-

the prior sunset

yesterday with flowering Crape Myrtle trees

and yesterdays petunia's in a light weight cement pot I made about 10 years ago. These once hybrid petunia's come back every year, last through most winters as well.

Here is a shot of my garden - its going crazy!

The zucchini and squash are developing beautiful blooms, as well as the delicate flowers on my peapods.  The cucumbers are rocketing up the wall - I am sure in a desperate attempt to get some light. I will be cutting back the zucchinni and squash - no need for it to take over the garden. There are about 20 tomatoes on the vine, with at least one larger than my fist. The basil, oregano and thyme I planted in the widow are coming along nicely.

I can't wait for all the veggies to be ready, this is so delightful. I just wish I had more space!

One of the previous owners liked to experiment with the plantings around our house.  We have a lot of onesy and twosies of a large variety of plants.  I'm always amazed at what I find.  Often I don't even realize what's planted until I see it bloom.  It's July and we have a couple of Yucca plants blooming.  I thought it was a little strange that we had Yucca in northwest Oregon until I noticed the characteristic white bell flowers in other people's yard.  It's nice to see something thriving while the grass is quickly turning from green to brown.

In our garden the blueberries are in their prime.   My husband and eldest went out and picked a couple of buckets.  I had a special request for a pie.  I ran out of white flower, so I used whole wheat.  No one seemed to notice any difference.

Inside the house the cats have completely taken over the downstairs.  When they're not sound asleep, they're into everything.  I caught them sleeping together in one of my baskets.  They were just too cute to resist.  I had to take a picture.

 Well, I have my list.  I really need to get out my sewing machine and start sewing.   I have a pair of crochet slippers started.  A few books with some wonderful patterns.  I have some beads wire-wrapped and ready to made into jewelry.  hmmm....what shall I do next?

With all that's been going on in my personal life, I've had a difficult time getting anything accomplished lately.  I did manage to finish an altered shoe project I've been working on using the flowers I created from a previous post about using scrap yarn.  I created my own blooming flower garden in a shoe.

 The center of the shoe is filled with polyfil and foam then covered with a satin fabric.  If I can find a way to make an art piece useful, I try.  The shoe can be used for a pin cushion.  Granted, a heavier fabric, like wool, probably would have been a better choice for a pin cushion covering.  I'm afraid form won over function in my altered shoe.

I decided to cover the back of the heal as well as the rest of the shoe.  I always think the look of one flower on the side of a woman's hair looked playful.  What a great charactistic for my garden.  I decided to give the heal the same sort of look.  You can see the yellow flower on one side of the heal in the photo above.

I also added a variety of buttons.  I picked out some of the cutest ones I could find.  It was great fun finding buttons to fit each bloom.

I'm not a symmetrical sort of person, so I made each side different.  So my shoe is like the sort of flower garden I like, a playful cottage garden filled with all sorts of surprises.  This is a great project for using up buttons...and scrap yarn...and your old favorite shoes.

Oh my progenitors, bear with my questions

For these have troubled my soul  for  eons ;

Your answers will not bring back my life

But these pierce me like a gardener's knife .

Remember how tender a sapling  I was ,

Eagerly rooting  for life's simple joys ?

Wasn't my morrow rosy and promising ,

And ain't I in a gentle breeze dancing ?

I was growing  happy and high

To hug and kiss my vast blue sky ;

The closer I climbed to my destiny

The quicker you brought my agony .

Why did U cruelly have me uprooted

And cause my growth to be stunted  ?

You hastily sold me to a gardener ,

Did you for a second shed a tear ?

He my beauty pinched  and pruned;

And my blooming  endlessly abused;

Wouldn't I have been safer in the wild

Instead of being  suffocated in his fold ?

After long anguish, abruptly I escape

But out of confines forgotten to cope ;

Forever I am fenced  in this stifling pot

And watered  like a family mascot .

Why've You sprayed  me ordeals of senescence

And abruptly killed  my innocent adolescence ?

Oh my progenitors, am I just a showpiece?

What price did you pay to sell my peace?

Now, all my blue sky's nourishing  rain

Try to revitalise and regrow me in vain.

My life is  just a miniature ,

This fate's cruel signature.

The baby fuchsias are doing well also. I planted some tip cuttings in March when I pruned the big fuchsia, and they are both about a foot long and branching. I wonder if they will flower this year? I will probably pinch them if it does, so the baby plants can concentrate on leaves and roots for now.

