Today's Flowers #60

Oops ... i almost forgot...it's Today's Flowers Sunday! To visit pictures of lovely and rare flowers from around the world please visit the TF team by clicking Here.

Snapdragon, I love them as cut flowers. They come in a variety of colors and size.


This was originally given by a friend but it re-seeds and come up every year ... sadly, I don't know the name. One of these days, I will look it up. It is nice to use as fillers in a bouquet.


Wild morning glory, so invasive but provides greenery on our deck railing.

Happy Sunday everyone!

My neck-of-the-wood

For my family, friends and in between, lol ... here's what's going on in my neck-of-the-woods.
Soccer games started a couple of months ago ... meaning rain or snow, win or lose we are there to support our son, who is the goalie, and his team, and it's all worth it!


Street dance .... another yet successful performance of the Funk Uncle band, where our son is the lead guitarist, raising funds for the local hospice house. For more Funk Uncle post click Here.


Our little town had a Grape Festival last weekend, and to promote our church, we had a bake sale. Our cookies were sold out by 2:30 p.m. We also offered free coffee and orange drink for everybody. A picture of our space, beside our church, setting up for the day.


Sometime in the afternoon, I walked around the festival a little bit, and can you spot the human scarecrow?


Here's another display at the festival ... have you seen the biggest rocking horse? You need a step ladder to get up on this one! ... a life size!


Here's another angle.

Have a grape weekend everybodeeeee!

Today's Flowers #59

Hubby and I visited a garden store last weekend to buy a gift certificate for a co-worker/friend who is retiring. While there, I looked around and found these ...my new treasures ...
Shrimp plant.




Bougainvillea trelis ...





Thanks to the TF team for hosting today's flowers.

Today's Flowers #58 - Digital Macro Shots

Time for Today's Flowers again. To see who are participating and if you are a gardener or not but loves to see spectacular, rare, versatile and exotic flowers anyway, please visit the TF team composed of Valkyrien, Pupo, Denise and Santilli.

Sweet and charming Petunia.


The rugged beauty of Streptocarpus, never fails to give me pleasure.


Glowing bracts Bougainvillea. I waited many moons to see it blooms. ;)


Stunning and the only survivor of my lilies that escapes the deer.


An old-timer fiery bee balm ... hummingbirds find them heavenly!

Today's Flowers #57 - Nature's Bounties

All these shots are from different places I've visited ... they are not from my garden. For more of Today's Flowers, please click here.







Sorry, this is a little blurry, it was taken while I was riding in a car.

Today's flowers #56 - Kiss me over the garden gate

Kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate! WOW, have you heard of such a name? ... that must be one of the longest names given to a plant! Also, I have these images of young couples sneaking kisses over the garden gate, don't you? A couple of years ago, a friend gave me KMOTGG seeds. She told me that they are heirloom seeds and described to me what the stems would look like so that I would not mistake it with a weed. Unfortunately no plants came up. Since then I learned that the seeds need a cold period before they will germinate. It was suggested that storing them in the refrigerator should do the trick, or store them in a cool garage or basement before planting them in the early spring.
I saw her again in the early spring of this year and told her that I didn't have any luck sowing those seeds. The following day she gave me eight plants that are already about 6-8 inches tall. I shared four to a few friends.
It's hard for me to describe the stems, so I took a picture. It almost looks like bamboo; with rings and that thingy covering it. :)


And here they are now, standing tall!


I just love these tiny bell-shaped, slightly fragrant, delicate pink flowers, elegantly draping the large heart-shaped leaves. It's too bad Japanese beetles devoured some of the leaves. I go around almost every afternoon with a soapy water container picking and drowning those pesky beetles!


Here's a close-up of these rare and colorful plants of yesteryear. I'm hoping that I will have more next year because although kmotgg is an annual the flowers produce seeds for new plants in the spring.


For more of Today's Flowers please visit the TF team.

Self-portrait

It's a little dusty, but after all these years and with a new set of eyes, it's not all that bad. To know what I'm rambling about, please click here.

Today's Flowers #55 - Rose

Rose - the queen of cut flowers. There must be thousands of varieties of roses; so many to choose from; one for every taste and size. Pictured below are my miniature roses. They are only about 1-1/2' tall, with tiny leaves and flowers and are excellent for potted plants. I bought these at an end-of-season sale 2 years ago for $2.49 each ... not bad for years of enjoyment! ;)
All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.










This one is a climbing rose. I don't know what I did wrong this year, but it only gave me about 3 blooms!


This is an old-fashioned rose. It has very tiny thorny stems but the flowers are very fragrant! I believe their rose hips can be used for tea.


Here's another old-timer. The seven sisters rose, it's a cluster of beauties and every rose has a different shade of pink. It is an antique rose variety.



The two roses below were given to me by a friend who was re-arranging her garden beds in the early spring, and I was surprised to see it bloom the same year! I think these type of roses are known as "wild" roses.


... my friend told me that they are not only very hardy but resistant to disease as well. She even demonstrated how to propagate, which I want to try next summer.



The roses below are not from my garden but from a friend's garden.
I read it somewhere that if you want healthier roses, bury banana skins just below the surface of the soil. They provide calcium, sulfur, magnesium, phosphates, sodium and etc. to the soil. And if you plant garlic, and parsley by your roses, it will increase their scent and repel aphids.












I highly appreciate them in flower arrangements ... classic and elegant, don't you think?




To see more exotic and gorgeous flowers, please visit Today's Flowers hosted by Luiz, Denise, Valkyrien and Laerte.