Beauty from an overgrown subtropical cottage garden

Greetings from Plum Cottage,

Well, the problem with uploading photos to Blogger was fixed by switching to a different browser. It is so nice to have that issue taken care of.

Down here in s.e. FL, I have been getting hints of fall coming. My dear husband used to laugh when in August I would get these hints and say to him "Fall is coming." We still had the hot and steamy weather of September to get through, and sometimes into October.

I have lots of blooms to share and hope you enjoy the 'eye candy'. I am surprised sometimes when walking around my overgrown/weedy garden spaces and come upon a recently opened flower. Always a delight. We need to look up, down and all around, taking in the sights, scents and sounds. 

White scented Bauhinia ~ white orchid tree 

with what I think is a 'skipper' butterfly

Below is a sweetly scented rose 'Angel Face'.

PInk Monandra Bauhinia

Not sure which red rose this is, possibly 'Oklahoma'.

Red Salvia - spreads easily by seeds

'Spicy Jatropha' zebra longwings love this.

Hibiscus schizopetalus ~ skeleton or fringed hibiscus

Another unknown rose. Names fade away on tags. This might be 'Double Delight'.

Hibiscus 'Diva'

'Incense' passion flower

'Tiger Eye' flowering maple Abutilon 

~~~~~~

God saw all that he had made, 

and it was very good.

(Genesis 1:31)

Do not be anxious.

Consider the lilies of the field, 

how they grow: 

they neither toil nor spin; 

and yet 

I say to you

that even Solomon

in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

~~~~~~

Cast all your anxiety on Jesus 

because He cares for you.

(1 Peter 5:7)

Do not worry about tomorrow, 

for tomorrow will worry about its own things. 

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

(Matthew 6)

~~~~~~

Thanks for visiting. 

Count your blessings and be thankful.

Kindness matters

so

Be kind.

Love & prayers,

FlowerLady

Seasons of Life

Greetings from Plum Cottage in s.e. FL. Here it is the start of another weekend and time keeps zipping right along. These past two months have been seasons of change, not only in the weather patterns, but also in the times of life.

At the beginning of February my favorite aunt, my dear husband's aunt, had a stroke at home, and fell and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and they did surgery. She would be 92 this year.  She was then put in rehab. She had another stroke and went to be with God her Father, on the 18th of March.  She is survived by her only child, our cousin Faye. Before my Aunt passed from this life to the next,  Faye's husband suffered the exact same kind of stroke her Mom had had. He passed away a week to the day from when her Mom left. This has been really, really rough for Faye so I am asking prayer in her behalf that she will have the strength to get through each and every day. I ask prayers for myself as well that I will be comforting support since I've already been where she is in being a widow.

I've been re-reading 3 different books in my personal library for widows as it's been 6 yrs and 4 months since the start of my widowhood journey and I wanted to refresh myself with dealing with grief from the beginning. While doing this reading, I realized that I've come quite away since those first few weeks/months. God has been my strength. I prayed, read the Bible, books, devotionals, I cried. Grieving is different for every one. There is no right or wrong way. There is no time limit. To be of help to widows, we need to be compassionate and encouraging. We need to be there for those who need someone to listen to what they say or don't say about their feelings. Be supportive, give help where help is needed. Do not be overly helpful, or pushy. But be there for them when they need someone. Pray for them.

The blogging community, family and friends, church family, have all helped in my growing through my grieving and I thank each and every one of you for your love, prayers and encouragement.

We widows can not only survive but thrive. God has a plan for our good, He hears our hearts cries, He is with us every step of the way.  I am so thankful to Him for what He has done, for what He is doing and for what He will do.

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

Part of my surviving/thriving mode, (even though I've had some slumps), has been working in my gardens. Gardening in s.e. FL is a year round project, so it is never done, and my tropical, cottage gardens can and do turn into a jungle quickly. I've been working outside in the mornings trying to get caught up. Summer's heat and humidity will be here all too soon and working outside past mid morning will not be a good thing then.

My dear husband is the one who came up with my online name of 'FlowerLady', because of my love of flowers and because I was out in my gardens among the flowers, when I wasn't working at my job. He always knew where to find me. He once said I was 'the girl with far-away eyes' (line from a Rolling Stones song) when I was out among the flowers.

These days I am working on grouping potted plants into 2-3 main areas making it easier for me to water, etc.

Below is an area that really needed some serious weeding. This is my clothesline/caravan garden area, before and after. It could be better, but it is forward progress and I am happy with that for now.

Now for some blooms.There are so many things in bloom right now, and the air is filled with scents. It is absolutely wonderful. There are at least 3 different jasmine perfuming the air, roses too, a scented geranium, a faux orange bush and more that I can't think of at the moment.

This rose did not have a name tag when I bought it, but the color and the scent made me put it into my cart. I think this was from Home Depot.

If I new the name of this one, I don't remember it, and it has no tag.

This little sweetie is 'Kathleen'. I've had the mother plant for many years now, this one is a cutting that rooted. She has a nice delicate scent, and is one of my favorites.

This is 'International Herald Tribune'

Yesterday I did some errands, one of the places I stopped at was The Dollar Store for some tissue paper. I looked around while there and bought some Easter candy, 2 pkgs of cup cake liners, 8 pkgs of flower seeds 25 cents a pkt. 

 
I moseyed over to the little book section and found a real gem, at least it is to me. I had seen the author of this book in Country Living Magazine many years ago and loved her style. This is a lovely hard back book with lots of wonderful photos and history of 'Magnolia Pearl'. Price ~ $1.

I highly recommend this book for inspiration and eye candy. 

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

I think tonight I will fix tacos for supper, my favorite comfort/happy meal.

Count your blessings, take nothing for granted, grow and learn through your circumstances whatever they are.

Kindness matters, so be kind.

Have a wonderful weekend ~ FlowerLady

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.

Pink hibiscus

Pink begonia

This begonia is scented and just wonderful.

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

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

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.

Blue Salvia with Tahitian Gardenia in the background

Salvia coccinea greggii spreads by self-seeding another favorite

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

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

Bougainvillea from friends Nanci & John

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

This is a ‘Tropical Hydrangea’.

‘Miss Atwood’

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

‘Mozart’

A sweet little carpet rose.

‘International Herald Tribune’ rose a real sweetie.

‘Miss Ruth’s Wavy’ rose

Hibiscus

Two views of the same shell.

1st year anniversary gift I created for young friends.

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.

***