Hollyhocks

Hollyhocks By Edgar Guest Old-fashioned flowers! I love them all: The morning-glories on the wall ... The pansies in their patch of shade ... The violets, stolen from a glade ... The bleeding hearts and columbine ... Have long been garden friends of mine; But memory every summer flocks About a clump of hollyhocks. The mother loved them years ago; Beside the fence they used to grow, And though the garden changed each year And certain blooms would disappear To give their places in the ground To something new that mother found, Some pretty bloom or rosebush rare ... The hollyhocks were always there. It seems but yesterday to me She led me down the yard to see, The first tall spires, with bloom aflame, And taught me to pronounce their name. And year by year I watched them grow, The first flowers I had come to know. And with the mother dear I'd yearn To see the hollyhocks return. The garden of my boyhood days With hollyhocks was kept ablaze ... In all my recollections they In friendly columns nod and sway; And when today their blooms I see, Always the mother smiles at me ... The mind's bright chambers, life unlocks Each summer with the hollyhocks. I captured the pictures of the Hollyhocks at my parents' house this past weekend, and love Mr. Guest's poem about them.  The seeds were given to me years ago by a sweet lady in Marshall, Texas, and I passed them on to my mother.  I love seeing these old-fashioned blooms, and always remember the kindness of the lady in Texas, who shared her beautiful flowers with us.

Morning Glory

God has many ways of saying, "Good morning!" The morning star ... [Photo borrowed from Internet/Credit Unknown] A sunrise ... Early morning dew ... Birds greeting us with their morning songs ... All of these are what I call How Great Thou Art moments, but one of my favorite "good morning" messages from God is found within the petals of His beautiful Morning Glories. Their glory glows from within ... Dear Lord, please help me to be the kind of person who "glows" from within. Help me to remember to be kind and compassionate and patient with those whose paths I may cross today, and let my actions reflect my faith and love for You. Amen.

Mexican Petunias

We visited my parents over the weekend at their home in northeast Louisiana, and enjoyed sitting on their back porch watching the antics of their hummingbirds as they swarmed around two feeders. I'll share a few of the pictures I captured of the hummers later this week, but today I'd like to share these colorful Mexican Petunias (ruellia brittoniana), which are growing in a flower bed near their porch.

Mexican Petunia is a perennial shrub that grows to be about three feet high and three feet wide.

When grown under hot sunny conditions, the foliage assumes a metallic bluish cast.

The flowers are trumpet-shaped, and between one-and-a-half and two inches in diameter.

They can be white, pink, purple, or any shade of blue, but I've never seen any color but the bluish-purple. The flowers bloom profusely during the hottest part of the year, and butterflies love them.

This is a picture of my Mexican Petunias which I took a couple of years ago. If you look closely, you can see butterflies in and amongst the blooms.

The plant is native to Mexico, but it can be found throughout the southeastern United States. Unfortunately, in some places, like Florida, it has been declared invasive.

Invasive or not, I love Mexican Petunias — but, then, I love Morning Glories ...

Chinese Tallow Trees ...

Honeysuckle ...

Kudzu ...

And Clover, too!

Good Morning, Glory!

There's something magical about morning glories, which, true to their name, bloom gloriously in the morning, then swirl closed as the day fades. Mine haven't opened yet on this hot and sauna-like Monday morning here in Vicksburg, but I captured a couple of tightly shut little buds early this morning.

I can't blame these sweet little buds if they stay curled up all day today. Our weather station is registering 96 degrees right now, and it's just 10:00 a.m. The high today is supposed to be 103, with a heat index of 112.

Stay cool, little Morning Glories. I'll check back later today to see if you've opened.

A Backyard Sanctuary ...

We have a very narrow, but long, backyard area which is enclosed by a wooden fence.

We planted shrubbery and flowers along the fence right after we moved in two years ago, but it still lacked something.

This spring I bought several birdhouses, some functional and some decorative, and my husband attached them to the fence for me.

[Click on pictures to enlarge them]

I added a few garden accessories and statuary, and now I love looking out my office window at my little "birdhouse garden" ...

I saw these three tin birds at a local garden gift shop and there was no way I could leave them there. I had a perfect place for them ...

The morning glories in the background of the picture below are the ones Avery (my three-year-old granddaughter) and I planted back in the spring.

They're fading now, but here's a picture of them when they were at their prettiest ...

There's a story behind them, if you'd like to read it, in my post called Sharing Simple Pleasures with a Granddaughter.

This little statue is called "First Love," and I've moved it from house to house through the years, or I should say that my husband has moved it, because it weighs a ton ...

Although this pretty little girl statue is not in the backyard, I wanted to share her with you anyway. I've had her for a very long time and she's my favorite.

She sits on the edge of our pond in our courtyard and makes me happy every time I see her ...

This is a path leading from the front courtyard area to the backyard. I took this picture early one morning when the sun was just coming up and there was a mist over the pond and waterfall ...

For the story of how the path was made, please read my A Stone Path, Bridge, and Courtyard Waterfall post.

The last picture I'd like to share is the view I have from my office window of my lantanas. Butterflies love lantana and they're so pretty fluttering about ... I'm going to miss them this winter.

To every thing there is a season, and it's always kind of sad to see the flowers of summer fading into fall. But each season has its own special kind of beauty ...

The glory of fall foliage in the Blue Ridge Mountains ...

And snow drifts piled high in New England ...

Winter in Texas ...

And perhaps we'll even get snow in Mississippi this
year, like we did on New Year's Eve 2000 ...

I would love to visit all these places, but the next best thing is experiencing the beauty of the changing seasons through the words and pictures of my blogging friends ... and I look forward to it.