Posts Tagged ‘Flowers’

I picked this hardy hibiscus up at the Farmer’s Market last year not quite sure what I was getting, but fell in love with it once it bloomed. It comes in bright white and fades to a deep pinkish red over the course of several days- the whole bloom lasts a good 10 days, which is fantastically long for these things.

Here are two blooms on the same bush- one had been out for about four days and had gone pink, and the other had bloomed that day:

And here’s two days later, the pink’s gone much deeper, but the white’s still white:

I just love how it’s chaos at its center, much more than a tropical hibiscus:

The Ebb Tide (RIP) rose in better days:

Another spring, another (several) dead rose plants. I give up.

I hereby resolve to not buy any more roses, despite the fact that I love them. They’re high maintenance to begin with, and with NOLA’s humidity (the leaves don’t like the damp), high water table (roses’ deep roots tap the underground lake pretty quickly and drown), the extreme temperature swings, the aggressive insect population… Oh, god, forget it- I surrender.

Last year I said I was going Darwinian on the garden- only the strong survive. I’ll fertilize, prune, water- but no babying. If I’m going to stay true to that principle, I’ve got to let the roses thing go, no matter how much I covet covet covet them.

So. All of the in-ground ones have keeled over or are on life support, and I don’t have the heart to yank ‘em out while they’re still struggling along. The couple in pots seem okay at the moment, so we’ll see. And no more roses shall cross the thresh hold. :::sigh:::

Another casualty: Key Lime Pie.

Every time I see the puppy hiding in and around the flowers, I think of Ferdinand the Bull, who just “wanted to sit quietly and smell the flowers.”

:::sigh:::

What a lovely idea. If only Bruiser would sit quietly and smell the flowers instead of running around like a loon, using Kassie’s ears as handles, and doing his level best to destroy every shoe in the house.

Not to mention chasing the cats everywhere. No, this really isn’t a pacifist dog.

Of course, given the look on Ferdinand’s face, one has to wonder exactly what flowers it is he’s smelling…

I finally got around to planting some tulips and daffodils this year. A little cliche, perhaps, but they’re just so damn cheerful I couldn’t resist. The daffs aren’t up yet, but between the two they’ll get me through til the roses start to bloom.