Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Consider The Lilies



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. Matthew 6:28



After rain in the early morning light, the Blue River Hibiscus is open today. I like this one because of its enormous all white flowers. I delight in white where the focus is on form and texture. It blooms profusely. This is the first blossom of the season. While searching for information I found, an Urban Oasis post, from last year about Blue River Hibiscus that has pertinent info. 



Watermelon break time. Yummy!



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your lilies are lovely and the hibiscus was absolutely stunning. Thanks for sharing. Save some watermelon for me. lol :)

Anonymous said...

Those lilies are so, SO gorgeous. I bet they have a wonderful scent, too.

Daniel Mount said...

Watermelon. What would summer be without watermelon? I wish we could grow it here in the Northwest. Alas we're melon-less, but we will have cukes.

Mother Nature said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mother Nature said...

Zanthan,
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you soon receive relief from the heat. I know about the long oppressive summer heat. We moved to Tennessee from Mississippi. It is one thing I do not miss. Thank God for air conditioning. Think cool.:)

Daniel,
I know what you mean about watermelons and summer. I love those cukes and onions sliced thinly with a little oil and vinegar. Cool and refreshing! Every area has something special. I spent about a month in the PNW and loved every minute of the magnificent temperate rainforests.
Donna

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Donna,
You have a great blog going here! I really was delighted to see you have 'Blue River' too... do you have the original cultivar (which gets to 6-7 ft tall!) or the newer Blue River II? I love my original one, though it's always needing staking, so would love to get one of the newer, bushier varieties to plant elsewhere. They are magnificent plants and just about my favorite hibiscus (moscheutos). Mine has tons of buds on it now and won't be long to bloom ... I just love how it can have so many blooms open on one day, and I think last summer the tops it got to was something like 12 blooms in one day!

Now you need to get a Kopper King, if you don't already have one! You'll see that one at my place when it blooms, and it is spectacular!

Thanks for the offer on watermelon, but I'll pass for now. I'm one of those people who it makes burp uncontrollably, lol. Now, cantelope, I can eat that all day...

Mother Nature said...

IVG,
I think my BRH is the taller but I'll send seeds if it produces. Last year it only made one seedpod. It was new. I sent it off to a fellow gardener. It will probably do better this year because of being a lot bigger.. more established.
Kopper King has nice foliage. We have big problem with Japanese beetles. They can decimate a hibiscus pretty quick. Do you have a solution?
About that burp, burp, burp. I heard digestive enzymes in fermented foods is good for that. But hey, I love cantelope too.
Donna

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Donna,
Your BRH might well be the newer variety if you just put it in last year. Mine has been where it is for probably at least 7 yrs now, and it's glorious how tall it can get (especially when there are a dozen or so all blooming at once), but it does need the staking attention.

We occasionally will have some beetles go for the flowers, but nothing too bad, perhaps because Praying Mantises tend to hang out in this bed, so maybe they take care of them for us?

Thanks, but don't worry about seeds if yours is the tall variety. Mine usually puts lots of pods on and sometimes I collect them to pass on. What I've always wondered is why they don't grow up around the parent plant, but that's ok, this one is huge enough as it is!

Kerri said...

Fabulous lilies to go with a favorite verse.
The hibiscus is glorious!
Ah, watermelon....the essence of summer. Delicious, thank you :)
I loved seeing the progressive pictures of the baby wrens, and also enjoyed your nature sounds. When I first heard them I'd clicked your link and wandered off to pour a cup of coffee, and thought at first the sounds were coming from our birds outside. I wondered what was causing the sudden commotion :)