Lovely grass, a tree from seed, a sweet gift

 

Good morning Folks ~ I hope you are surviving the time change. Setting the clocks back is harder than setting them forward. My feline alarm clock doesn’t go by a clock so she starts in with her noises for me to wake up, at what she thinks is the right time, which is an hour earlier right now. We’ll get used to this change together. My usual time to get up is around 4, so 3 is a bit too early for me.

We had our first cold front come down over the weekend. In the high 40’s feeling like the low 40’s. I worked outside Sun. and Mon. mornings thankful to God for His many blessings.  It was wonderful working out there in the chilly air, with breezes, butterflies & singing birds.

The other morning when I was out there on the back stoop of the 8’x10’ shed, I turned around and was blasted by the beauty of Pink Muhly Grass.  Years ago we would see an empty field filled with this and the sunlight hitting it was wonderful.  Jean from Secrets of a Seed Scatterer had a lovely post about her Gulf Muhly Grass the other day, which you can read here.  I will divide my two clumps of this come spring. I have a spot I am thinking of putting this. I’ll keep you posted.

This clump just started blooming.

This clump in the other pot has faded blooms and new blooms.

Here you can see both clumps of blooms.

These below are taken in the afternoon. Sigh! such simple beauty. DH ‘found’ these two pots curbside not far from us. We had to figure out how to get them home and did on May Day 2008. These are another reminder of the ‘love’ in and of my life. When I had come home from work the day he first saw these he said, “I found a couple of flower pots I know you are going to want.”

Sunday morning I moved a stack of marble that had been leaning against the wall of back shed. I had a hand dolly, and I moved slowly and got them all stacked by the door into my little shed.

Before

After

You can see where the stack had leaned and the plum color that the shed had been.  It is faded out now. I ‘may’ paint this shed after painting the house.

I repotted Tahitian Gardenia, and also have hibiscus and roses here too.  Tools and artifacts make me love DH all the more.

Marble in new location, is also covered in a sheet of clear plastic.

Below is a tree, called ‘Lilac Tree’ or ‘Lancepod Tree’, that I grew from seed.  Started in 2010.  I moved it to new spot earlier this year and it has grown and has it’s first blooms. I am thrilled. I almost trimmed off the top earlier, but something held me back, and I’m so glad I heeded that ‘something’, as blooming beauty was just days away.  These are supposed to be scented too, but as of yet, I’ve not smelled them.  It’s been too windy.  I’ll take more pics as the flowers open up.  They are all across the top of this tree.

Yesterday I received a lovely handmade gift from KathyB of Spot on Cedar Pond. If you’ve not visited her blog yet, please do.  It is delightful!  She and her husband raise spotted Jacob sheep, and she then makes yarn from their wool and makes sweet creations from the wool. Her blog about the sheep and creations can be seen here. She also has and Etsy shop where you can purchase her creations. Cedar Pond Wool Craft.

I have loved her little ‘sheep’ creations since I first saw them, now I am a happy and thankful owner of a pair. I put in an order for a pair and asked for a little heart charm with the word LOVE on it, like I’d seen in a photo. When I opened the box there was a sweet note inside a photo card of these lovely sheep, the p.s. said “The sheep are a gift.” This of course brought tears to my eyes and love and thankfulness filled my heart.

Look at the sweet tissue paper too.

In my heart, this is the female

and here is the male.  It wasn’t until I was editing this photo that I saw that his eye was in the shape of a heart.  I asked Kathy about this and she did not do this on purpose, it just happened this way. I call it serendipitous, and a gift of love from my Creator to me at this time in my life. He knew this little sheep was destined to come to Plum Cottage, to bring happiness and love to my heart.

Aren’t they adorable.  Such a sweet couple. Kathy said that when she paints on the faces the little sheep take on personalities of their own, and it is oh so true.

I placed them differently and this photo really grips my heart. She’s looking up at him and he’s looking down at her.

That’s it. Tears are overflowing.

Thank you all for your love, encouragement, prayers and friendship. 

You all mean a lot to me.

Love & hugs ~ FlowerLady

Have a great weekend

Good morning Folks ~ I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you do. I'm working again today at my job. It was very quiet there yesterday, today is usually 'looker day', which means people are looking and rarely buying. But you never know.

It is very warm and humid out already. I was doing some things in our screened room, plus have been moving the sprinkler around the main garden. Today is one of my two watering days here.

Below are some pics taken yesterday and this morning.

First we an unknown lily grown from seed. I think they were candy lilies from an exchange, but I don't know for sure. Guess I won't know until I see the flowers. No sign of them yet. I think these are two years old, maybe three.



Here is our bird bath, that has tadpoles in it so I hate to clean it out. The do take care of some of the mosquito population. The reflections caught my eye.



This was also grown from seed and is some kind of honeywort.
I just noticed these blooms this morning.



Hamelia patens and Vanda orchids in the morning sunlight.



Coleus and a lancepod tree seedling.



Avocado seedling.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Growing from Seeds

These pictures below are nothing to write home about.
Growing from seeds though is exciting,
even though we may have to wait awhile to see actual blooms.
Patience is needed, if we don't have it naturally, we learn it.

I was given these seeds by generous Florida gardeners.
I am thankful to them for sharing from their gardens with me.

Several of these are supposed to have lovely scents and I am looking forward to that.

I will post pictures when these bloom, hopefully sooner than later.
Click on the links to see pictures of flowers and read info on each plant.

******

Desert Cassia is the plant in the left side of the pot with little leaves on each stem.

For a picture of it in bloom and much larger than my baby
visit GreenBeamPro

This next seedling is white powder puff tree.

For more information, visit RareFlora

This next one is Vitex. Info can be found here

This is Lance Pod tree. See here Rare Flora

Popcorn Cassia another yellow flower shrub.

Foliage smells like buttered popcorn.

This next one is Jerusalem Thorn.

I'm not crazy about thorns but the flowers were neat.

Last but not least, dwarf white orchid tree.

Musings from FL zone 10