The Lena Dalton is starting to open a boatload of blooms now. It had a number of buds when I got it, dropped none after transplanting to the hanging pot, looked kind of flowerless after all the initial blooms faded away and then I could see it was setting many dozens of buds. It should be spectacular in a few days when most of them are open at once!! This is my favorite cultivar. My first fuchsia was a Lena Dalton, almost 10 years ago. I accidently killed it that summer because I didn't know how to nurse it through the hot season. Had the pot label stuck to my desk so long that I memorized the name; in fact, the label is still stuck there, with the writing long rubbed off. The generic pinkpurple fuchsia did well even through the last two Santa Ana seasons, so I started looking for Lena this year. Lowe's obliged, and here she is.

I have been trying to think of watering options just in case I ever get to go on some kind of vacation. Potted plants dry out so fast, and if it is hot, I don't think a lot of my babies would survive a weekend without attention. Traditional automatic waterers are out, because I do not have a spigot up here and I do not think the landlord would be impressed if I ran a PVC line up the stairs from the spigot below. Have toyed with the idea of some sort of container to gravity-feed a system with a timer. That sounds crazy, but even in hot weather I seem to get away with two gallons a day between all the plants. Even twenty gallons of water isn't that much, if you think about the size of a 20-gal fish tank, so maybe that could work.

Have also considered making my own version of Aqua Globes with plastic bottles. The little one I put in the basil plant had two holes in the lid and (not surprisingly) emptied out twice as fast as the Sweet Marjoram's bottle with one hole. If I can get this to work with cheap bottles and sufficient water to keep the plants moist for whatever time I might be gone, this will be the way to go.

Still have one lemon balm blooming and two that refuse to do so... which suits me just fine. Most of the herbs are blooming right now, actually. Even the peppermint plant has fuzzy things that must be flowers.

And the calibrachoa are all doing fine, finally. I had issues with calis dying, including one that was doing well in a small pot and then it just up and croaked for no reason. Have never figured these plants out. I know they do not like wet feet, and they will crisp if left too dry, but other than that they act like a coworker described: "They do very well... until they don't."

The new Moss Roses are looking fabulous and have filled out a lot in just three weeks. I questioned putting them with lobelia, because the water needs seemed to be so different, but they all seem to be thriving. I am so happy with the large boxes right now, as the moss roses are prolific bloomers and the bright colors look so pretty with the purple and cobalt lobelia.

The pine tree just shot up another six inches of height that is now unfolding into needles. It obviously appreciated its new pot, the second time I have had to transplant it since we got it for Christmas 2006. It has at least doubled in height since then.

And to close the Plant News Report for the time being, the aloe plant is looking great in its new pot. I thought it was a goner, and then found it had roots wrapped five times around the inside of the the outer pot! I carefully cut off the platic inner pot, teased the roots out a bit, added a little cactus mix and a big new pot, and voila... happy aloe. No more stinking and melting. Glad I did well by the spiky little thing, it's already making new spears and getting bigger.

I love this little wildflower and it’s blooming all over in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia right now…

© 2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved.

NOTE: Permission for the use of my images is granted for personal websites and blogs but is to include a link back to this site and proper credit given to me, D L Ennis. Link to be used...(Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/)

NOTE: Commercial use, and the creation of prints, must be purchased! For more information you can contact me here.

WOODLAND, CA - Having to make due with less water, California farmers are reassessing their planting of tomatoes, cotton, corn and other water-intensive crops.

A popular replacement this year — safflower. The thistlelike plant is perfectly suited for the state's Mediterranean climate and does not require much water.

It can send a tap root 8 to 10 feet into the soil, sucking up water and nutrients that are out of reach of other annual crops. The plants are blooming across California's Central Valley, pushing out bright, yellow and orange flowers packed with dozens of seeds that will be turned into salad and cooking oil.

Two events have conspired to bring less water to farmers this year — a light winter snowpack in the Sierra Nevada and court rulings that have ordered more water into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to help declining fish populations.

Many farmers — turning away from alfalfa, sugar beets and other crops that require a lot of water — are planting safflower instead.

''It's a good choice in a dry year,'' said Steve Kaffka, an agronomist with the University of California at Davis. ''Here, we have the ideal climate for it.''

Acreage planted in safflower has doubled in California to about 100,000 acres this year, said Benny Nearn, general manager of Woodland-based SeedTec.

