Garden Bloggers Bloom Day- October 2009

The blooms today are my old favorites: peony rose, begonia, passion flower, bird of paradise. We've had two days of rain-- most unexpected for us this time of year-- so the garden sparkles today. It's warm, so all the blooms that were in bud are coming out.

The peony rose ( I don't know it's botanical name, so if anyone has an idea, do let me know.)  has got three blossoms and more buds.  The other roses are busy giving me new blooms.  Their stems have all gotten so tall that I will have to prune them back this winter.  The garden is happy when the roses start to bloom again in the fall.  The stress of summer is over and here, we still have weeks of warm weather, with the possibility of another heat wave. So goes our autumn in the Los Angeles area.

These begonias are the work horses of the garden this summer. No matter the weather they keep giving blossoms.  You can see the shadows of the petals on this passion flower bloom. We have very nice clear skies today. A beautiful day.

 

And who else should show his colors today, but the bird of paradise, still unfurling more blossoms than he's ever shown in one season. Happy blooms for a lovely day.

For more Bloom Day shows go to May Dreams Garden.

Spider Takes a Walk

Spider, spider, oh so light,

Who did frame thy symmetry,

Gave thee shape

And gave thee legs

So to walk

Amongst the flowers.

 

Who gave thee power

To spin a web

So to walk

In air, freespace.

 

 

 

 Who gave thee purpose

So to change

Thy path a-walking,

Thy way to go.

 

 

 

Who did give thee

Such a mind

To walk in shades

Of orange, blue

Red and white,

In beauty bold

Where beauty brights.

 

Spider, spider, oh so light

To walk with you

Upon this day

About my Bird of Paradise.

Paradise, paradise

About my Bird of Paradise

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, to have such a view

As spider walks

On Paradise.

They Survived!!

I think the assaults on my garden are over for now. The tree trimmers came, destroyed two plants, but, praise heaven, they're gone.  For those of you who have been following this blog, you know my garden has lived through drought, heat, Santa Anna winds, house painters, now tree trimmers. The live oak they trimmed is just above my garden. And I've got some survivors. Can you believe it?!  I've got some beautiful survivors. As I touched up their pictures to show you, I got so excited. Doesn't matter to the garden. They ARE gonna survive. Boy, can I learn a lesson.

My pride and joy is my peony rose. I've no idea what her real name is, as she was a gift from the weekly market. But her bloom is such a knock-out, so full, so fragrant, that I call her the peony rose.

 

 

 Wait until you see the blossoms that are still singin their hearts out. I honor them here.

Dragon Wing Begonia

Bird of Paradise

 

 

Echinicea

 

Begonia

Crown of Thorns

Cranesbill Geranium

Some of my champions are leaves. I'm just busting to share them with you. They're going great guns. Who'd a thought.

 Purple Oxalis

 

 Persian Shield

 

 Forget-me-not

  

Staghorn Fern

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine

I could tell you a little story about each one. The Persian Shield lost half the plant from the tree trimmers. But this beautiful half remains. The forget-me-nots have spread to almost cover this plants. No stopping them in all this drought and heat.

The cranesbilll geranium has not stopped blooming through everything. It even has lots of buds, just as my peony rose does. That bird of paradise just keeps on giving blooms. It, too, has its beak-like buds yet to open. 

I learn so much about how to live from my garden. There will be survivors. Surviving will happen. Hurrah for the garden, one of my very best friends. Hurrah for the survivors.

Bird of Paradise

So here it is again, my Bird of Paradise.  It has decided this is the year to bloom and bloom.  I'm so excited to see all this activity after nine years of solitary blooms.  This deserves its own post. Here we go.

Before they bloom they look like

 

this, then

this.

  I love the way they start out green and become shades of red and orange with the outer covering of the blossom wrapped in layers around it's special charge.

 

 Then they turn their heads to the side to prepare to bloom.

Then one morning I walk out to see that it's just opened up to reveal one blue petal and two orange. They just slip out of that tightly wound bud and stand away from the bud in petals sequentially farther away from their sprouting place. You can still see the reddish and orange color on the stem and a bit on the bud itself.

Here you can see that two more orange petals have emerged and one more blue. The red stem shows more in this photo.

Here's another view of my special beauties, showing even more of their character. I've not done anything different to my Birds this year. They've unfurled their feathers just because this was their time. Nature is mysterious and wonderful when it surprises us like this.