Painting Flowers

I’ve finally begun the process of painting my flower pots. I’ve kept my terra cottas in the natural for these many years, enjoying the slightly orange color but it’s time for a change to More Color!

The paint is an inexpensive craft paint that I got at “the world’s largest”. For those who are interested—its seals say “Made in the U.S.A.” The paint slides on, and on slick surfaces such as plastic, glass or ceramics, it can just as easily slide off or any which way. As with most paints, two coats make a fuller color. This one is formulated for outdoors as well as in. Occasionally when I’ve told people that I paint flowers, the troubled question emerges, “But won’t it hurt them?” Normally I’m talking about painting a picture of a flower though I did work for awhile for a company that preserved bridal bouquets, which did call for painting on the flowers. (If you feel your lip curling at the thought; be assured that we did it very tastefully). But oops! Somehow I did actually get purple paint on this red hibiscus. And no, it didn’t hurt it.

New Avenues for Growth

It’s 108 degrees outside and will likely get hotter. And to think that we had night-time temperatures in the 50’s earlier in the week! That’s the great thing about living in the Southern Piedmont region; June almost always holds a “cold snap” (except in last year’s brutal heat). My “rooster plant” is maturing nicely and is sprouting branches along its “trunk”. The red hibiscus not only survived the cut (pruning) but as hoped, is branching out in new directions. More branches equal more flowers!

Doing Instead of Dreading

Ah, it feels good to sit down in the garden! I’ve just finally fertilized my balcony garden-instead of dreading it, I did it. Though the fertilizer is organic, it doesn’t smell as bad this time (a mixture of things I don’t even want to read). I didn’t get around to fertilizing the pots in front; I startled a bird—a mutual feeling, when I opened the front door a few minutes ago and discovered to my dismay that it was building a nest in my hanging basket. The purple sweet potato vine and mini sun coleus were already mashed down and suffering from Mr. & Mrs. Bird’s stash of skeletonized leaves. I hated to undo their hard work but dive-bombing us any time we open or close the door or water the plants won’t do. I’m glad I discovered the plan before it was too late. I carefully placed their building materials where they could find them and start again somewhere else. I also did the dreaded red hibiscus pruning today. Hibiscuses bloom mostly on new growth—the stem ends, so I needed to make more ends to make more blooms. It was getting lanky and the one long branch caught the wind the other night and caused the plant to fall over on several other plants. It was time.

Outdoor Writing

Today is another Red Hibiscus Day. The weather was so mild, I was able to sit outside for awhile to write. Now, it’s not so mild. Lots of plants are blooming or on the verge of blooming and the birds are singing. It’s good.

Soaking Wet

Last night’s hard rain slanted in on my garden without harming it. The plants are wet—most of them, and the air is drenched. This morning the heavy moisture escaped the soil as a misty fog. The sun’s getting through the clouds a bit now but hasn’t made it very far into my home; it’s dark in here! It’s another Red Hibiscus Day and the garden is flowering.

Popping Up

Nasturtium seeds have often been slow to germinate in my garden but this year they’re popping up right away. I tucked them here and there among my herbs with plans to add the flowers to not only my flower arrangements but to my salads!

My new clematis stopped blooming almost as soon as I brought it home but here it is sporting a new bud. I hope the forecast storms this afternoon don’t trouble it. I’m being brief this week since I’m holding my own personal art camp to try new things and push old ones further. Today is a Red Hibiscus Day.

Similar Yet Different

Today both my hibiscuses are blooming! Though the differences don’t show in the picture, the red hibiscus plant is tall and lanky, and the orange one is a small mound of dark green leaves. The red flower measures seven inches across while the orange is only four inches in diameter. And of course they sport different colors and petal structure. The red petals are long and curl back gracefully while the orange petals are shorter and curve only slightly. Yet they’re both hibiscuses. They’re both flowering plants. They’re both green, leafy plants. They’re both created by God to beautify his world. People also come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors but we’re all people. In fact, every person who has ever lived on the face of the earth can trace their lineage to the first people on earth—Adam and Eve, and more recently than that, to Noah and his three sons and daughters-in-law. We’re all kin. We’re all God’s creation (though not “all God’s children” see Romans 8:14). One person is really tall and another is really short—so what? One person is black, another brown or white—so what? There’s only one race—the human race. Though we’re all one people, God likes variety in his plants and animals and in his people—it’s the spice of life.

