20 September 2011

Quite Contrary

hibiscus

All summer long, I whined and complained because grasshoppers ate all my flowers. The hibiscus I didn't know I had until late last summer finally is blooming like crazy, now that summer's almost over and chilly nights have decreased the literal hoardes of grasshoppers.

I think the hibiscus is trying to make up for what I've been missing all year long. She is LOADED with more buds! She's a very happy plant.

Now, if we can just hang onto Indian Summer a tiny bit longer...

Come on, Sunshine!

joyous hibiscus

stand tall

eye of the hibiscus

hibiscus

hibiscus


All summer, I have waited and hoped for my first Icelandic poppies. Every time a bud did form, grasshoppers made quick work of it. Within hours. But now the nights are a bit cooler, and the swarms have disappeared; only a few stubborn hoppers are still chewing continually on my pampas grass and corn.

I'm trying to protect this tiny, half-marble-sized baby so it can grow up and stand tall.

tiny baby poppy


My better half's hoya plant is at it again, too, so I'm surrounded with raspberry-hued petals, and loving every minute of it. The hoya had not bloomed since before The Lizard and I began dating, and then it wished us a happy anniversary in July with two gorgeous mini bouquets. After all those years of dearth, the hoya is showing her true colors.

If only I could figure out what exactly is making her so happy.

hoya heaven

hoya joy

hoya magic


Ten of my 18 clove seedlings are still aiming to become trees. Like the hibiscus, the seedlings quite literally are fish out of water, hanging tough at an elevation of about 6,000 feet when they typically aren't found thriving too far above sea level.

Against all odds. What an inspiration! Now, if they can just hang onto their roots through winter.

spring newborns

one of three

clove dance

reach for the sky

7 comments :

  1. Exquisitely beautiful color and detail!!!

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  2. Hibiscus! My Grandmother always had hibiscus in her garden! The Hoya is known in Brazil as the Wax Flower. Great pictures! Good luck with your plants! Kisses...

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  3. Oh my goodness! ;) You have more than a happy plant! What beauty! ..and yes funny how life teaches us patience in so so so many things...but anything worth having is worth waiting for!

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  4. Thank you for these lovely photos ♥

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  5. Breathtaking beauty. There are almost no words. This is what Heaven on Earth must be. Your photography always leaves one wanting more! As do your snowflakes ... love Monday's post as well (always do!). Hope you day is as enjoyable as what you give to us here. Blessings.

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  6. Long may Indian summer reign! It's so hard to say goodbye to the flowering plants...

    Absolutely gorgeous photos. Those hoyas are beyond description.

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  7. I also have had hoyas that all of a sudden bloom or bloom again after a long rest. Love 'em! I do believe they like to be in one place for a long long time . . .

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