Blooming Like Crazy

 

Every time I go to see a very dear cousin, Marianne, her lovely home decorations and flowering plants amaze me.

The colors of the blooms sizzle.

The placements and arrangements of every single item dazzle.

The petunias on the upper porch are a splendorous cranberry color.

Little animals, like birds, ducks and rabbits are all over the place.  

They make humans feel totally at home.

What a delightful snack we had of fresh muffins and coffee.  Yum!

While I love all her beautiful blooming plants, I love my cousin more!

                                  She's like a forest animal's caretaker!

Cousins, like siblings and grandchildren, are just absolutely precious. 

They give us hope for tomorrow. 

Start Blooming!

The saying "Bloom Where You're Planted" is one of the best ever devised.

When the sign at the top of this post popped up while shopping, it went into my cart to be given as a gift to someone.

The saying is short but contains a whopping amount of truth.

So many times in life, it's easy to want to seek a new area in which to live, or to want to find a new home or apartment, or so on.

Perhaps it is more important to appreciate the place where one has been "planted" and strive to accept it and keep walking forward.

The little sign serves as a good reminder to ponder.

HAVE YOU EVER BLOOMED WHERE YOU WERE PLANTED?

The Thrill of Fresh Flowers

Today. the photos in this post show floral treasures found at my niece, Marisa's, darling cottage.

Apparently, she has double green thumbs because her flowers are gorgeous.

Flowers are one of the best parts of being alive.

Because they are so precious, many posts from this blog, throughout the years,  have been about flowers.

Sometimes I wonder whether this should have been a flower blog from the get-go.

At this point, after 17 years of doing this blog, it doesn't really matter.

 I just truly enjoy sharing my love of flowers and of life, itself, with anyone who wants to read my posts.

WHAT IS YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SUMMER FLOWER?

Have a Sunflower Sunday....

Sunflowers go back a long way in history.

According to information written on them, Native Americans cultivated them as far back as 3000 BC!

The perky, "happy" flowers have been used for food, oil, and ornamentation.

A very precious niece, who has two green thumbs, gave a beautiful sunflower she purchased to me during a lovely patio dinner at her cottage this weekend.

It's now on the little table in my apartment, lighting up the area as well as my heart.

It is wished that each of you reading this post has a happy, sunflower kind of Sunday!  

Tall, Majestic Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks are perennial plants that sometimes grow so tall, one has to look upward to see where they end.

They come in many colors but the deep cranberry is extra special.

They love bright sun and are very easy to grow.

They are known in the Japanese culture.

Did you know they date all the way back to the Crusades?

According to information found on the Internet, hollyhocks have been used to make a salve that was "good for the Crusaders' horses which were injured on their hind legs, or 'hocks.' "

These lovely plants would look great in any English garden or, for that matter, any countryside garden. 

The ones shown in this post are in my daughter's garden and is one of dozens of flowers she grows.

The flowers are also in the Mallow family, according to information written on them.  

Other Mallow family flowers are cotton, hibiscus, okra, and marsh mallow.

Hollyhocks look a little wild but are quite unique and beautiful.

It's a joy to sit near them and watch hummingbirds take sugary sips  from a feeder.

Hip, hip hurray for hollyhocks!

HAVE YOU EVER GROWN HOLLYHOCKS?