Category: Phlowers

Phlowers & Perspective & Project – The Year of the Dandelion

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective, Phlowers, Projects5 Comments


I enjoyed a quick walk on this second morning in January. The air, crisp with cold, was stimulating, waking me up and opening my eyes to the beauty in the winter landscape. The limbs and twigs of the trees against the chilly sky are God’s sculptures raising their arms toward the heavens. I could almost imagine them beginning to sing.

I searched for dandelion cones with fluff emerging from their tips. I am partial to dandelions; in fact, I have named 2024 my year of the dandelion. I want to be as productive and as resilient as this beautiful plant.

What do I love about dandelions? Perhaps it’s the color and shape. The flower reflects the Sun. I admire the resilience of dandelions. They will bloom wherever they can and grow lushly, even within the cracks of the street and sidewalks. Just today, I photographed this determined plant thriving in the smallest of spaces between the curb and the blacktop. I have read recently that one dandelion plant can produce up to 2,000 seeds. I hope to be as productive as the dandelion and spread as much GOOD NEWS as possible.

Here’s a fun project to do with children. You can string the unopened pods of dandelion seeds onto a piece of thread, and within 24 hours, they change and open up into perfect spheres. It’s so easy, and if you choose the right place, they will reflect the sunshine and glow and bring a touch of magic into the room. The photos below show the process. So much fun!

The candy is light enough not to break the string but heavy enough to give it a bit of weight. I love bringing a touch of whimsy to winter days.

Phloral Arrangement – Happy New Year 2024

On By TimelessladyIn Phloral Arrangements, Phlowers19 Comments

I don’t have much growing in the garden, but my IAVOM arrangement for the first day of 2024 contains the few flowers and pieces of foliage still blooming.

Contained in the vase is a Bidens blossom. This tiny flower is about the size of a quarter. It is inconspicuous in the garden border during the summer, overtaken by plants that grow exuberantly. After these plants die back in the cold temperatures, the Bidens thrive for several months. The Spruce has a great article on how to grow Bidens perennials in the garden.

One pansy was blooming brilliantly in a terracotta pot in the backyard. Hurrah! It is bedraggled in a few places, but on the whole, it is still lovely and perfect for Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Dandelions are within the vase but opened after I took the photograph. There will be more to come on dandelions tomorrow. I love the spent seedhead. It’s done its job, and the umbrella-like pappus dispersed all the seeds into the air.

Fennel is still filling the garden beds in various heights and sizes. When I picked a few sprigs for the vase I momentarily smelled that distinctive licorice fragrance the foliage puts out. This wonderful herb is one of my major host plants for butterflies. I imagine many Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel come to Spring when I daydream about my 2024 gardens.

Lastly, I picked a few pieces of Butterfly Bush foliage, still glowing blue-green in the grip of winter weather, and used those leaves as a base for the flowers.

Phlowers & Quote – Roses and Emerson

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers, Quote23 Comments

Sometimes, much like today, I need to focus momentarily on something simple and beautiful, and set aside every nuance that might darken my day. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, this flower, both do me good during a day of running around, cleaning, and cooking. God bless you all on Thanksgiving Eve.

The roses are a mirage of my memory now. Photographed a few years ago in the Longwood Conservatory, the rose hall has been torn down and is being replaced by a new, more modern structure. I will miss walking alongside the beautiful bushes, and hope rebuilding will not be a protracted project.

My roses are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Phlowers – Silverberry Petunia

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers6 Comments

I can’t remember the source for this beautiful petunia, but oh my, am I glad I found it. I planted it up in Spring with some Sweet Potato Vine and have been in love with it ever since. It really lives up to the Proven Winners Brand description of fillers and spillers, for it certainly fills the basket and spills over the side. Beyond that, the color of the plant is extraordinary, truly a silvery pink. The flowers are small and compact, and even though I try to deadhead them, they don’t seem to need it to continue to bloom in abundance. I highly recommend this lovely flower. It is worth every penny you pay for it.

Only one plant, potted up in a hanging basket in the Spring, has expanded in every direction. Amazing! It’s still growing strong and fast.

Supertunia Vista petunias are very vigorous, with mounding habits that can reach up to 2 feet in height in the landscape and will trail over the edges of baskets and containers up to 4 feet by the end of the season. They are fantastic landscape plants and are great in large containers, where they function as both fillers and spillers. In garden beds, they will work either in the front or middle of the bed. They have medium-sized flowers.

