Hello all! I’ve found another old post in my ‘drafts’ folder and have finally gotten it polished off for you… These were some sweet gift sets I made up last year when I found some ADORABLE Bear’s Paw succulents and put them in some cute cactus shot glasses from Dollar Tree and paired them with some stuffed bears and a handmade card to make some sweet and encouraging gift sets for some beary pawsome friends. First up a set for a special couple needing encouragement:
Awww! That sweet Pink & Main bouquet on the front of the card is colored with some fabulous shimmery Shuttle Art Gel Pens and a hand-drawn edge.
The inside has some cute Pink & Main stamps to match the gift, too…
I’m just head-over-paws in love with those darling bear’s paw succulents (Cotyledon tomentosa)! Aren’t they just TOO cute?!!
Of course, this post was done in March last year (I TOLD you I was backlogged!). Today I stopped by mom and dad’s and saw how much they have grown in such a short time:
This set went to a single friend, so there’s just one bear inside…
Supplies used:
Pink & Main stamp sets: Fur Ever, Grandma’s Lace, Mini Faces Set 1, and Thinking of You Always
Shuttle Art Gel Pens
And, I had this darling interlocking ‘hugs’ card for another friend:
Supplies used:
Concord & 9th Hugs Card die
Concord & 9th Cuddles & Hugs stamp set
Essentials by Ellen All Inside stamp & die and Bear Hugs die
DCWV The Butterfly Garden stack cardstock
Hero Arts ombre ink pads: ombre dolphin ; pink to red;
Tsukineko Memento Rich Coocoa dye ink
Copic Markers C1 E 13, 33, 71; R20
I hope you enjoyed these Pawsitively darling little treats!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
pps: UPDATE: Dad finished his radiation treatments Friday. YAY!! Doc said it’ll probably take a couple of weeks for the side effects to resolve. She’ll see him in 5 weeks and then order tests – likely a PET scan – to be done at 8-10 weeks. Meanwhile he’s to exercise, eat well, exercise and stay healthy so his body can clear out all the irradiated cells. We’re looking forward t a good report!
Hope you’re all staying healthy and sane in these crazy times.😉
Since spring is just starting and most of you are going stir crazy from being stuck in place due to the coronavirus COVID-19, I thought I’d start pulling out some of my nature pics that have been in my drafts folder for a while so you can go on some germ-free, socially distanced virtual trips and, perhaps find some places you’d like to visit once they re-open and we can all travel again.
Perhaps you noticed a new tab on my home page: Gardens & Parks. I put it there to keep track of what and where I have posted, but it can be a good travel resource for any of you who are planning a trip. I will keep it updated as I post new places. Some day, I may split this little hobby off into a separate blog, but most of you don’t seem to mind my crazy hodgepodge mix of crafts and hobbies.
Do you like butterflies? Lepidoptera is the order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. You’re a lepidopterist if you study or collect butterflies and moths. And if you’re one of the many folks who are afraid of them, you have lepidopterophobia and should probably skip down to the second half of this post! Fair warning, this post is quite lengthy and picture heavy, so grab your favorite cuppa, sit back and enjoy!
We recently had family visit and were pleased to get to take them to one of our favorite local attractions:Â Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, FL. It is the largest butterfly house in the world with 3 acres of butterfly and bird aviaries, botanical gardens and a working butterfly farm and research center. You can also see more pics in my two previous posts (as always, you can click on any colored text you find in my posts to be taken to see the page or website):
There are some 50 species and over 20,000 individual butterflies just waiting to enchant us with their beautiful colors and designs. Here are some of this trips highlights…
There are oodles of the Heliconius genus (aka Longwings), including many hybrids found only at Butterfly World:
Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia) – You’ll see her caterpillar later on:
Piano key (Heliconius melpomene) butterflies. There is always classical music playing softly in the background, adding to the relaxing atmosphere of the park, but I always smile when I see a piano key butterfly just when a piano solo comes on! Don’tcha just wanna ‘tickle the ivories’ on her back wings?!!
There seems to be an endless variety of patterns and colors!
