Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! As you can see, it was a rainy morning, here in the garden, but that's OK; it made for some nice little highlights in my morning pictures. This is the first GBBD I've done since two huge hurricanes threatened to barrel down on top of us back in the beginning of August. We were on the mainland at the time, so we were dependent upon the kindness of friends/neighbors/housesitters to get all of my plants moved out of harm's way while also minimizing their ability to become airborne. Luckily, we didn't get hit with much here-a brief period of intense wind and rain, but no real damage. When we got back home, all of my plants were still in their emergency locations, so not in their normal sun/water/shade locations, and it took me about another week to get them back where they belonged. Luckily, they all seem to have weathered the storm nicely and are looking lovely today.
My trusty, unidentified pink/lavender orchid is blooming on the back porch.
A few months ago, I found some loofah seeds at a local plant exchange and decided it would be fun to grow my own bath scrubbies. I've been looking at these flowers trying to figure out which were males and which were females and not really sure how I was going to tell...until I looked at this one today. It's a female!
See how it looks like it's got a stem resembling a mini zucchini? That's how you know it's a female. The males just have regular skinny little stems. Now, I just need a male flower to open up so that pollination can happen.
Another unidentified pink orchid.
There's always a red ginger blooming somewhere in the yard! Supporting cast include red ti in front and variegated hau in the background.
There's NOT always night-blooming jasmine blooming, and even when there is, the flowers themselves get very little love. They're usually closed up by the time I get around to taking pictures, but they're actually quite sweet, even without their perfume.
This little guy is ALWAYS in bloom, and it has as many names as it does flowers. Cuphea hyssopifolia is like the Mad Libs of heathers: false heather, Mexican heather, Hawaiian heather, (place where you live) heather
I am forever pulling these weeds out of my garden, but they have such teeny tiny little flowers that I figured I would just let them be today.
HI CRAPE MYRTLE!
Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to be all up in your grill. Hi, crape myrtle!
This poor lavender (I believe it's Lavendula pinnata) is the straggliest thing ever, but it keeps trying, and the leaves have an interesting earthy-lemony sort of scent.
The good news: I have some Puakenikeni flowers blooming today.
The bad news: My Oriental fruit fly population (Bactrocera dorsalis)...
...
...also seems to be blooming.
That's what's going on in my yard today. What's blooming in your garden? Please visit our GBBD host, Carol, at May Dreams Gardens to share your blooms and/or admire others. Happy Gardening!
