Today's flowers #52 - the other Rose

Rose of Sharon, that is ... well it's not really a rose but part of hibiscus family. ;)
For Today's Flowers, I am featuring the beauty of Rose of Sharon. Pictured below is my all white RoS. I've seen shades of blue, red, violet, and pink with contrasting colored "eyes" but I seldom see an all white one.



If I remember the tag correctly, I think my RoS is called Diana, it is pure white with ruffled blooms.


What I love about Rose of Sharon is its profusion of buds! If you click to enlarge, you'll notice that it's loaded with buds! This gives them a long blooming period.





... a double or ruffled Rose of Sharon?


This one was taken at one of the gardens where I work. It's two in one, because a pink and white were grafted.


... close up.




See these blooms? ... butterflies and hummingbirds will find these irresistible.




Unlike Hibiscus, Rose of Sharon can stand up to frost. They leaf out late in the spring, so please do not declare them dead; I made this mistakes once and dug up what I planted the year before then I noticed that the roots look ok so I planted it back ... and sure enough, some sign of foliage started to show later, its not dead! :) what makes Rose of Sharon happy? ... give it a sunny spot, and humus-rich soil and it will reward you with profusion of blooms when summer comes!

Park Avenue Festival

Last Saturday, our son was invited by the music organizer, Duncan to join a band and play at the Park Ave Festival, in a nearby city. They played from 10:00 am to 12:15 pm.
We arrived early to have enough time for him to set up. While they were setting up, I walked around the two mile arts & crafts display and looked around. I photographed a few displays with the vendor's permission. Pictured below is a dinner napkin folded to look like flowers, and the leaves act as a ring holder...very innovative, don't you think? I would have loved to buy a set but they were a little pricey for my budget. For four-ring holders alone, you pay $25.00; napkins range from $35 to $55.00 depending on size.


These wine glasses hold candles; I was told that they give nice reflections when lighted.


I love the way the vendor displayed her rings ... it caught my attention.


And here is a picture of Duncan (with the hat), Fran and Friends. Hubby and I are guessing our son must be one of the friends? lol I took videos but they are a bit long and it will take many hours to upload to YouTube.


While listening, hubby and I had Peach Paradise tea ... very refreshing!


... picture of our lunch. I had an Eggplant sandwich with sun dried tomatoes and provolone while hubby and our son had wraps.


... chicken caesar wrap.


... saved the best picture for last. I love the sense of humor of this old lady!

... and that my friends, was how I spent my weekend! How was yours?

Today's Flowers #51

For Today's Flowers, hosted by Luiz, Denise, Laerte & Valkyrien, I am featuring blooms of my new plants this summer.

Dahlia


The following are Hollyhocks from seeds that I picked up at a friend's garden two summers ago. This is their first time to bloom.






Crazy Daisy, given to me by a friend. I love its feathery and quilled petals.


Cosmos, from seeds that I harvested from a friend's garden.





Daylily that escaped the deer. ;)


If you are interested to join Today's Flowers, just click the link.

Today's Flowers

Time to show off my flowers again! yay! For "Today's Flowers" that is hosted by TF team, Santilli, Denise, Pupo & Valkyrien, I am featuring my miniature African violet called, Little Moonstone and Streptocarpus, both given by my good friend, Jean.
Jean enjoys propagating them, then share them to friends. She told me how to propagate, so one of these days, if successful I will show you the results. I documented it! ha ha
Pictured below are african violets and one streptocarpus; all from Jean.


Just a few days after I transplanted the streptocarpus, a bud came up ...


... after a couple of weeks, aha! it showed me its color!



... a couple of close ups.


It's too bad that I forgot to take pictures of Jean's streptocarpus, she has quite a lot in gorgeous ranges of colors.


And this is the miniature African Violet, isn't it a charmer? ... I just love, love it! Each bloom is probably around a quarter inch in diameter.


... it's incredibly beautiful! It almost look like those Staffordshire fine bone china florals that are made in England.



This picture will give you an idea of how tiny this Little Moonstone is. I haven't put it in a pot of its own yet since Jean gave it to me, I hate to touch it while blooming.


If you want to participate in Today's Flowers please visit Luiz for more info. TF opens every Sunday at 2pm, GMT time.

Grassroots Festival

Love festivals? ... please join me, put on your walking shoes and don't forget to bring an umbrella because for some reason, here in upstate NY, we've been getting a lot of rain! I am not complaining but it would be nice to have a decent day to enjoy outdoors... we have short summers as it is.
Anywho ... let's go and groove at the Grassroots festival of music and dance! ---------- > Click the link and find out what's going on in my neck of the wood. ;)

Today's Flowers

Since I love gardening, I thought of participating in the Today's Flowers by Luiz and friends. If you visit his site you will see various participants posting all sort of gorgeous flowers ... some of them I've never even seen before! Instead of posting various blooms from my garden, I decided to post maybe two kinds at a time. Dahlias and Lilies are now showing off their beauties so here are my entries from my garden. Enjoy!









The following are from my friend, Josie's garden.

Simple Pleasures

I consider myself lucky to live in an area where there is a bountiful supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from spring to fall like asparagus, strawberries, cherries, peas, apples, blueberries, peaches, grapes, tomatoes, etc. These bounties provide flavor and freshness that store-bought produce can not match.
Last weekend me and my friends went cherry picking at a nearby town. The taste of fresh, tree ripened fruit is reason enough to drive a few miles ... hard to top that! ;)


Climbing these cherry trees reminds me of when I was a little girl. We used to have guava, tamarind, star apple,and mango trees (these are tropical fruits) in our yard and us kids enjoyed going up as high as we could get on those trees. In this picture, we used a ladder to get to the top of the cherry tree.


Here we are, taking a break. Try to notice all those cherry trees behind us, there must have been a total of a hundred trees in this orchard.


The gang ...


After picking cherries, we drove to a hill where the owners live, to pay. One more reason that I appreciate where I live is the trust that the farmers extend to pickers. They are aware that all pickers have their fill first before starting to fill their bags. ;)
This is the view from the cherry owner's home. Imagine waking up with this view every morning? ... it's heaven!


Pretty soon road side stands like this one will be filled with produce. Notice that metal box at the left side in front? ... help yourself to the produce and drop your payment in that box. Nobody minds the "store" ... so trusting like in the good old days!
This pic was taken last fall.