Here’s a G-rated pic of a pair of piano key longwings mating:
White crescent swallowtail (Eurytides thymbraeus):
If you enlarge this picture of a mist encrusted swallowtail, you can tell that the red ‘stay on path’ sign is reflected in the droplets on her eye and antennae:
If you look closely at this paper kite aka tree nymph (Idea leuconoe), you might make out the blurry Florida state bird that happened to be sitting on her wing (a joke as mosquitoes are huge and thick over by the everglades)… I wonder how she’s gonna scratch that itch?!!:
Sometimes, no matter how good your camera, you just have to rely on someone else to take the picture!:
The blue morpho below is missing part of a wing, giving us a peek of her beauty. Don’t fret, butterflies have been observed going about their daily activity with up to 70% of their wing surfaces missing. I once read an encouraging article that used that fact to illustrate how, similarly, many people display a resolute spirit — not giving up despite suffering from severe physical or emotional problems. How? The article sited 2 Corinthians 4:16 and Philippians 4:13 if you want to look them up.
Among the most dazzling butterflies are the blue morphos (Morpho peleides) with their metallic looking iridescent wings that span 5-8 inches. Their color comes, not from pigment, but from the structural patterns on the scales of her wings.
Not all morphos are blue… these white morpho (Morpho polyphemus) seem particularly attracted to something on this cattleya orchid’s pot. This was clearly taken before coronavirus and social distancing became everyday words in our vocabularies!:
Another real stunner is the male Cairn’s Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion) butterfly, with a wingspan of about 6 inches, in vibrant colors and a heavy fur coat:
I’m going to sneak in a picture of this leafwing that I took at home a while back. His camouflage is pretty amazing!
The yellow-edged giant owl butterflies (Caligo atreus – of the family Nymphalidae) have huge eye spots that remind people of owl eyes. But this was the first time I noticed how the tip of her wings also looks like a snake’s head. Plenty of protective camouflage! This is the largest butterfly species in the Americas, with a wingspan of up to 8″
You know my love fore water drop pictures…here you can see how some water droplets magnify the scales on this beautiful malachites’ wings (Siproeta stelenes), while others reflect the surrounding foliage:
To see a video from Butterfly World’s Instagram page with even more butterfly varieties, click HERE.
Let’s move on to the butterfly buffets aka flowers… here’s a view inside the tropical rain forest atrium:
I think the red flowers in the background above are Allamanda blanchetii. Queen’s wreath (Petrea volubilis), aka purple wreath, is our southern version of wisteria with its drooping lavender cluster of flowers (called a raceme). Since its leaves are stiff and feel like sandpaper, it is also called sandpaper vine. I love the flower within a flower look!
Love this tropical rhododendron… it’s like pure sunshine packed into a flower:
A bloom of the aptly named Chinese lantern tree (Abutilon pictum) aka flowering maple or red-veined Indian mallow from the Malvaceae family:
The lipstick tree (Bixa orellana) aka annatto is next. According to the sign, ‘The dye bixen obtained from the seeds is used all over the world as a red dye for coloring rice, cheeses, soft drinks, oil, butter, margarine and soups. It is also used as a dye for textiles and as a condiment. It is the original Amerindian war paint. It has also been used as a sunscreen and insect repellent. The red covering on Gouda and other cheeses is made from bixen. It also has many medicinal uses.’ When I was in the Amazon jungle in Colombia, back in the early 80s, the local indigenous tribes showed us how they used the seeds both as lipstick and to color their grass skirts. One plant can produce up to 600 pounds of seeds! Most of the seeds are gone from the open pods in this picture, but if you look close, you might see a couple that are left.
Jaboticaba (Plinia cauliflora), a native to Brazil, is part of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) and its edible grape-like fruits grow right on the trunks of the tree. This fruit was one of my favorite treats when I lived in Paraguay!
The vine maze is packed with many varieties of passion flowers. I love how they look like dancing ladies!! And, of course a cool drink made from the passion fruit is quite refreshing!
The information sign says: ‘Passionflower plants, flowers and fruits are used for many purposes such as perfumes, pharmaceuticals and fruit juices. Butterfly world uses passionflowers to raise beautiful heliconius butterflies, which eat them as caterpillar food plants. Early Spanish and Portuguese missionaries believed each part of the passiflora represent a different aspect of the passion of Jesus Christ, hence the name passion vine… passionflower plants are used by the caterpillars of zebra longwing, julia and gulf fritillary butterflies.’
