Bee Dahlia

I am having to be creative when naming my posts and by extension, my flowers. Each post has to have a unique address. With over 390 different flowers on this Flower a Day project alone, I am bound to get repeats. The other thing is that often I haven’t a clue as to the name of the specific variety of, say, dahlia, or rose. So today we have a bee dahlia! One of my friends in particular enjoys our ‘Pink Flower Day’ posting, so today is another PFD for her (and for you). Bees are all over the flowers at the moment, so it’s hard to get a photo without one or more bees getting in the way. I’m joking, of course, as I love to see them and if I can get them more or less in focus on the flower, then I include them. I love to see them busy working, knowing that the gardens I visit are helping to keep the little insects fed. Hugs to all, today. You can click or tap the image above to view in large in the gallery directly now, a new development on my posts. View all posts on the Home page.  A Flower a Day #392 

To view the info and Flower a Day galleries…

Squash Flower Surprise

“Why surprise?” you might be asking, if you read the title. Well I didn’t plant squash so I wasn’t expecting to get squash flowers. You do know the normal way things are supposed to go in gardening? You plant a seed and then it grows into what was on the package. In my case last year I did exactly that and lovely squash plants appeared. I gave loads away to friends whose plants behaved exactly as expected and produced wonderful squashes of the varieties I had planted. Mine, however, were pretty quickly completely destroyed by pests. The flowers rotted, the stems hollowed, the leaves withered… you get the picture. I decided that this year I would not sow any squash to avoid the inevitable disappointment. And then, late in the season, growing out of the side of my compost pile appeared a vigorous and healthy squash vine. I let it go, amused to see it there and curious to see how far it would grow before being consumed by pests. So far no pests, just glorious yellow flowers (mostly male), with the occasional small squash. There isn’t actually enough time to ripen the fruit, which is a pity when it has gone to so much trouble to grow, but the flowers are worth the effort as you can see. Life is full of surprises. Even though they might not be the surprises you want, you can usually find something to make you smile in them. Like this rich yellow flower. Have a good day, friends. You can click or tap the image above to view in large in the gallery directly now, a new development on my posts. View all posts on the Home page.  A Flower a Day #391 

To view the info and Flower a Day galleries…

Fruition

There is so much beauty in flowers that have gone ‘past it’. ‘Past what?’ I ask myself sometimes, especially when I see such a flower as this. It is certainly not past being admired for its gorgeous tones and textures. There is a richness I see, in the more limited colour range. The tones that are there seem intensified and the textures emerging in the drying leaves, petals and seed heads feature much more strongly in the whole effect. We both loved this plant when we saw it and it reminded me at once of a box that Steven turned years ago, entitled “Fruition”. Below are photos of that box, so you can see what I mean. His post, with information about the piece is here https://stevenkennard.com/blog/archives/1289. You can click or tap the image above to view in large in the gallery directly now, a new development on my posts. View all posts on the Home page.  A Flower a Day #390 

To view the info and Flower a Day galleries…

Pink Daisies

I have found out that most flowers that look like daisies are asters! So it is time to formally declare another World Wild Aster Day with these beautiful Michaelmas daisies. These are very like the ones in my planted ‘rewilding’ patch. This wonderful cluster of deep pink, tall blooms appeared on the bank at the side of our drive this fall. I have never seen them before and so they must have had some animal or bird assistance in arriving at this location. They are so lushly coloured and so profuse, in one single, wild display as you can see, that they really do deserve a special day in their honour. Thanks to my wildlife assistants we can admire them on this WWAD, appearing out of nowhere to brighten my path. This patch is a superb example demonstrating to us that without any human intervention, the most beautiful flowers can flourish in the natural world to surprise us all of a sudden. Will you believe me if I tell you that I walked and drove past these a few times before they came to my attention? I hope your day today might hold a lovely surprise like this in whatever form it takes. Keep your eyes open so you don’t miss it! You can click or tap the image above to view in large in the gallery directly now, a new development on my posts. View all posts on the Home page.  A Flower a Day #389 

To view the info and Flower a Day galleries…