I love having these colourful Inca lilies to greet my visitors and our local supermarket always has them in abundance. This beautiful flower also known as Alstroemeria and Peruvian Lily, originates from South America and was introduced to Europe in the 18th century by Swedish botanist Baron von Alstroemer.
Wishing you all a really enjoyable weekend.
This is also for Cee’s FOTD Challenge.
Our newest Hibiscus has been very green and healthy-looking for months now, but every time a bud started to appear, it dried up and fell off. I’ve fed it, sprayed it with bug repellent, cajoled and threatened it, but it seemed determined not to flower. Hubby and I have been on a week’s jaunt to Key West for our 53rd wedding anniversary and yesterday on our return, this is what we saw; a perfectly formed flower the size of a soup bowl. I think we should go away more often.
Wishing you all a splendid weekend.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~ Lao Tzu
I have several orchids in my lanai which for the most part seem happy to be just green leaves. I often engage them in a very one-sided conversation, encouraging them to please try a bit harder. They appear to ignore my impatience, but just when I’ve almost given up hope, they surprise me with gorgeous flowers.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
Our ‘Tropic Escape’ hibiscus has been flowerless for a while, but this week she’s decided to show us what she’s capable of. Her exquisitely delicate flowers look like they’ve been carefully crafted out of the finest tissue paper. What a pity that after all that effort, each beautiful flower only lasts for a day before closing up again, then wilting and dying. We should really appreciate Nature’s miracles whilst they last.
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
A few weeks ago, my daughter sent me a gardenia bonsai, “Just because I love you, Mom.” What a lovely surprise it was, and I stood it in my kitchen, read the instructions and waited for the buds to come out. I was supposed to mist it daily, keep the pebbles moist in the tray and make sure not to water it too much. Not that difficult really. My daughter was disappointed when she saw the photo, because in the brochure, it showed a bright red pot with many flowers already blooming.
I followed the instructions religiously, but all that happened was that a couple of buds fell off. Then I had the bright idea to stand it outside in the humidity instead of inside in the air conditioning. Light bulb moment! The very next day, my first flower started to appear and now it’s looking gorgeous.
The fragrance is wonderful and takes me back to when I was a teenager in the 60’s. For Christmas, my very favourite aunt bought me my first bottle of perfume, which was ‘Gardenia’ by Goya. I can still remember how excited I was when I opened the bottle and dabbed a couple of drops behind my ears.
Tonight we’re going to see the fabulous Judy Carmichael performing at one of our local theatres. I wish I could play piano just like her. Tomorrow evening, we have dinner and dancing here at the club, so that should be fun too. Wishing you all a very happy weekend.
Bougainvillea has large clusters of colourful papery bracts, surrounding its small and insignificant flowers. These brightly coloured flower-like leaves which serve to attract pollinators, are visible all year round in Florida. If you zoom in, you’ll see a cute explorer among those tangled branches.
Peater the green Anole Lizard was having fun playing hide and seek with any insects who might have decided to make their home in the Bougainvillea. I wonder how many of them he managed to snaffle.
Happy Friday everyone and I hope your weekend is a relaxing and enjoyable one.