SeedTec, a division of California Oils Corp., is the main producer of safflower seeds and much of the processed oil. The company planted 25,000 acres this year, up from 10,000 last year.

Safflower is grown almost exclusively in the Central Valley because coastal areas are too moist, making the plants' roots susceptible to rot.

''What safflower is able to do very well is go into the soil and get the water that's there,'' said SeedTec research director Arthur Weisker.

About a third of the crop is grown in the Sacramento Valley, with the rest cultivated in the more arid San Joaquin Valley, Nearn said. Safflower's salt tolerance makes it even more attractive in some San Joaquin soils that are difficult for other crops.

Newly planted safflower generally needs a single early watering from spring rains or irrigation. Then its tap roots dig deep to reach water and fertilizer left over from the previous year's planting season.

California produced 55 percent of the nation's safflower last year. The California crop was valued at nearly $23 million, more than four times as much as much as Montana, the next largest producer, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Safflower also is grown in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, and North and South Dakota, although much of that crop is used as bird seed.

The safflower grown in California produces a vegetable oil that serves as an alternative to corn, sunflower, olive, canola or soybean oil.

''It's a great crop generally, because it's a very high quality oil, similar in almost every respect to olive oil,'' Kaffka said.

High demand for corn, used for animal feed and ethanol, has driven up prices for the crops that produce most oils. Safflower that was selling for $250 a ton last year is now going for $450 a ton or more, a record.

By Associated Press
DON THOMPSON

What a perfect idea! Kate Aspen created these adorable baby shower favors that are the PERFECT gift for your guests. The theme is "Baby is Blooming" and each guest gets to plant their seeds and watch them bloom into beautiful wildflowers! Each favor is hand made and comes in pink, blue and yellow. They all come with envelopes too! You can label each one with guests' names or include personal messages.. it's up to you! It's your shower! Check them out below!

I found out that www.bellacroft.com offers free shipping on purchases over $25. You can use coupon code: SHIPFREE

Baby Aspen Bloomin Bear, Baby is Blooming, Sets of 12

These grew right next to my stairs outisde. The stems are like 4 feet tall and there are about a dozen flowers per stems. There are pink ones, purple, red... They are pretty but not supposed to grow there. They first look like weeds then these beautiful flowers bloom. I wish I knew what they were!

and

and

and

and a Chinaberry Shade.

On the way to work this Solstice morning, I claimed this blossom as my first rose of summer. This pink beauty is blooming in a back alley amidst "thorns" of debris, dirt, and the noise and rush of traffic (garbage trucks, taxis, commuters late for work). Perhaps we need and appreciate it more in this setting than a carefully tended garden so its sweet scent and lovely face can delight the senses and calm the busy, fretful mind.

Now here's a true solstice garden for you to enjoy: Summer Solstice – from the heart, from the earth. It's worth clicking on the link to visit this award-winning garden. Here's an excerpt from the page's text. I'm going to quote some these words when asked why I garden:

I conceived this garden as a living illustration of our philosophy that farming, and growing plants, leads to a richer, more fulfilling life. Cultivation of the soil puts us in touch with nature, and through nature, I think we achieve a sense of spiritual connection, too. A gardener who grows what he eats has a feeling of belonging, which is precious and irreplaceable. Being in harmony with the seasons, and respecting the soil itself, brings meaning to our alienating modern world. I hope our garden will inspire people – and especially children – to discover the feel of pushing a seed into the soil; the excitement of that first tiny green shoot; the wonderful taste of something just picked from the earth. It’s our chance to re-establish our connection with the rhythms of nature; to grow, and give thanks for, our daily bread.

Summer Solstice marks the first day of summer. It is also the longest day of the year. It is the time of year when the soil and nature work in harmony to produce an abundance of crops, fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

-Carole Bamford, founder Daylesford Organic

We have guests showing up today.  Since I'm trying to keep the house clean, I thought I would go outside to see what's blooming and fruiting.  I thought I would start by checking out the roses.  I have roses that bloom all spring and summer, but I could only find pretty blooms on one rose bush right now.

The fruit on the apple trees are well set. 

I'm always surprised at how well figs do in our area.  To me they look almost tropical with their large heavy leaves.  I love them.  I love the big fat leaves and the fruit.

