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.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-February

Turns out our sprinklers come on at 8:00AM.  Why do I know this?  Because I was outside trying to take pictures in my yard when they came on!  Luckily, my camera is waterproof, and it is warm here.  So, on with the show!

Remember this little guy from last month?

Well, here's what he looks like today:

Not only has he put out a whole new set of leaves, but the one that he put out last month appears to be almost mature.

Next we have the 3rd or 4th successive bloom I've had on this orchid in about a year.  As orchids go, I think this is a pretty fast-growing one.  The colors up close are really striking, but I wasn't quite able to capture them here today.  Perhaps it was the lack of coffee and the wet backside that threw my game.  Yeah, that must have been it.  ;)  Also, this bloom is beginning to fade a bit, and it's a little beat up.  It's been very windy here lately.  There should be 3 little spiky pieces on top, not 2, but I kind of like this look-it sort of looks like a bunny rabbit orchid now. (I know, I'm killing you with my scientific-ness today, huh?) 

Here's my orchid (Onc. Papilio x Kalihi) sharing the spotlight with some chives and a pink bougainvillea in the foreground.  In the background, you can see some red ginger (right above the far-left bloom on the chives), a red ti plant (above the orchid) and the base of my lime tree.

This next one is one of my favorite plants.  It's a Clerodendrum quadriloculare.  When we first moved to Hawaii and were looking for a house, we looked at a lot of model homes in some of the new developments that were going in like gangbusters at the time.  One of the plants that was commonly used in the landscaping was this type of Clerodendrum.  I never saw any in flower, but I loved the dark green leaves with the purple undersides, and it was something that I kept tucked away in the back of my mind as a "someday" plant.  Well, we didn't end up in one of those new model homes, but a couple years after we moved into the house that we did buy, I looked out my office window one morning to find my front yard full of potted plants that my neighbor had snuck into our yard that morning.  He knew I liked plants, and he had a bunch of extras sitting around his yard.  One of them was this Clerodendrum.  (Yay!)  Our neighbor passed away about 2 years ago, so this plant holds a special place in our yard and in my heart.  When we had our recent landscaping done, they decided to move this plant, and it went through some serious transplant shock.  I didn't think it was going to make it.  So, I am thrilled to be able to share these pictures with you today.

Next, thanks to the birds in our yard, I have discovered a great new way of germinating sunflower seeds:

This lily is located underneath our bird feeder, and it turns out that it holds just enough moisture at the base of its leaves to germinate the sunflower seeds that the birds keep dropping. I never would have thought of this on my own!

To see what other people have blooming in their yards right now, visit May Dreams Gardens' Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post.