Floral Friday - Bloomers Large and Small

Happy Friday! I'm excited to share a few of my favorite bloomers with you today, but first I want to share a mystery with you! Well, not really a mystery - more of someone's mistake. I ordered a few things from Gurneys online this spring. One of them was this >>>






Isn't it lovely? It's called a red prairie mallow, and I thought the hummers, bees and butterflies would love it! The description called the color 'carmine'. Mine is blooming right now, but look what I got >>>



The blooms are kind of a red-violet, and the blooms are only slightly larger than a quarter. I think they are pretty, but not exactly what I expected!


The orange 'poker plant' is blooming again, and since I didn't get pictures of the first blooming for you, I thought I would share one of the new ones.




And I'm so excited, because one of my favorites for this time of year is blooming - it's the pink hardy hibiscus. It's so pretty with the pale pink and deep red eye! Here are some buds in various stages of maturity >>>

And one more of the burgundy hibiscus just so you can see how they look when blooming >>>

And then about a week after the bloom is gone >>>

Those seed pods form really fast, and before long they'll be full of mature seeds which I'll scatter in other parts of the yard with hopes that one or two will make it to plants next spring. Of course the birds will get their share, too!

And now, the best of the best - the blazing stars are blooming! These plants came from plants that originally belonged to my maternal grandmother, and have been handed down to my mother and now me. They grow very tall - probably close to 8 feet!

As far back as I can remember, my parents had these growing beside their propane gas tank, right along the roadside.

But I don't remember them ever getting as tall as mine do, although mine probably get a bit more sun than theirs did.

In this next picture, that's the roof line on the front of our house that you see, so I'm taking the picture from standing position, looking up toward the blooms.

There's a funny story about the blazing stars! Back in the 70's, some local kids decided those were pot plants. I guess the leaves do look kind of like pot, so they would occasionally try to come pick a few of the leaves for a cheap (free) high. What they didn't know was that my dad worked nights, and even when he wasn't working he tended to sleep all day and stay up all night. He would go sit in the shadows, with an empty gun by his side. If the kids would stop to try to pick leaves, he would wait until the boys got out of the car and up to the plant, then he would click the hammer on that gun and say "I think you boys might want to move on along now!" He had no intention of shooting anyone, and the gun was always empty, but he sure got a kick out of doing that, and of telling the story to anyone who would listen.

On Sunday we are going back to Lake Chatuge for a day trip. Hubby bought a 3-man raft and has decided we're going to the lake to play in the raft, so we plan on spending the day. Hubby is like a little boy with a new toy, and I didn't realize he'd never had (or been in) one. He's not much of one for swimming, so I told him he'd better plan on getting wet, because those things aren't the most float-worthy things in the world. But I'm looking forward to watching him play, and playing with him.

Okay, that's all from me today - I'm off to see if I can find any yard sales, then go to the grocery store to pick up some things for Sunday's picnic. Have a great weekend folks! Becky