Passiflora ‘Royale’:
Passiflora ‘Inspiration” by Roland Fischer Passifloraceae:
Tiny Passiflora boenderi (named in honor of Ron Boender, the founder of Butterfly World) … the leaves have a row of egg-mimicking dots. See the Zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia) caterpillar?
The tiny passion fruit of the Passiflora boenderi — as someone who saw this pic said, “it’s really thumb-thing!”
Mysore trumpet vine (Thunbergia mysorensis) aka Indian clock vine, dolls shoes or ladies’ slipper vine (not to be confused with ladies slipper orchids!) from the Acanthaceae family. I love how it looks right before it opens (second bloom from the top on the right)!
A bumblebee happily foraging for food on a giant milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) (EVERYTHING’s bigger in the tropics!). Oh! There’s another really interesting two minute video you might want to see about how bumblebees manage to control their flight in the video I found HERE: Was It Designed? The Bumblebee’s Flight Control
There are two aviaries with plenty of colorful birds like this Lady Gouldian finch:
Even if you haven’t taken the time to watch any of the other videos I’ve linked in this post, you’ll want to make time for this less-than-two-minute impressive video I found on why bird colors never fade and how researchers are trying to mimic this for paints and fabrics that never fade. You can see it by clicking HERE: Was It Designed? Bird Colors That Never Fade
Budgies (Budgerigar) are among the smallest of the true parrot species. In case you didn’t know, all budgies are parakeets, but not all parakeets are budgies.
The pair in the video below happens to be courting (for you young whippersnappers reading this, that’s the old-fashioned way of saying ‘dating’). Click in the middle of the video below ( or HERE) to see the couple doing their love dance (Do the budgie hop! Hop! Hop! Hop!)
I hope you enjoyed your virtual vacation today! I have several more ‘trips’ stored in my drafts folder and a few more cards and crafts. As I find the time and energy, I’ll post them for you. Stay positive. Stay safe, socially distant, disinfected and healthy!
-D.Ann
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p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
Hello again! I’m happy to be back and that you could stop by, too!
After a long break to try to let my wrist heal (perforated ligament and tendon inflammation), I’m slowly starting back. I’ll start with the rest of the pics from butterfly world. If you missed the first post featuring the butterflies, you can find it HERE. There are plenty of birds and flowers in the park, too! For those of us who are paper crafters, there’s loads of color inspiration! So go grab a cuppa something good, put on some classical music like they have playing throughout the park, and just enjoy the pics…
The skyflower aka blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia grandiflora)
These ground orchids (Epidendrum radican) are so cute!
This one is a jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) – I love hose shades of green!!
I must try a card the color combo in these orchids… brown, pink and pale yellow!
This vine is an Acanthaceae (Thunbergia mysorensis).
A bottlebrush bush (try saying that 5 times fast. lol!) aka Callistemon.
There is a huge variety of passion flower (Passiflora) vines. I don’t know how many of the 550 species they have, but it’s a lot!
They remind me of dancing ladies! And they go from these giant ones as big as your hand to the tiny ones, smaller than a thumbnail:
I love finding ‘faces’ in the bougainvillea flowers! : )
The aviaries are filled with canaries, finches, honeycreepers and more… most flitting around too fast for the lens to catch, but a few are otherwise occupied, like this cute parakeet couple and the peeping Tom. : )
The vibrant colors of the Macaws never cease to amaze me.
There is a Lorikeet encounter where you can feed them or just enjoy the amazing bright colors and shrill songs of these lovely parrots. (you can click on the arrow in the middle of the picture below to watch the short video.)
Lastly, one of my favorites… this gorgeous little shimmering hummingbird just sat there sticking his tongue out at us as if giving raspberry and saying, “Nyah, nyah I’m the most beautiful bird around and I know it!” (click on the arrow in the middle of the pic for the short video to play.)
That’s just a few highlights from this wonderful little park. And I didn’t even get the the museum. I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour!
I hope to start catching up now. I have several spring garden posts that I HOPE to get posted before next spring, but you know I roll in slow motion, so it may be a while. I seem to have a few cards backlogged, too. So there is more to come, Thanks for your patience! Hopefully you won’t have to wait too long.
-D.Ann
p.s. Any ads you may see are posted by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
Surprise! I’m back!! A lot has happened since my last post and part two will have to wait a bit longer. Meanwhile, it’s time for the 2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Hop.