Our kiwis are blooming or just about to bloom.  The picture above is a male plant.  The female is about to burst, but hasn't yet.  I'm hoping the bees come back when both the male and female are in bloom.  The flowers on the plant are gorgeous.  I took lots of photos.  I liked this one because the bee is flying.

We have daisies all over the place this time of year.  We mow down the ones in the grass.  These guys are growing through the fence keeping them safe from the mower and weed whacker.

Blackberries grow wild here.  The wild ones are a bane to most gardeners.  We do have cultivated blackberries, loganberries and marion berries.  The photo is from one of our cultivated berry bushes

Foxglove grows wild here.  We have several foxglove flowers in the yard right now.

I hope you enjoyed a sampling of some of the flowers and fruits in our garden.  

Have a great weekend!

Sigh, sigh and sniff. Three of my audible, if not quite verbal, responses today. The first sigh, this morning, was one of dismay: another unseasonably chilly, gray June day. The second sigh, this afternoon, was one of contentment: the sweet peas on my balcony are starting to bloom. And the sniff -- well that's me this evening, inhaling the delicate scent of the blossoms in a vase on my computer desk.

Here are sweet peas, on tiptoe for a flight:
With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things,
To bind them all about with tiny rings

from I stood tip-toe upon a little hill by John Keats (1795–1821)

BLOOMING. That's the only word that could express my feeling now. I myself don't really understand what is it that I'm feeling at this moment, but one thing for sure is I will smile whenever that particular person comes across my mind. It has been so long since I last felt this kinda feeling, coz it's like a feeling that I've forgotten how it felt like. Maybe, this is a feeling of falling in love. I knew it coz I used to fall in love before this, but this time, the feeling is really weird. How could I feel a kind of deep connection with someone that I just call a friend, and I regard as a best friend. But I believe in miracle, it does happen. But this time, I'm gonna be more careful, coz I just don't wanna repeat my previous mistakes, AGAIN. But, deep in my heart, I hope, dis time it's gonna work, and I wish that, this particular person will be the last one in my life. And at the moment, it's undeniable that I could think of no one else but him. :) Do you feel the same as I do, Mr. I...? :p I thought the day will always be dark, but you simply came and shone the sanshine ! Here is a song, just for you,

Ku jadikan lagu
Walau tidak seindah
Bisik kata yang kau beri

 Tetap dalam hati
Siang malam menanti
Tak jemu aku dibuai kerinduan

Belum pernah ada getaran sebegini
Memang benar aku dilanda cinta kepadamu

Bercahaya hidupku dalam taman cinta
Sehingga segalanya seperti pelangi
Kau sambutlah rinduku jangan lepas lagi
Ku patri setia seteguh kasihmu buatku

Kini kutemui insan ku sayangi
Sentiasa disisi bagai bintang yang berseri

Satu jawapan engkau berikan
Bisa ku rasa segala rahsia asmara
Kau pesona cinta yang membawa bahagia

Crystal clear, super shiny resin adds great depth and a beatuiful reflection to the Japanese Yuzen chiyogami.

Featuring bright blue and vibrant colors this flower stands out in full bloom surrounded by leaves of green. Pink squares with gold glimmer provide the backdrop.

The flower comes with your choice of a 22" leather cord or ball chain which can easily be cut to size. Please indicate preferences with payment.

Thank you,

~Amanda

or two or three...

These red flowers are hollyhocks. They are a wildflower here since I planted them. More come up every year, just need some water. Some are a foot tall and flowering, some 9 feet tall. Keep watering them and they tend to keep flowering. They flower here usually at second year.

Privet tree flowering.

 

What a weekend and week ahead New York City’s natural world and its stewards offers you! We have a barrel of FREE events, and a couple of cheap ones (as you know, paid events are the great exception on WildWire) that support green allies and cover basic costs.

Highlights include the Tour de Queens, a dog walk through Forest Park, Rocking the Boat’s big party and rowing day, kayaking in Red Hook, planting a “Pizza Garden,” birding and looking for horseshoe crabs. There’s so much more, and here are some choice options.

(And please forgive some compression. Wordpress seems to freak out over longer posts.)