Four!

On Saturday, every time I caught a glimpse of the red hibiscus bush, I exclaimed in amazement, “Four!” Four blossoms opened on one day! I’ve never seen so many on this bush at one time—perhaps there’s some beauty queen competition now that there’s a new hibiscus in the garden. I know, I know, plants don’t think. I exclaimed in wonderment so many times that my husband was beginning to think I was losing my memory since each time it sounded like I hadn’t seen them before.☺ Wonder shouldn’t expire with familiarity.

Another Beauty Queen

Yesterday was yet another Red Hibiscus Day but now that beauty has competition—or perhaps a companion in beauty. I finally found an orange hibiscus I liked (size, price, color). The orange flowers are smaller than the red and seem to be slower to open but they have an unusual deep pink throat; when I saw the color combination, I knew it was the one.

The red flowers would have been open at dawn while these are only half-opened at mid-day. It’s possible that the orange ones will stay open longer. We’ll see. The bush is full of buds so I’ll be posting plenty of pictures in weeks to come.


I put it in the sun to see if it would open faster and keep checking in hope that I can show you how it looks fully open. Alas, that will have to be for another post but it did make a little progress—here’s a picture of a half-opened orange hibiscus.

Every Day

Ever since I got this lovely magenta/fuchsia (with an unusual green cast) phalaenopsis orchid plant in February, a week or so before Valentine’s Day, every day has been an Orchid Day! All of the flowers except one have lasted for at least two months and more have opened along the way!

Even if you think you can’t grow orchids, at today’s low prices (resulting from newer propagation methods); you can enjoy the flowers for longer than any bouquet of cut flowers. Then when the flowers are finished you can give the plant to someone who has the ability to coax them into reblooming, or you or they can enjoy the low maintenance green plant.

And yes, today is another Red Hibiscus Day!

Ever Faithful

I can always count on Sweet William’s brilliant color to be the first to brighten my garden—year after year. I do have to cut back the stragglers and replace some of the plants from time to time but they grow well in my large pot. Their bloom surge is in the spring with another in the fall though they bloom here and there throughout the summer. They make fairly good cut flowers in small vases.

Today is yet another Red Hibiscus Day! I could get spoiled.

Back Out

The “mother” spider plant, along with its companion geranium, is enjoying freedom outdoors back on its hook again. The spider plant did fine indoors—when I didn’t trip on its branches, but the geranium will do much better outdoors. When we lived in New England, I knew a woman who kept her geraniums blooming indoors through the harsh, snowy winters but I’ve never been able to pull that off.


Today is also another Red Hibiscus Day! The gorgeous red blossoms are opening nearly every day now.

While I Wasn’t Looking

As I raised the blinds this morning I was pleasantly surprised to find another red hibiscus opening. I knew that the bud to its left would likely open tomorrow but I hadn’t seen this one coming! What a treat! From its plant stand, the hibiscus bush is taller than I am with this flower at the very top. The nearby shelf is the sixth one up; I had to climb a step stool for this photo.

The oak pollen that I thought was finished is making our walks miserable. We need more rain to wash it away and to ease our moderate drought status. Lord Jesus, please glorify the Father by giving us rain—without trouble (see John 14:13).

A Good Start

Spring is burgeoning in my garden too! Fooled by the extra-warm days the plants are growing like it’s early summer! A couple Sweet William flowers are blooming and the Creeping Jenny is eagerly running but I haven’t yet seen any purple Victoria Blue Salvia buds.

I’m very pleased that I won’t have to purchase any new plants in these varieties. Nor pentas or Angelonias. Nor Tropicana Cannas. Of course, the red hibiscus will go out too. I’ll have quite a garden already as soon as I can be sure it won’t get cold at night any more (it has been known to snow here in the spring); then I can fill in the color gaps.

Morning Peace

A red hibiscus (flower of peace) greeted me this morning. The buds start as tiny green knobs and seem to take forever to develop but once they achieve a certain level of maturity their growth accelerates. Once the roll of petals emerges, I can tell about what day it will bloom—usually in two to three days.

