Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tropical blooms

Good morning Folks ~ So far it is partly cloudy, warm and humid. Yesterday morning it was cooler, and much appreciated. Today we will be doing errands, since yesterday was still part of the holiday weekend. DH is feeling like painting some on the house, and I might help too, it will depend on how my right arm is feeling. That's the arm that was broken, wrist, and shoulder wrenched in a car accident, and it's not been the same since, especially the older I get. I've always loved to paint on the house, so we'll see.

Below are some pictures I took the morning of the 4th.
Hope you enjoy our tropical blooms and foliage.

The first 4 pictures are of coleus, Solenostemon.
I love the different colors in these, no two are alike at all.














This is a Sea Hibiscus or Hibiscus tiliaceus. This tree gets out of hand, growing fast, bending over, and we've cut them down in our property. This is from the property next door, and they don't keep it cut, so that we have to trim our driveway side, and the power company has to cut it out of the power lines. The flowers are pretty though, turning a light shade of orange as they age.



This is a white bougainvillea bloom. Friends of ours gave us this.



This is a yellow hibiscus. L.D. wanted to see these blooms open.
They are pretty too. I don't know the name.






Here we have the Madagascar Rubber vine, Cryptostegia madagascariensis. This was here when we moved in 37 years ago. This is from the neighbor's yard also. I have one in our main garden too. It also grows fast, wraps around everything with a tight grip, and drips a milky sap.



The last two pictures are of the little passion flower blooms.






I will end this post with a wonderful old quote from 1633. I left the spelling as is.

******

What greater delight is there than to behold the earth apparelled with plants
as with
a robe of embroidered works,
set with Orient pearls
and garnished with the great
diversitie of rare and costly jewels.
But these delights are in the outward senses.
The principle delight is in the minde,
singularly enriched with the knowledge of
these visible things,
setting forth to us the invisible wisdome and admirable
workmanship of almighty God.
John Gerard, 1633, The Herbal

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

14 comments:

Floridagirl said...

Flowerlady, those are beautiful, exotic jewels of the earth. Love the coleus, the hibiscus, all of them. That last shot of the passionflower is just stunning!

Rosie@leavesnbloom said...

Those are such beautiful blooms Flowerlady and the foliage from the coleus is such a pretty pink colour. Its a coleus that I too would choose to grow if given the choice - though this year I don't have any in the garden yet.

I've never heard that lovely quote before. Thanks for sharing. :) Rosie

Lona said...

Wow! What an eye opener that hibiscus is. I love the bright colors of that one.

Susan said...

That hibiscus is an "eye opener." What a beauty. I love coleus. They come in such wonderful color combinations.

Becca's Dirt said...

I love coleus and yours are beautiful. Don't know why I don't have any since they are an easy plant. That passion flower is stunning. Love the last hibuscus.

NanaK said...

Wonderful, truly tropical blooms. I've never heard of the sea hibiscus. Your coleus are so colorful. I love to put them in everywhere in my shady garden.

Rebecca said...

Another vote for the beauty of the coleus! (Well, all the others, also.)

I enjoy quotes from centuries past. Having been brought up on the King James Version of the Bible, my mind is still quite nimble at making the adjustments necessary to appreciate the beauty of the "olde". I've moved on to newer versions but every so often encounter the KJV with great fondness.

F Cameron said...

Incredible photos! I do love the coleus, but the blooms of the other tropicals are so intricate.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What beautiful and tropical looking flowers. I just love the colors, so cheerful!

gld said...

What an unusual colored coleus. I love them and need to do some pots next year.

As always your tropicals are a delight to me. The only thing we do have is a native passion vine, a bit paler than yours. It grows in lots of places on the farm or used to. I haven't seen it since DH took over the brushhogging.

Sandra said...

Just getting back from vacation and catching up with everyone, gotta say I really missed your flower posts, always make me smile :)

Noelle Johnson said...

Every time I see beautiful coleus, it brings me back to my plant biology class, observing their bright colors under a microscope, where their detail is just as beautiful.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi FlowerLady, Forgive me for being away so much.

Lovely photos. I have 'Shocking Pink' coleus and it's the same way. Depending on the lighting green or pink can dominate.

If only I had a heated greenhouse so I could keep these tropical lovelies. Just gorgeous.

sweetbay said...

I loved seeing your tropical blooms, they are beautiful. Feel free to use the Swallowtail shot if you want. :)