December blooms ~ lots of them

Good morning Folks ~ I hope your December is off to a good start. I’m finishing up decorating, tinsel on trees, and setting up the Nativity. Not doing as much as in years past.

There are a lot of blooms happening here at Plum Cottage gardens. All of the rain, and the sun being at a different angle, and heat a lot less, makes all the difference. So, without further ado, (more work, ceremony, or fuss), here are the photos taken since the first of this month.

Dwarf pink poinciana tree. Grown from seeds gotten last year from Butterfly world.

Ruby hibiscus, I think this was grown from see also and it self-seeds nicely.

Pink Muhly grass faded out to a nice tan color in morning sunlight.

Texas sage. I love this and so do the bees.

Tropical hydrangea.

White bougainvillea, from friends Nanci & John a few years back.

Salmon bougainvillea which has been here since we moved in, in 1973.

Garlic vine flowers and the blue pea vine flower.

Philippine violet.

Candy corn.

St. Francis with Louis Philippe roses in the background.

Zebra longwing with hamelia paten blooms.

A garden spider, don’t know what kind.

I think this is a Vanda orchid of some sort. Given to me by a friend many, many years ago.

‘Coral knockout’ roses

‘Mm. Laurette Messimy’ rose

‘Mozart’ roses.

‘Miss Atwood’.

‘Winecup’

Unknown bud

‘International Herald Tribune’ rose.

‘Louis Philippe’ roses, from an old rooted cutting from the first rose bush that I bought at the flea market and got me into growing roses sometime in the early 80’s.  It is also called the ‘Florida Cracker Rose’. Very easy to grow.

That’s it for the blooms. Hope you enjoyed them. I know a lot. if not most of my viewers are seeing lots of brown, and bare branches, not much color. I hope these outdoor, any time of year, ornaments of God’s will brighten your holiday spirits.

Now here is a recent blessing. A couple I know from church, have become good friends. We were talking the other day about my van and how the mechanic had said this is a great running vehicle and should last me quite awhile. I said, well, it does have that rust on the roof front edge that is not getting any better and a body shop wants around $800 to paint the whole top. The husband of this couple said he would sand the rust areas and paint them for me, no charge. Oh my goodness, I love the way God works things out. My friend also patched three holes and I am very pleased with the results. I smile now every time I look at the van. The van only has a little over 43,000 miles on it, is a 2001.

Here is my door’s wreath, the wreath was a freebie from someone who no longer wanted it. I took off the red ribbons and gave it a fresh shabby Plum Cottage look, using some old floral fabric I had with purples and blues in it, tore it into strips, tied together and wrapped them around wreath and made a bow of sorts at the top, streamers at the bottom.

Ok, I need to get going, have errands to do before I finish decorating.

Happy Christmas holidays to all.

FlowerLady