Fall blooms of the Garlic Vine - Cydista aequinoctialis

Hello Folks ~ This is one of my favorite flowering plants and it is a vine. I grew this from seed from a friend. I have two a large one from seed and a small one from a cutting. I want to get more of these propogated and planted in my front hedgerow. I think it will be beautiful for the passersby to enjoy.

It is called ‘garlic’ vine because of the scent when any part of plant is crushed. It blooms 2-3 times a year, and this is the best bloom season I’ve had so far.  I love it.

On the 15th of this month I noticed the buds below.

Below are pics from the24th and the 28th. This morning, I noticed that the flowers are starting to fall from the plant. They go from a deep purple, to almost white near the end of their blooming time.

The 24th. This is looking south. The smaller vine is growing/blooming over the arbor into clothesline area garden.

The next photos are from the 28th.

On the arbor is also growing blue pea vine and Queen’s wreath, or sandpaper vine, as the leaves of this plant feel like sandpaper.

Next two photos are from different times of the day, hence the difference in coloring of flowers.

That’s it from Plum Cottage. Having more rain at the moment. More expected throughout the week. All of the rain we’ve been having is probably why this vine has been such a happy bloomer.

Have a great day.

FlowerLady

A start to Christmas decorating

Hello Folks ~ Well, here we are past the first holiday of the season. I had a nice time with friends, plenty of delicious food, and gifted with take away for several meals here at home.

We’ve had more rain, and more rain. The ground has not dried out since hurricane Irma and tropical storm Philippe after that, and the T-storms and rain showers that have kept coming our way. I was finally able to get a load of laundry washed and hung out the other day. Got the grass mowed and did some trimming and weedwacking too.  Today it is beautiful out. Sunshine, breezy, some clouds and the humidity is less.

I did get outside this morning to do a little weeding and moved some potted plants. It felt good being outdoors.

Indoors, I’ve made a small start to decorating for Christmas. I just love doing this. I’ve got to get another small tree out of the attic and that should do it for the trees, a total of 3, plus my collectible iron rose tree that I bought many, many years ago at a local flea market for $10. It has 5 small light sockets hidden behind clusters of leaves, with an old chord and a dimmer switch also hidden behind a leaf. But, I bought battery operated lights with a timer 6 hours on 18 off, since the tree is not near an outlet.  It looks better in person than in the photo.  I’ll take more photos after I am done decorating the trees. The LED lights are weird to photograph.

One of the small trees.  I hung the mirror with painting on the wall for the reflections. DH and I got that frame probably from same flea market as the above iron rose tree. He painted the painting for the top, after an old master, but at the moment I can’t remember which one. Then put a mirror in the bottom and gave it to his mother for either Mother’s day or her birthday. one year. It hung in the family home by the front door as you entered.  I recently was given it and cried when I saw it. Another part of DH here with me.

Remodeling work in the living room and bedroom is on hold until the new year. I decided that it is just too hectic with the holidays to even begin with the projects. But, amidst the chaos of boxes of stuff, decluttering, etc. I am still decorating. It puts more color and joy into this little cottage and I look forward to working on decorating for days to come.

Happy holidays and getting ready to celebrate Christmas. It is a wonderful time of year. Filled with love, peace, joy and goodwill.

FlowerLady

Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for:

the gift of another day,

for food to eat,

hot and cold running water,

clothing to wear,

a comfortable bed,

a.c.

~~~

Thankful for

my four feline girls,

for Plum Cottage and gardens.

~~~

Thankful for

43 years of marriage to my best friend,

for the love we shared,

for the memories that fill my heart,

thankful knowing that he is now with God.