Proven Winners


A bonus for those who press flowers…usually petunias are iffy for successful pressing. If I gather these blossoms when they first open, although very fragile and thin, they retain their color and veining. Because the blooms are not as large as a standard petunia, they work in smaller-sized pressed flower settings too. Beautiful.


Silverberry Petunia is my flower of the day for Cee’s FOTD challenge.

Phlowers/Plant – Milkweed

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers, Plants3 Comments

Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed, is now firmly established in my butterfly garden. Started from a seed, the plant piddled around for a year or two before growing tall last summer. It has naturalized during the time in between then and now, and there are several large clumps of it throughout the bed.

Don’t hesitate to try some common milkweed in your garden if you want to help Monarch butterflies thrive. Milkweed is also a great flower/plant to grow for pollinators too. The bumblebees were enraptured by the bloom, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrance of the flowers.

The pollinators did a good job and a few of the flowers have become small pods.

You can see how conditions have been almost perfect this year for growing milkweed. That’s me, standing beside the milkweed about a week ago. Since the photo was taken, the milkweed has grown at least another six inches. My husband estimates it is near seven feet tall.

Grow milkweed in full sun if possible. My garden bed gets a bit of morning shade, but in the afternoon the area is sunny. If you grow from a seed as I did, be patient, it takes a year or two for the plant to become established.

My milkweed blossoms are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Phlowers – Patriotic Mix – IAVOM

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers16 Comments

My choices for IAVOM (In A Vase on Monday) are definitely along the patriotic lines and use red, white and blue flower choices.

Along with Blue Salvia, White Balsam and Alyssum, I used one of my favorites, Red Monarda/Bee Balm. This beauty seems to bloom every year just in time for the Fourth of July. In my eyes, it is quite the appropriate flower for July; it resembles bursting fireworks. The Bee Balm is a quick bloomer, and only thrives briefly in my garden beds. Already, it is showing signs of the fungus that plagues it every year. Somehow, it survives the blight and returns for me every year.

Monarda/Bee Balm is my choice for Cee’s Flower of the Day challenge.

Phavorite & Phlowers – Bougainvillea with Fledgling Bird

On By TimelessladyIn Phavorites, Phlowers2 Comments

Eyes were upon me, I felt something watching as I browsed through a greenhouse in search of bedding plants this year. It was a small fledgling sparrow, its feet wrapped around a twig of a bougainvillea plant in a hanging basket. I was in love with his sweet expression, but then wondered if it was sweet, or maybe a bit annoyed at me for disturbing his space. I bought another bougainvillea hanging near the one he perched in to remind me of the moment. Sweet. I think this is one of my favorite photographs taken in May.

As I left the greenhouse, I noticed the nest he occupied as he grew above the door. The bougainvillea flower is part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Phlowers – Rue

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers5 Comments

Rue (Ruta graveolens) is called the Herb of Grace.

It was a common herb believed to keep away witches, and that folk use evolved into the Catholic Church’s practice of dipping branches of rue into Holy water and sprinkling it over the heads of parishioners as a blessing, which earned it a common name for the plant of “herb of grace.”

Mother Earth Gardener

Rue is a fabulous addition to a Butterfly Garden. Last year, planted in a sunny spot in my garden beds, they grew and thrived, hosting many eggs and caterpillars of Black Swallowtail Butterflies.

I didn’t cut them back in the Autumn. In Spring, they began to grow at the tips of rather leggy stems and were soon loaded with buds, and afterwards bloomed a brilliant yellow flower. They have a unique appearance, rather sticky in the center. This area is hard and forms into a rounded seedhead.

The foliage is a beautiful blue-green and presses perfectly. There is a caution for people with sensitive skin – Rue can cause phytophoto dermatitis following sun exposure in those susceptible to that condition.

Grow Rue in full to part sun in well-drained soil. This is a wonderful herb and is a great host plant for Black Swallowtails.

Rue is part of Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.

Phlowers – In a Vase on Monday (IAVOM)

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers5 Comments

Such a busy time of year. I’ve been lax with blogging, but I so love taking part in the IAVOM challenge, I scurried around the yard cutting stems today before I began planting out seedlings. The little goldfinch is a reminder of my first glimpse of brilliant yellow goldfinches this past week. I’m so happy to see them in their summer colors. The bouquet is created with Japanese Photinia, yellow tulips edged in pinks, and a stem of comfrey.

