering tree and grass that grows and inch a day lol !

Rue said...

Hi sweet friend :)

I'm so glad to hear you're doing well. Gardenias... my grandmother grew them too and the smell always reminds me of her.

Happy belated Birthday!
Love,
rue

Katie Mansfield said...

Beautiful. I just received some blue salvia. I pull up the spider wart. Maybe I shouldn't. Thanks for sharing.

Sallysmom said...

Hope all is well with you.

Debbie Harris said...

Stunning as always!! Your photos look like post cards, just beautiful.
Your flower garden must be like heaven?

Thank you for sharing your beauty with us ♡

A Joyful Cottage said...

I believe the Lord smiles every time He sees you in your garden, Lorraine. Your flowers are breathtaking. Looking forward to more photos as you find time to post. Always a pleasure. Hugs, Nancy