my spicy ginger garden

Alpinia zerumbet -shell ginger

Kmeapferia Roscoeana -peacock ginger

Shampoo Ginger

Globba schomburgkii 'Yellow Dancing Lady

Dichorisandra thyrsiflora - Blue Ginger

                It is not a true ginger

Costus Barbatus- Spiral Ginger

The Spices of Life

One blames the flame of misfortune
that incises life to a concise spot,
while fortune smiles slitting through clouds
oft goes undetected for ignorance.

Abundance jeopardizes sharpness
of mind, sensibility dies with time;
simplicity is evergreen
yet abandoned for the rising opulence
and materialistic views
killing all muses and sparkles of life.

Instances lying in numbers 

where we react with ill fated facts -
If an earthquake or tsunami
hits and hurts life on earth,
is treated as curse,
but how many rainbows in the sky
are acknowledged as a matter of grace?

Clouds gather and rains do shower,
plants grow green yielding flowers of colors,
each kernel of the fruits consumed -
provisions are made enough for life on earth.
So may strife be seen as a thorny path to
roses' sweetness for those who can taste.

Let there be no anguish -
no angst within
for the calamities of life on terrain.
Destiny is never foreseen
yet forcing us to a predestined lane -
strive against all strife else you miss
the spices of life - willful gift of God. 
Gautam Sen

Kahili Ginger

Apricot Butterfly Ginger

they all are

Hedychium coronariums -Butterfly Gingers

and have a mild sweet frangrance.

my sunshine...le o'range

Mexican Sunflower!

"Tithonia"

Sunflowers today, Sunflowers Tomorrow

Sunflowers today!

Mammoth sunflowers, a field full-blown.

Such blossoms, such heights, no sunflower's known.

.And their radiant joy will not be outdone

When all facing east they welcome the Sun

And that striking family likeness in face! 

Soon they will fly to their mother's embrace.

Ah, mammoth sunflowers! The Ah says it all, 

From these late summer days to the first of the fall.

A nursery of suns in these golden hours.

A fairy-tale cosmos of sunflowers.

Sunflowers today.

Sunflowers tomorrow.

.The greater the joy on the way

The greater the sorrow.

Sunflowers tomorrow:

Inconsolable, grief-stricken mourners

Who've crowded the field from all corners, 

Their faces dark and heavy with grieving, 

They gaze at their roots, disbelieving.

But children of the Earth, every one, 

And never any nearer to her rays

Than where the lowly pond lily lays.

A desolate rustling is all that one hears.

Soon their seeds will be falling like tears.

Sunflowers today.

Sunflowers tomorrow.

The greater the joy on the way

 The greater the sorrow. 

Montbretia -Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora

Francis Stella

the gardens of Cape May- July 2012

my oil painting

 

 

Cape May

Take my hand, walk with me.
Listen to the wetlands and the sea.
A sandy cove full of wild life and flora.

A painted turtle does a flip to show his coat,
A pair of swans glide gracefully upon the moat.
The foliage is full of honeysuckles.

The lighthouse is nearby staring down upon our path.
A small rabbit makes a dash up ahead makes us laugh.
We head for the beach pick up shells along the way.

Just another day with my sweethearts, in Cape May.

Saint Eule

 white Swamp Mallow

Below is the Emlen Physick Estate which we toured...

These are not my houses,Im just visiting......I was a big fan of the Victorian era....my house is a new Victorian...simplified version ..These houses are virtually blocks from the beach and the breezes  here are wonderful.

This beautiful ironwork must have cost a fortune!

A vase an make New Guinea Impatiens pop!

fading hydrangeas still look great!

here is an example of good garden design where you have various color and texture and forms in the foliage.

I like the fact that this gazebo is painted green rather than white...what a difference!

What a stunning Japanese Maple and great contrast to the whites and greens

the music of the night

Darkness wakes, and stirs imagination
Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender
Softly, deftly, darkness shall caress you
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you
Open up your mind 
Let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night
Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation
Let the dream begin
Let your darker side give in
The power of the music of the night

Charles Hart

anticipation!

In the cool dark damp stillness and the only sound the crickets and frogs.... the flowers await pollination and call with a lovely perfume

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night ~~~~~Rainer Maria Rilke

easy breezy airplants

la femme paresseuse du jardin

  

In this first shot you can see my amazing success with the Spanish variety of moss...heehee.

I  used driftwood as a base for some small bromiliads 

Lazy women and men love airplants.....especially with blackspot on roses and waterlogged orchids!

 

I  just made this Tailansia tree and I hope it will fill out!

\\

thanks to rain...June is busting out all over

Hydrangea macrophylla "Taube" lace-cap

If you are into razors ,you'll love these....Billbergia 'Breauteana'

Blood lily

The big picture

These new cultivars are as large as a luncheon plate

These orchids are the first ones I've ever had that had an amazing perfume.Now, to keep her alive!
Her name is  Brassavola

 

Wisteria Woman

by Lisa Shields Violet lavender drug slipping beneath my skin, shucking off the stale air of too long shut in, too long shut away whispering to me to breathe deep and be. The clothes fall away till I stand like mother Eve two bites before the apple. Lips blush to rose, and the tongue tastes of sweet tart pomegranate, while a wisp of wind carries hair to frame my face. All I have been is pollen dusted, oh the wisteria sweet kissing deep, till I feel the promise of fertile, drooping fat on a vine petals that promise nothing, but hint at all. A month from honeysuckle still to come, but I can taste the nights, raise my eyes to the mantle of sky, suddenly clad in the skin of every moonlit woman, and beckoning with my being for you to dance beneath the far flung sky in the arms of a Wisteria Woman