As it matured, the colors of this yellow tulip became even brighter. Lovely! I think this tulip is worthy to be a part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

The comfrey blooms once a year. I am going to save seeds to send to my sister who has begun a Flower Farm in North Carolina.

Not only is it an evergreen through the winter, it blooms in the spring. The new leaves are a gorgeous shade of blush pink/red. Japanese Photinia is a perfect choice for a garden tree/bush.

Phlower – First Periwinkle

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers6 Comments

I looked for a periwinkle a few days ago, and found nothing. I didn’t know it was hiding out within the mass of ivy beneath the pines. I love these small flowers. Now I know for sure Spring is on the way in South Jersey. It’s really cold and windy today, but this tender little blossom gives me hope. My periwinkle is part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Phlowers – Six on Saturday/First Blooms

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers2 Comments

On a day filled with windy March bluster, I found first blooms in the 2023 garden beds. Top left to bottom right: Japonica, Crocus in three colors, hyacinths and a perky daffodil. 

Phlowers – Yellow Tulips

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers7 Comments

I could interpret last week’s sixty-degree temperatures as a sign Spring is on the way, but I have lived through many seasonal changeovers, and I know that even though twilight is coming later every day, the hope of Spring arriving early is just folly and there are still weeks of Winter to live through.

Tulips are my Flower of the Day, part of Cee’s Daily Flower Challenge.

I have grown the yellow tulips from bulbs I purchased in Autumn. Past attempts at forcing them have been mixed. I have kept them bare and in a cold place, forcing them in water. This year I planted thickly in terracotta pots, about six bulbs per pot, and left them outdoors on the porch for several months. I wasn’t sure when I should bring them in, but the tulips themselves told me by thrusting leaves above the surface. I bring one in each week, and this pot is my first success. It is a bit leggy, but grand just the same. I support the overgrown stems with small twigs in the soil. I like the seasonal look they give, and even though thin, they support the leaves and stems perfectly well.

Phlowers – Longwood Conservatory Winter/Part 2

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers8 Comments

The Longwood Gardens Conservatory boasts a gorgeous display of orchids. Not only can you view hundreds of varieties, you can also gaze out upon the ongoing construction of Longwood Reimagined in the Orchid room. There are many signs on the grounds, and articles available on the web, that apprise visitors of the future gardens and buildings. It’s quite exciting to imagine myself walking in these structures in the future.

The orchids in today’s post are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

While the sun glare, magnified through the window, can make it difficult to take a larger photo, a close-up of these beautiful blooms in the orchid room is enhanced by the back-lighting.

There is no one dominant species of orchid in the display, but I am always drawn to the faces of the Paphiopedilums. Just like pansy blossoms, they seem to have a perky personality.

This lovely orchid almost seems artificial. The inner recesses of the labellum are sunrose yellow, the January 30th color for City Sonnet’s January Colors and Letters.

Phlowers – Six on Saturday/Longwood Conservatory Winter

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers16 Comments

Here’s a sampling of the hanging baskets in the Longwood Gardens Conservatory yesterday. It’s hard to capture the size/scale of the flower baskets. To say they are large is an understatement.

Some of the plants are: Cape-primrose (Streptocarpus), Anthuriums, Cinnamon-Wattle Acacia, Bromeliads.

My favorite walk was along the acacia passage. The Cinnamon-Wattle acacias were in bloom. The fragrance was incredible. There was definitely a feeling of enchantment present as we gazed down the corridor. Periwinkle is one of my favorite colors, and the combination of the streptocarpus with the soft yellow of the acacia was stunning. The streptocarpus are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

I also had some moments of inspiration. I don’t know if this is a hanging basket of some type for displaying flowers, a light fixture, or something totally unique to my imagination. I am determined to create better hanging basket arrangements this year for the porch and outdoors and this will be my artistic muse for the project.

As we walked within the walls the soft winter sun outdoors illuminated everything inside with a glow of Royal Silver. I wish I could somehow capture and copy the indescribable atmosphere in a watercolor painting.