For love, encouragment and comfort from God and others,

through these almost 5 years without my dear DH, my ‘love’.

~~~

Thankful for,

the love of family,

for the love of friends, real and online.

Thankful most of all,

for the Love of God.

*****

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you,

FlowerLady

Fall blooms

Good morning folks ~ It is Monday, a new week, one of getting used to the time change, and one for working inside and out.

The ground is still soggy here from the heavy deluge of rain we got from Philippe. Below is a picture of the driveway the next day. There was standing water in different parts of the property. We sure have a lot of green don’t we?

After Philippe moved northeastward, a cold front moved in and the next morning this is how my scullery window looked. It was 58 and real feel was 54. Right now at 11:51 p.m. EST it is 83 and feels like it is 90. The cool weather didn’t last long.

Last week I was out of my ‘comfort zone’ a bit as I was on a little adventure of checking on and visiting my bro & sis-in-laws two felines, Zoe and Peppy (who I call Pepperoni), while they had a lovely week with friends in Cancun, Mexico. BIL & SIL live about 25 miles north of me. I do NOT drive I-95 or the turnpike, just way too fast for me and stresses me out. That route would take me 30 minutes less, my slower route takes about an hour each way.  Worth it to me for the stress level, zipping along at 65-70 mph is just too fast for me. I’ll post pics from my times spent there in another post. I went there Tues. Thurs. and Sat.

Being there did make me appreciate my little Plum Cottage, and I was refreshed and inspired by my time spent there. BIL-SIL are living here until they find another home to buy. They sold the home they had lived in for many years, this past spring and moved into this rental, to be closer to BIL’s job. It is lovely and peaceful, a quiet gated community on the water, just off the intra-coastal waterway. Nice to enjoy the water views and the clouds in the sky passing by. I was inspired to work on my place by their lovely home and the way she has decorated.

This morning I started working on the bedroom, moving things out, making plans for some rearranging. I’ll need my BIL’s help in moving things, then we/he can start work on repairing living room west wall and I’ll be able to paint and then we can move in the two matching bookcases and the tv stand piece (from them) that will go in between bookcases. A couple of days ago I started feeling excited for no reason, and this morning starting to do this work made me feel even more excited.

Ok, now for some fall blooms here at Plum Cottage tropical gardens. Enjoy. They give me much pleasure in their colors and scents.

Philippine Violet blooms along with yellow firecracker flowers and a lone Wine Cup rose.

Philippine violet flower with a Skipper butterfly sipping nectar.

This is a lilac tree, grown from seed. The flowers have a delicate sweet scent.

Hibiscus Tree bloom ~ This is the trees that grow along my driveway and hang over from the neighbors. These are fast growers, a real pain. DH used to keep these cut back on our side. The flowers start out yellow and turn a salmony color as they age and fall off.

Mexican petunia and below that are morning glories.

Pink Muhly grass

Plumbago

Port St. John vine

Confederate Rose (I think) and visiting ants.

Wild petunia of sorts.

Cape Coral Honeysuckle, I also have this in a bright orange.

Wooly Jasmine

Barnhouse rose

Coral knockout

Kathleen

Maman Cochet

Mozart

Not sure which rose this is.

This might be Mozart again or else a little rose called Picnic.

Prosperity

Winecup

Evening sunlight hitting the pine trees.

St. Francis, a wonderful old cement statue we got at a flea market for $10 many, many years ago. I love it’s old patina. He’s about 3 feet tall.

Miss Tork minding her p’s & q’s, then looking at me to see what I’m doing.

That’s it. I hope you are all finding beauty in each day and enjoying getting into the start of the holidays.

FlowerLady

Whisper ~ a book review

Good morning Folks ~ I am a tad late with getting this review out. Hurricane Irma and taking care of this place has kept me occupied. Then this past weekend we had tropical storm Philippe come on us all of a sudden dumping lots and lots of heavy rain, even some tornadoes. I am thankful Plum Cottage has done some more surviving, thankful to God for His tender care.

Before hurricane Irma, I had ordered a book from Blogging For Books to do a review for and it came afterwards and there were some great helpful and encouraging tidbits in this book.

The book is ‘Whisper – How to Hear the Voice of God’ by Mark Batterson.

There are many ways in which God speaks to us, we just need open our hearts to listen.

God wants to speak to each of us, you and me. Do we want to hear Him?

If we do, all we have to do is ask.

Some thoughts from this book are below:

“The goal of hearing the heavenly Father’s voice isn’t just hearing His voice; it’s intimacy with Him. He wants to be as close to us as is divinely possible.”

“Nothing has the potential to change your life like the whisper of God.”

“His whisper quiets us, calms us, stills us.”

“The voice of God is all-powerful ~ it is also all-loving.”

“Jesus is in the business of opening impossible doors and leading us to impossible places. It’s one of the ways He whispers.”

“God can use anything to accomplish His purposes, and He can do it anywhere, anytime and anyhow.”

------------------------------------

In this book Mark lists seven love languages in which God whispers to us. They are Scripture, Desires, Doors, Dreams, People, Promptings, Pain.

This was a good, encouraging read and I have LOTS underlined to go back and re-read and be encouraged and uplifted by.

I am thankful for the many ways

in which I have experienced God’s whispers in my own life.

May we all be open to hearing God’s whispers each and every day.

FlowerLady