Yesterday was my mom's birthday. I'm not sure she would want me to state her age, so let me just say that I hope I inherit her genes (and my Dad's) for longevity!
My mom is at that point in life where she doesn't want any more 'things', so I sent her a birthday card with photos of her great-grandson enclosed (the human one, sorry Cha Cha) and I would like to dedicate this post to my mother. Throughout my life my mom has shared with me her intense love of nature and all things beautiful. I have no doubt that the emotion I feel as I enjoy the flowers, trees, birds and insects is one of her many gifts to me.
In honor of my mom's birthday I took a walk in the rain and snapped a few pictures of the flowers blooming in her birth month. Too bad she couldn't walk with me to tell me the names of them; I label them 'the spidery flower' and 'the wierd yellow flower' but this is my shortcoming, not hers!
For you mom: (click on each photo to enlarge)
As I leave our subdivision you can see three Crepe Myrtle trees. When my mom used to come visit in the month of August she particularly loved these beautiful trees. The flowers can be white, pale pink, purple or bright fuchsia.
Crepe Myrtle
Crepe Myrtle buds
Cool flower in the flower bed of our subdivision's entrance.
An acquaintance in the subdivision across from ours loves to tend her flower beds. More than once she has invited us to walk freely through her yard whether she's home or not, nevertheless I am always reluctant to do so. As I snapped pictures of wildflowers across the street, her husband backed out of the driveway and repeated the invitation, so I took them up on it. She does a very cute job.
Right now the Black-Eyed Susans are in full swing.
Close up of the little orange flower to the right of the bed above.
How cheerful they look!
The center blossom is Shirin's favorite flower, what we call the 'beach flowers'. They certainly have a better name than that, but I think the first time she saw them and named them her favorite she was at the beach.
Beautiful tiny white flowers grace this sprig.
This is the one I call 'spidery' due to the long, graceful filaments.
These purple flowers must be August flowers; they were everywhere.
close up
Many blossoms about to bloom.
White version of the purple flowers.
They make me think of wedding flowers.
The flowers across the street. Notice the tall thin brown sprigs.
This is what they look like close up... wierd!
Some type of fern perhaps?
raindrops
This huge flowering vine wrapped itself around the light post. It looks sort of like a white morning glory but is the size of a dinner plate. Could it be a type of hibiscus?
A type of Lupine perhaps?
Cool burgundy-colored leaves with a pale green-colored cluster of .... what?
Close up of the 'what'. It is very cool looking I think.
These broad leaves were the size of dessert plates. They were growing in a dark area (my flash went off) and I felt like I was in the Amazon forest.
More of Shirin's 'beach' flowers.
Close up - notice the raindrop inside each orange flower.
Petite white petals with bright red centers.
Back in our neighborhood again, these Honeysuckles remind me of when the girls were little. They would pull out the center stamen(?) of the flower and suck off the sweet nectar. These flowers produce the most wonderful fragrance.
Now these are some
weird looking flowers!
I can't even decide of the yellow parts are petals; they were almost too fleshy to be petals. The white "hankies" poking out so haphazardly definitely looked like flower petals, but Mother Nature must have been feeling silly when she designed this flower.
Notice the green insect. Its color exactly matches the green of the green parts of this plant, blending in nicely.
And lastly, a luscious bed of Coleus. When I was a child and not green of thumb (unfortunately I'm still not green of thumb) my mom let me try to care for a Coleus plant. It did quite well actually, but then you'd have to try really hard to kill a Coleus!
So Happy Birthday Mom, and thanks for the multitude of gifts you have given me to enrich my enjoyment of life.