The hibiscus will need pruning soon. I don’t really like pruning but I would like more flowers. Maybe I can find a bright orange one at a good price this year.

In the photo you can see the pollen-laden pine trees through the window; other areas have pollen-dropping oak trees. Both kinds of pollen have covered everything outside for miles around. Even an aerial photo of one of our lakes shows a huge amount of yellow pollen on its surface. Reportedly, it’s the worst pollen “season” in a long time—maybe ever. I enjoy trees but I will be glad when they finish this cycle so that my eyes and nose can be at peace!

Few & Far Between

A “Red Hibiscus Day” again—at last. The bush doesn’t bloom very often indoors but it does bloom and I’m happy for it. The beautiful red blooms always brighten my day and after a day like yesterday—“one of those days” I’m ready for all the brightening I can get!

I first became “taken” with the red hibiscus when I saw them everywhere in Spain and found that they represent peace. Peace is a good thing.

Slow & Steady

In looking through my indoor garden on this cold gray day to see what I might write about, I found nothing spectacular—tiny new leaves on the crotons and the Hawaiian Ti, the smallest beginnings of hibiscus blooms. Nothing but small, steady growth, which is of course, what gardens do—grow. And that’s good. Most plants are reaching for the sun and need turning to avoid leggy growth.

In fact, if my plants were experiencing rapid growth I’d be overrun. Slow and steady growth can be a very good thing.

Inner Growth

In reading yet another book about the genocide in Rwanda and the subsequent healing and forgiveness between the Tutsis and Hutus, I came across information about the land itself, “Rwanda is a beautiful country—one of the most beautiful in Africa. This ‘land of a thousand hills’ is lush with fertile soil, beautiful flora, and breathtaking landscapes.” *—a garden.

The Rwandans lived in a type of paradise yet the beauty didn’t keep the Hutus from turning on their next-door neighbor (literally)—even fellow church member, Tutsis and slaughtering them by the hundreds of thousands (800,000). Why? They cared more about politics than about loving their neighbors as themselves, more than about caring for God’s creation—people, plants, the land itself; all suffered.

As horrific as it all was, slowly but surely, Christian reconciliation has been sown in that devastated land and is bearing the fruit of repentance and forgiveness (the two must always go together). It’s never easy but it is powerful.


*Emmanuel Katongole Mirror to the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009) 20

In The Pink

The pink Christmas cactus has an opening bud! These are always a treat.

A red hibiscus flower bloomed yesterday and is still lovely today—a bonus of cold temperatures and a lack of sun. Though I am physiologically affected by a lack of sunlight (as everyone is, whether they admit it or not), the Lord has been changing my outlook regarding “gloomy” weather. As my family has a number of birthdays in a row, with one blessedly advanced, I’ve begun to realize that since God has given us each day, I need to make the most of it and be thankful, whether sunny or “gloomy.”

But it did feel really cold when I went out just now! When it warms up a bit (the sun is expected to visit later), I’m thinking that it will be a good time to cut the yellow green sweet potato vines way back, though I’m not expecting them to regrow since they’re annuals. It’s the end of the season for the now brown-spotted leaves but my indoor cuttings are still in good shape. Who knows, maybe I can keep them going all winter and not have to buy new plants in the late spring?

Meanwhile, it's a good day to play Christmas music and decorate. I’ve once again been impressed with how worshipful, meaningful and uplifting the words to the old Christmas carols are!

Loud, With Clouds

The sky is a gray blanket that bird calls bounce off of; one bird squeaks like a swing on its bar then a crow squawks either his prowess or unhappiness—I’m not sure which.

Despite the raucousness and gloom some new and good things are happening. Two tiny leaf tips and another bud are peeking out of Oskar’s bulb! Multiple buds are a benefit of the larger amaryllis bulbs.

Oskar is from Holland, where Brother Andrew* writes that during World War 2, his family and many others survived the famine of Nazi occupation by eating tulip bulbs. Maybe that’s why Oskar’s box carries this caution, “Not for human consumption.”


The Mexican Petunia is actually developing new buds while the miniature orange zinnia and Sweet William are blooming again. Today is also a Red Hibiscus Day.

*Brother Andrew is famous for smuggling Bibles into the foreign Soviet Union and writing about it in his book, God’s Smuggler—an exciting read!