Here’s a silly self-portrait of us in the conservatory; a visual description of our joy. It’s a little distorted, the mirror had a funhouse quality, but it still captured our happiness in being in a place filled with flowers and fragrance.

Phlower – Crown of Thorns

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers2 Comments

I love the soft pink of these dime-sized blooms on my Crown of Thorns, the color almost a copy of cotton candy. The plant lives outdoors on the screened-in porch for five months of the year. Through the Autumn and Winter it delights me with flowers when everything outdoors is dormant. No coddling needed, the plant is easy to grow and maintain. This beautiful flower is part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Phlower & Quotes & Pages – Mr. Lincoln Roses

On By TimelessladyIn Pages, Phlowers, Quotes1 Comment

These gorgeous Mr Lincoln roses were blooming in the mid-November sun this Sunday morning. Somehow, their petals stayed intact through rather heavy rain Friday and overnight. They began to emit their compelling fragrance as they warmed up in the house. Not many roses can surpass Mr Lincoln blooms for scent and beauty.

I usually don’t expect such a perfect rose in November. These blooms are part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.

The small hymnal in the first photo, The Gospel Hymn Book, is signed and dated 1890. Surprisingly, I found it in a local library, shelved in the Books for Sale section, available for purchase for only fifty cents. Oh my! I am blessed to have it. It is very fragile, dog-eared and spotted, bound with aged string, but the wisdom within is full of strength, power, and timeless. Under a title of Sweetness of Prayer is printed the following verse:

Come, Holy Comforter, Presence Divine,

Now in our longing hearts graciously shine;

O for Thy mighty power,

O for a blessed shower,

Filling this hallowed hour with joy divine.

Here from the World We Turn

Words: Frances Jane Crosby

Music: Tryst | William Howard Doane

Phlowers – Autumn Rose

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers4 Comments

“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again.” – Anonymous

The best rose of the year is blooming today in my Autumn garden. Winter Sun was a great performer all summer, covered in flowers, abundant leaves, and strong canes. Blossoms at this time of year are scarce, but this beauty is perfect and as large as the span of my hand. Winter Sun is my Flower of the Day?

Phlower – Pink Balsam

On By TimelessladyIn Phlowers9 Comments

September brings an end to many of my garden flowers. If they have not gone to seed, they are falling victim to browning blossoms and leaves. I still have an outlet of admiration blooming in a side garden, a lovely pink Balsam I have named Leona’s Pink. My grandmother loved this shade, and so the name is perfect; she cultivated gentle colors in the garden, nothing brash was allowed in her flower beds.

The lovely flowers leave behind large seedpods. I’m hoping to collect many seeds in the next few days to plant next year. The seeds are large, easy to harvest and store for next year’s garden beds. The seedpods are self-scattering, and if care is not taken, can become invasive. Since the small plants have shallow roots and are easily removed, this has never been much of a problem for me. I often transplant the volunteers to new locations in early Spring.

Pink Balsam is posted in Cee’s Flower of the Day Challenge.

Pheathers & Phlowers – Hummingbird Plants

On By TimelessladyIn Pheathers, Phlowers13 Comments

If the tomato cage and bell didn’t give you a clue to actual size, this bird would appear to be just a common bird perching on a wire. Not so, the hummingbird in the photo was very annoyed with me. I disturbed its meal of delicious nectar.

Hummingbirds have visited our yard since Spring. I had a nectar feeder, but when it gets hot, and my flowers begin to bloom, I take it down. The feeder is glass, the liquid inside becomes quite hot. Besides being a possible burn problem, the heat contributes to the nectar going bad. I change the contents every 48 hours, but I don’t trust it to stay pure when the temperatures rise.

Firecracker flowers are a perfect shape for a hummingbird’s tongue.

The inner disk florets are where the hummingbird finds the nectar on a zinnia plant. This zinnia is part of Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge/Macro.

The cardinal vine flower is trumpet-shaped, another perfect feeding blossom for the hummingbird.

Cardinal vines are climbers, they wrap their quickly growing stems around anything within reach. I usually have to cut, rather than pull, them away from their support. The vines have the strength of steel filaments before the growing season is over. The vines against the sky are part of this week’s Skywatch.

Blue Salvia is another flower that draws the hummingbirds to our garden. I know, in a few weeks, they will have their last sip of nectar in my gardens, but I am already thinking of what to plant next year to bring them back again.