Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-February 2011

I almost forgot to do my GBBD post today.  Here it is, 2:30 PM, and I'm sitting around perusing the Internet, reading blogs, checking Twitter and Facebook, when all of a sudden I realized I needed to get my butt outside and take some pictures.  My fans need me!  Hahahahaha-yeah, right!  Anyway, here's what's blooming in my yard today.

After an unusual time away, my orchid (Den. Pam Tajima (atroviolaceum 'Pygmy' x eximium)) is finally blooming again.



Holding onto a little rain from earlier today is my Blue Daze (Evolvus glomeratus).


Hiding from the paparazzi is my giant bird of paradise.  I know the angle on this is not great, but if you'd seen where I had to stand just to get this, you'd understand.  


Spilling over our rock wall is the ever-blooming lantana.  I didn't notice until now that some have a white -and-yellow middle and some don't.  I wonder if this is an age thing-lantana has very distinctive stages of blooming-or if it's something else.  I'll have to do some research!


Very similar in color are my volunteer snapdragons.  I'm not sure where these came from-I'm thinking that I had snapdragons a couple years ago; I wonder if these are seeds that have been lying dormant since then?


In a neighboring pot is my African daisy (Osteospermum).  I love all the subtle colors on this.




In another pot, I have a lobelia making a determined stand against the invading sweet alyssum.


In December, I showed you a picture of my variegated hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus/Talipariti tiliaceum) in bloom and told you that by the end of the day, the bright yellow flower would turn a dusty burnt orange color and fall off the shrub.  Now, as part of my newly-dubbed Progression Obsession category, I will show you!

  
11:35 AM

2:50PM

10:29 AM the next day


The first three pictures were taken of a cut-flower arrangement on my table a few days ago.  The last picture is a flower that was on the ground today when I was taking the rest of my pictures.  The cut flowers never made it to this stage of red, but this is eventually how they end up in the wild. 

I know a lot of the world is wicked cold and covered in snow right now, so if you're hankering for some more flowers to brighten up your day or want to submit your own bits of color, please visit our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens to see what else is blooming today.


**Edited 2/17-In visiting other gardeners around the web, I found a post at Good to Grow which would make for a great addition to my Progression Obsession club (maybe I can make it an honorary member?).  Anyway, here is a great look at how a hyacinth goes from nothing but leaves to all those grewat-smelling flowers.

6 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

Lovely blooms and great photos you got of them.

Cher
Goldenray Yorkies

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

I never saw the giant bird of paradise before---quite beautiful. Also loved your progressive photos of the hibiscus, the orange is beautiful.

Dreamybee said...

Thanks, Cher. I visited your site, but I wasn't sure where to leave a comment-lots of cute pics and good info on your Yorkies. :)

Carolyn-You may have seen a giant bird of paradise and not realized it if you've visited Hawaii or some place with a similar climate. Mine is still "small"--the flower that I photographed was about head-high--but they are fairly common commercial landscaping plants. They tend to look sort of like a giant green fan, and often the blooms are high up in the air where they are more inconspicuous. Thanks for stopping by!

Liza said...

Aw, thanks for the link, that's so sweet!

Wally said...

Lovely pics. I particularly like that sweet orchid, and the lantana and the snapdragon.

Dreamybee said...

Liza-You're welcome!

Mac-Thank you. The fact that they were all blooming and easily accessible for GBBD photos is quite something!