Although I haven’t had much time for crafting lately, I was excited to make up the new Power Poppy Cheerful Columbine stamp as it is a prefect reminder of a couple of the fun highlights of my recent trip to Indiana… My aunt’s columbine flower patch and getting a birds eye view of newborn baby robins!
This year the robins built their nest in my aunt’s garage window. They were very attentive to their family.
Here’s a video of the the first two newly hatched. They’re not the cutest, but still they’re amazing! (click in the middle of the pic to start the video):
Columbines are one of my favorite flowers. Their little stamen bunches look like little balls of sunshine! Did you know the first official Colorado State Song was Where the Columbine Grow? For me, they grow in my aunt’s flower garden in Indiana!! I was happy that they had just started blooming when we were there. My aunt has several nifty varieties. Here are just a few:
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That last one on the right is a Clementine Rose Columbine.
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I chose these as a color guide for my card (they go the best with the MarkerPop challenge colors this month – see below):
What a sweet tea cup full of flowers! To give the flowers a sense of depth, I fussy cut them and a couple of extra plus the robin and an extra egg. I used flower shaping tools to shape them and foam dots to help hold their shape.
I added the little seeds stamp and filled them in with Liquid Pearls… there was even room to poke a seed in her beak. A little Wink of Stella gave some morning dew sparkle to the slower petals and cup.
Materials used:
Power Poppy Cheerful Columbine stamp and little seeds
Spellbinders Thoughtful Expressions Thinking of You die set
Recollections cardstock: white, brown and Blig Bloom (peach)
It’s time for something different! All the visits to botanical gardens lately brought on the whim to add some blooming color to my porch. Over the past 14 years I have tried many different hanging plants, but I seem to have a black thumb. Thank goodness the orchids don’t think so! : ) Since there were recently some amazing sales at the craft stores, I decided to try my hand at arranging some silk flowers into a hanging basket…
I like that you can hardly tell they’re not real!
I started with a moss covered Hello Spring hanging basket that was one sale at JoAnn (70% off PLUS a coupon) and put my old rusty decorative hanging planter frame inside to give me something I could use to attach the vines.
I had a 25′ ivy garland, so I cut it into several two foot strips to hang and a couple of longer ones to go around the top edge. Since the fine was thin enough, I just pulled off the leaves near the end to leave a strip long enough to tie around the wire frame of the inner basket.
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I then used hot glue to secure the knot and to add the pulled off leaves back in wherever they looked good. The Ashland Spring Garland of blooms from Michaels was too thick to tie itself, so I used some twist ties around a junction and hot glued them for extra security, too.
The Ashland Spring Bushes and Stems were also on sale for 60-70% off and I used my 60% off coupon for the foam base. The stems and bushes can be cut to the right length with a wire-cutter. The plastic cuts easily and then you can bend it back and forth to break the wire.
Since it’s up high, you can hardly see the white foam base, but I had moss roll and tucked it in. It would have been better to have put this down first and poked the flowers through it as I had to use some long straight pins and bend them over to hold it down.
A measly little hanging plant less than half that size runs around $35, but this one cost me less than $25 after all the discounts and looks way better… at least in my opinion. : )
I’ll be back soon with pictures from Butterfly World…. the last time we went early in the morning on a cool day and everyone was hanging around posing and waiting for the sun to warm them up rather than flitting around frantically like usual, so it’s taking me ages to whittle down the best of the pics to show you.. I’ve got it down to just over 100 so far. lol.
Have a wonderful day and I hope to see you back here real soon!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
Hello all! Those of you who are regulars here know that, in addition to crafting, I love photographing nature. Since many of my cards have flower in them, it’s also a great way to get color inspiration, too. We were fortunate to have some cooler days in March this year. After having missed most of the nice weather with that 3 month migraine, it was wonderful to get out and enjoy a garden again!
Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County, Florida is a 14 acre living plant museum divided into 23 themed gardens. It’s right across from the Palm Beach International Airport. For those of you who have been with me from the beginning, you may remember one of my early posts was of a visit to this garden. (Click HERE if you’d like to re-visit it. I’ve selected different flowers for this round). There is special pricing in effect as they currently have a special exhibition: Washed Ashore Art to Save the Sea. It runs through June3, 2018. So, if you’re a member of the American Horticultural Society, you get a $5 discount off the $15 admission, instead of the usual free admission.
