Sunday, August 7, 2011

Miracles

I can tell I'm getting old. I spend Saturday nights sitting outside knitting and watching the flowers grow. These hibuscus flowers are as large as dinner plates. If you scroll back, I show these every year - they are magnificent.Each blossom blooms in miraculous glory for one day, then it withers and falls to the ground. Mother Nature really outdoes herself with these.


We have red ones, too! I have seen them in white and yellow as well.



We really can watch the sunflowers grow and change. They start out as a bundle of green leaves. The lovely yellow petals unfold from the center, then the middle portion, looking so much like a spirograph drawing, starts opening from the outer edge, sending lots of pollen for the bees to wallow in.









We store up the memories of all this glorious color for the winter when the world seems black and white for about four months.



Even if we never get a pumpkin, the yellow blossoms give the side of the house a cheerful look.



I hope your summer is full of miracles, too.









11 comments:

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

Ladydi, you have some beautiful flowers..your doing two things at once...admiring God's work and doing your knitting..your getting to be quite the marvel :o) O guess that's three things :o)

Minerva said...

Love your flowers! Do your hibiscus come up every year? I have to buy mine every year. I'm thinking about trying a perennial if there is one..
I like sunflowers too..they are so cheery

ladydi said...

Thank you, Ginny!
Margaret, we cut the hibiscus back right to the ground every fall, and then in the spring they faithfully come back up again. In warmer climates they last all year, and the bushes can be as tall as a house. That would be something to see!

Connie said...

Your flowers are all quite lovely, Diana. I never thought about a sunflower being like a Spirograph drawing, but you are right, they are!

The hibiscus in the park are doing really well this year too. They have pink ones and red ones growing there too.

Summer seems like it is going by so fast. We have started getting letters from the school about the upcoming year which usually means summer is coming to a close.

ladydi said...

Thank you, Daisy! I am treasuring every one of these marvelous summer days, but you're right, they're slipping by relentlessly.

Minerva said...

Thank you Ladydi. I will have to get one of those soon. After all, if they come back in Ohio, they will surely come back in Maryland. Pretty sure our zone is warmer.
Would love it if it was as tall as my house!

Suzanne said...

Your flowers brighten our winter and its so nice to see their bright colours.
Sunflowers have always enticed me I love them.

ladydi said...

Aren't sunflowers amazing, Suzanne? We finally had to plant ours in a pot. When we plant the seeds in the ground birds and squirrels eat them all, never giving them a chance to germinate.

Heckety said...

What wonderful photos! I love hibiscus too, ever since I lived in Africa and they just seem to blaze with colour- can't grow them here even indoors, so I'll just have to sigh over yours! Love sunflowers too- another cyberfriend suggested I try growing the dwarf variety next summer, and I think I will!

Flowers are miracles, and I never ever get tired of them. Who could!

ladydi said...

Flowers in Africa must be a sight to behold! I marvel that such color can rise from plain brown soil, and that each tiny seed has such amazing potential.

bocah ingusan said...

nice pic, very beautiful flower.. i like it !