A not so simple flower. PoliXena

The flower commonly called Hibiscus is a tropical flower wich belongs to the family Malvaceae. It gets its name from the Greek words Hibiscus meaning "mallow". It´s also know as rosemallow or jamaica.

It is a primary ingredient in many herbal teas and jams and it´s also used as a natural source of food colouring and for hair care purposes. Dried hibiscus is edible, it is often a delicacy in many countries. And is used as an offering to Goddess Kali and Lord Ganesha in Hindu worship

There are lots of these flowers growing everywhere here and you can find them in a great variety of colors... they are all wonderful, but I discovered this one the past week and it has became one of my favorite. Isn´t it fantastic the color combination?


The meaning of this flower is delicate beauty, but some sources include another meaning: if you receive Hibiscus flowerthis might suggest, "Seize this opportunity."

... What else can I say? Happy Saturday, dear friends. X. xxxx

As the sun goes down - jangold

At 5pm the skies started to clear the grey away and give way eventually to lovely blue, clear skies. They have given out a 'heatwave' for Britain this week - so let's see how it goes.So by 8pm when I'd just finished work here I went outside with my camera.The garden at the back doesn't have any sun on it now at this time of day - but the front of the house is beautiful.I took this picture of our lovely hanging basket in the setting sun. It is so warm and peaceful here now at this time of day - I hope I wake up tomorrow and it has not gone.

Hugs Jan xxx

How Spookey - jangold

Well what a coincidence this is.

I keep on my laptop a folder of pics to post to my blogs and to Polygirls and in it I had this photo of the same bird of paradise flower that Xena posted !!

Mine was taken in it's native South Africa at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town which I visited in Oct 2007. They are beautiful gardens which I have not visited before on my previous two visits and the part where this flower was found was a special area dedicated to Nelson Mandella and had been specially opened by him. As Xena said the meaning behind the flower is freedom therefore this flower was adopted by the black South African's as their national flower. I have some beautiful pics of those gardens and of the sculptures in there - I will post some more in the future.

Strelitzia Reginae. PoliXena

Hi dear friends, this is a gift for all of you, a flower wich is very common and popular here. It can be found almost everywhere and it´s named also bird of paradise due to its form. I took this photo last Sunday, near my house.

This very handsome flower is native to South Africa. It was introduced to European gardeners in 1773 when it was part of a shipment of horticultural specimens bound for the Royal Botanical Garden of King George III.

Strelitzia Reginae was named after the king's wife Queen (regina in Latin) Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Strelitzia).

It symbolizes Freedom, Magnificence and Good perspective. I think that these are great wishes for today, have a nice Wednesday. Hugs, X. xxxx

Poppy Fields

Today Lee and I went to the 'big city' down to Birmingham just under a hour away from here. The main purpose of the visit was to buy Lee a new wedding ring as he has 'lost' his last two. The last one somewhere in the car innards that even the garage manager cannot find. So we went down to our main jewelry quarter in England in Birmingham near to us and bought him a new one. I had it resized downwards a touch so this one might not slip off and if it does I will make him wear one through his nose :-)

It was a lovely sunny day today in most of the UK so en route back we had to stop for Lee to take some pictures for work for a new railway station they are planning to manage while being built. So lots of usual bus and train station pics from Lee ! But while I was sitting in the car to the back of me I saw this lovely poppy field so when he got back I nicked the camera off him and took a few pics. Hope you like them. Make sure you all have a great time this weekend and if you're in the UK enjoy the sun as we know it might not last :-) Hugs Jan xxx

New garden pails - jangold

Here are the decorated garden pails I was telling you about the other day.

They are about 7 inches wide at the top and just over 8 inches tall.

I have planted them out now and hope they bring more colour and joy to my garden. If you want a closer look, just enlarge the picture. Hugs Jan

Flower handbags - jangold

These are the flower handbags I mentioned the other day. On Monday I just couldn't resist going back to the garden centre where I first saw them and as I couldn't decide on which one I bought them both as they were just under 10$ each. BUT then I saw some beautiful little decorated pails and had to buy them too. Same problem - four design - but which one? Ok you guessed it - one of each. So then I ended up with two handbags, four pails, more compost and more flowers of course to fill them. I'll take some pics of the pails tomorrow if the weather is good. I am amazed at the details on the handbags (click to make bigger and see) and they are crafted on the back as well - lots of fake stitching and the 'metalwork' of the bags has been painted gold and silver. Anyway, they are now sitting on a post waiting for Lee to find long/strong nails to hammer in and hang them properly. Clouds are movinig in here fast but I hear the weekend is going to be good again. Happy Tuesday to you all Jan

Everyone else seems to have photos of flowers, so here are mine, from my garden (well, techinically the roots are in my neighbour's garden, but most of the plant is over our side of the fence!!)

I have absolutely no idea what they are :)

Anyone care to help me out?

Love, Em

XOXO

Large flowers - from jangold

In the continuing weather in the centre/northern part of the UK I've been forced to post outdoor pics from other places. I loved the 'large' flower that Gwyn posted, therefore, I wanted to share these two pictures with you. I took these in Mauritius and are from the famous Pamplemousses Garden there. The one on the left is from the lotus pond and the one on the right is from the more famous giant water lily pond. The pictures do not do these justice and many of these lilies are up to 2 feet in diameter. If you want to see more pics from the garden please check out: http://www.travelmauritius.info/pamplemousses_garden.html Jan