FYI, there is a main paved trail throughout the garden for easy wheelchair access, but to get close to many of the plants you’d have to go off-roading, which is tough.
Throughout the gardens are various sculptures of aquatic creatures endangered by marine debris and pollution. They are made of items collected from beaches by volunteers. This one, weighing in at 1600 pounds, is called Priscilla the Parrot Fish and she’s made of up toys, bottle caps, buoys, lighters, beer cans, a bowling pin, toothbrushes and fishing lures, among other things. Did you know that parrot fish feed on algae and take in coral in the process, which passes through their system undigested, coming out as sand? Think of this fish-produced sand next time you’re walking on the beach! : )
The botanical show opens in the parking lot with an arbor supporting the Variegated Chalice Vine (Solandra) with its huge, chalice-like flowers:
You know I can’t resist catching a busy bee hard at work!
This is the Vanilla Orchid which produces a seed pod which is fermented and dried into the “vanilla Bean” and then processed into vanilla extract. Wish computers came with a scratch-and-sniff feature!!
The cool thing about photographing flowers is that you notice things you might otherwise miss… I didn’t know there was another sweet little flower inside moss roses! Since it was in the edible plants section, it must be of the varieties that are fit for snacking.
Nasturtium flowers and leaves are also edible I have enjoyed them in salads.
I remember first seeing the Floss Silk Tree (Chorisia speciosa) in Paraguay. Commonly called the ‘Palo Borracho’ (drunken stick) as the trunk gets kind of a ‘beer belly’ as it matures. The silk was used in the past to stuff pillows. It almost looks like snow when it starts falling to the ground.
The huge spines covering the bark are pretty amazing!
Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) or velvet sage is so fuzzy you just want to pet it!
Rosy Camphorweed (Pluchea rosea) is another fluffy little flower…
A zebra longwing butterfly (Heliconius charithonia) slurping some sweet nectar from a firebush (Hamelia patens).
This nifty little shrub has various names… Cup and Saucer plant, Chinese Hat plant & Parasol flower (Holmskioldia sanguinea):
Yes, even in Florida we have stink bugs.
Did you know the Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana) is from the bigonia family?! This is the first one where I’ve been able to get close to the ‘sausages’. They run 12-39″ long, up to 8″ wide and weigh up to 26 pounds. The fresh fruit is poisonous and must be dried, roasted or fermented for human consumption. Can you spot the orchids?
So neat to see the three stages of the canna (not a true lily) all together:
What is it about hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) that make me want to pluck them and twirl them like dancing dolls in rich chiffon ballroom gowns?!
A busy bee thoroughly enjoying himself on this Jamaican Poinsettia (Euphorbia punicea).
Just like this little guy, I hope to BEE back soon with more fun posts! I hope you enjoyed your garden tour – especially those of you who are still putting up with that white stuff that ISN’T Floss Silk!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
Since most of you are in dreary, snowy winter mode right now, I thought I’d send you some Florida sunshine from my porch to perk you up. Once in a while the whim takes me to photographing flowers, but with this infernal headache (6 weeks now), I haven’t been able tolerate being out in the sun. It’s frustrating to be missing the best time to be outside in South Florida as you don’t sweat buckets the minute you step out the door. Grr! Ok, enough ranting, sorry!! So, since I had to bring in my orchids from the porch as the temps are to drop below 50 tonight, I took advantage of a mini photo shoot for you… Here are the orchids currently in bloom:
I don’t often have success with cattleya orchids, in fact this one is a little sickly, but it sure gave one stunner of a bloom! The ‘noses’ on the cattleyas make me smile… it’s like they’re surrounded with the daintiest of handkerchiefs!
Phalaenopsis orchids are the most common and I usually get them to re-bloom, from little miniature plants like this one:
To the large ones you find in the supermarket. Sometimes they put food coloring in the water to turn them brighter or unusual colors (like blue), but these are all natural.
I especially like the frilly, cupped shape of this one:
Something I didn’t know until recently… Don’t cut off the bloom stalks until they’re COMPLETELY dried up — they might bloom again! I though it was a fluke when my aunt and my cousin’s wife told me their re-bloomed on the same stalk, but I decided to start leaving mine alone just in case, and….
