I photographed both of these flowers in the patio yesterday. It’s the first time I can recall the Easter Lily cactus (left) and my Easter Lily (right) were blooming simultaneously. I have to be vigilant for the cactus to bloom since it does so overnight and will wilt before the next sunset. Each is beautiful in it’s own way.
I passed these in the garden shop the other day and promptly put them in with the rest of the garden supplies in the basket. I just had to have these beauties in the patio. Click to enlarge the image.
This spring, my little potted gardenia bush is producing many more buds than last spring. There are so many and they are very fragrant when they bloom. And pretty too . . .
I’ve had this Gardenia for at least three years. Every spring it blooms, but this spring it is going to produce many of these beautiful, fragrant flowers since there are bunches of buds this year. For the previous couple of years, I only got a small handful of blooms.
There are hundreds of varieties of Gardenias; this one has a very strong and pleasant fragrance, but I’m not sure of it’s exact subspecies.
Click on the image to the right to see the 800×600 version.
This is a general description of Gardenias from WikiPedia:
Gardenia is a genus of about 250 species of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania.
The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus after Dr. Alexander Garden (1730-1791), Scottish-born American naturalist.
They are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1-15 m tall. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four, 5-50 cm long and 3-25 cm broad, dark green and glossy with a leathery texture. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white, or pale yellow, with a tubular-based corolla with 5-12 lobes (‘petals’) from 5-12 cm diameter. Flowering is from about mid-spring to mid-summer and many species are strongly scented.
This handsome fellow perched on the power pole behind our house this morning. He then took up the song and dance routine that is so familiar to us in spring and summer months.
The same bird is seen in both panels of this composite image. Click for a closer look.
The Mockingbird entry in WikiPedia explains a bit more:
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds, often loudly and in rapid succession. Mockingbirds also have a reputation of being fierce defenders of their nests.
When I went out on the patio this morning, I spotted a newly-opened Asian lily – then, I noticed two new bright red epiphyllum flowers – and then, I spotted three new Easter lily cactus flowers. I couldn’t decide which to photograph first. They are all so beautiful.
In spite of the gloomy overcast over the California coast for the last few days, the garden and patio continue to cheer up the back yard with color and beauty.
Click the image for a closer view.
This miniature orchid looks so nice sitting under the skylight over the kitchen island.
Click on the image for 800×600 pixel size.