Yes!! I’m looking forward to these and the other 7 orchid plants with a total of 15 bloom stalks keeping me in bloom for the next several months. That’s another reason why I find orchids are such a value… You can usually get them to bloom again and the blooms usually last for weeks to months… the longest I ever saw one bloom was at my aunt’s in N Florida… she has an amazing pair of green thumbs… this picture is one that had been blooming for over 17 months at the time the picture was taken! Look at how the bloom stalk meanders round as it kept on blooming. I think that bloom stalk put out continuous flowers for nearly two years. Amazing!!
Full disclosure: No, I am not affiliated with the orchid industry or trying to sell anything! Lol! Just a huge fan of orchids!!
I hope that little bit of floral sunshine brightened your day! Have a lovely weekend!!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
Hello, hello! I hadn’t realized how long I’d been away until I started getting e-mails from you sweet readers checking up on me. Apologies! I’ve been sick a lot and that, combined with the loss of a loved family member, has kept me away for several weeks. I’m happy to be back now and wanted to check in with you all:
Hoya doin?! Â : )
A while ago, of my cousins gave me a start of her Hoya (Hoya fungii, I think) and it has finally bloomed. I love how thick and waxy the inner bloom appears and the outer part looks like fuzzy stars!
They bloom in a cluster from the hanging vine. This beautiful ball of blooms measures 3″ across.
I sure hope you have a LOVELY day! I’m also glad to be back to crafting and will be right back with the first card I’ve made in a while.
See you soon,
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
If you’ve been following today’s posts, you know that I’m participating in several of Papertrey Ink’s 10th Anniversary Challenges. This one is called Photo Finish – and challenges us to incorporate a photo into a project. I took my recent dewy Periwinkle pic and framed it up on a card:
Supplies used:
Papertrey Ink Quatrefoil cover plate die
Core’dinations Parisian Nights A2 pink card and white & green cardstock
Aleene’s Super Tacky spray adhesive
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L EZ Runner & EZ Dots
I’m playing along with the following challenges… click on any one of them for more information on how you can join the fun:
I don’t know if I’ll get another card posted tomorrow before the deadline or not. If not, I will see you again on Friday when I finally get to spill the beans on the special project I’ve been busting to tell you about!! : ) Hope to see you then, if not before!!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
I’m finally back and I’m glad you’ve stopped back by, too!
I’m going to start this post with a visit to northern Florida last November. I didn’t get to post the videos of the Sandhill Cranes. They’re such nifty birds, although the locals might complain about them tearing up their yards as they look for food. It was fun to watch a couple sing and dance together. (It is said that the female makes two calls for every one the male makes… I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about that! Ha!)
(You can click on the white arrow in the middle of the pictures to go to the videos. Turn up the volume for this first one.)
I guess, after a while, they must get sore throats and just dance…
Zooming ahead 3 and a half months later, we see the results of their fooling around…
It’s so fun to see wildlife wandering the streets of quiet neighborhoods! If you stand still and don’t bother them, they might even get within a feet of you… but remember they are WILDlife!! I love that their red faces look like hearts when you look at them straight on…
Next are some of the many nifty plants at my aunt’s house. First up is the Turk’s Cap Cactus aka Melon Cactus. It gets loads of those nifty pink fruits (right now there’s only one on the left side).
Atop the brown woolly ‘cap’ the flowers burst forth swathed in white wool…
The Kaffir Lily (Clivia miniata) is a member of the Amaryllis family…
And with a great sense of humor, her ‘Shrek’s Ears’ (Crassula ovata ‘Gollum’) – a type of jade plant –Â are planted next to ‘Donkey’s Tail’ (aka burro’s tail – Sedum morganianum)! lol!
Jatropha (aka nettlespurge or physic nut) blooms…
It’s amazing how a heavy dew changes everything… even some ‘weeds’ in the yard…
My favorite is this dew drop laden Periwinkle…
For those of you who are getting another round of cold weather, hopefully this will tide you over until your spring flowers start blooming like crazy real soon.
Thanks for stopping by today to enjoy these lovely creations with me!
~D.Ann
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p.s. any ads on this page are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.
D.Ann's Crafting Whims 