FRIDAY, JUNE 6

GARDENING, MANHATTAN, 3PM-8PM

It takes a special kind of genius to create a “Pizza Garden.” What better way to excite kids about going/growing green than to plant things that are great pizza toppings and seasonings? Genius, genius… Be part of the fun, along with the always-celebratory Time’s Up! eco-urban crew, by heading over between 3PM and 8PM (so feel free to rush over right after work) to the Children’s Magical Garden at the corner of Norfolk and Stanton Street on the Lower East Side. Earn your place at the Pizza Garden Harvest Party, coming this fall! Also, please consider making a donation to help install a fish pond and solar-powered waterfall (to reduce mosquito larvae), buy tools and soil. For more information please email Ellen at xupgardening@gmail.com

BIKING, MANHATTAN, 10PM-Midnight

Stick with the Time’s Up! crew and roll up to Central Park for a moonlight ride! Meet at Columbus Circle (SW entrance of Central Park) for laughter, exercise, and communion with the sights and sounds of green spaces when they’re sunken into night’s blackness. 

 SATURDAY, JUNE 7

PADDLING, BROOKLYN, 10AM-5PM

Splash with the Red Hook Boaters at Valentino Park from 10AM through 5PM on Saturday, and while you’re their, take in the Waterfront Arts Festival with Portside New York.

A fun bonus is that if you arrive by kayak, there will be a free “valet” service to safeguard your boat while you enjoy the arts, foods, crafts, and performances!

I checked the tides. If you’re paddling from the north, buck a weak flood tide current after lunch and make arrangements to depart a couple of hours after the festival is over. My solution to this is to bring a dinner to Valentino Park (some might chance it on fishing?) so that you can watch your boat while enjoying yourself. Southerners have an easier time, launching at 8AM or so and starting the return trip after an early lunch.

 IDENTIFICATION DAY, MANHATTAN, 1230PM-330PM

“Is that a man in there…or something?”

Ah, the big question at the center of John Carpenter’s science fiction/horror film remake, “The Thing.” If only the snowbound protagonists in Antarctica had the American Museum of Natural History nearby!

Bring your weird natural finds (bones, feathers, bugs, rocks, shells…and who knows?) to the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Museum experts there will tackle the mysteries before us.

While you’re at it, check out the rest of the museum, of course. Especially the new horse exhibition! 

ROWING, BRONX

Come join Rocking the Boat’s end-of-semester celebration! See the pride as kids launch a new hand-crafted rowboat, and enjoy some time on the Bronx River’s thriving waters too! Last time I was there, I spotted egrets, an glossy ibis, swans, and other estuarine birds. More information at Rocking the Boat’s website.

CANOEING, BRONX

Paddle from the “Border to the Mouth” with the Bronx River Alliance! If you missed the Amazing Bronx River Flotilla, don’t fret and live in regret, see an egret! Register right away at http://bordertomouth60708.eventbrite.com/

BIRDING, BROOKLYN, 8AM-10AM

Learn the basics of birding (Lesson One: Get up early) with the Urban Park Rangers in one of our lesser-known jewels, the Salt Marsh Nature Center in Marine Park (East 33^rd Street and Ave. U). Call 718-421-2021 for more information.

KAYAKING, MANHATTAN, 10AM-5PM

Try out kayaking with 20-minute introductory paddles (running between 10AM and 5PM) on the Hudson River south of 72^nd Street. Please dress for getting wet and know how to swim. Call the Downtown Boathouse for weather updates at 646-613-0740 and further information at 212-408-0219.

HIKING TRAIL VOLUNTEERISM, QUEENS, 9AM-1PM

If you love to hike, make that love meaningful by helping maintain local areas as part of National Trails Day. Alley Pond Park is a fantastic NYC resource and your work, side-by-side with the NY/NJ Trail Conference team, with increase the pleasure of it for yourself and others. You’ll focus on the trails near the Adventure Course, so meet at the entrance off the Grand Central Parkway and Winchester Boulevard, opposite the sanitation depot. Call 718-352-4793 for more information and mass transit tips.

HIKING TRAIL VOLUNTEERISM, STATEN ISLAND, 9AM-1PM

Or help out on some of the 35-miles of trail in the Greenbelt on Staten Island! Your hands will get dirty, and you’ll feel great about it. You’ll be provided with tools, gloves, and refreshments. Call 718-667-2165 for more information.

Or at 10AM…

Another great Staten Island location to help out with its trails is Blue Heron Park Preserve. Meet at 222 Poillon Avenue between Amboy Road & Hylan Boulevard. For more information call 718-967-3542.

BIRDING, BRONX 9AM-11AM

Grab your binoculars and start spotting birds you never thought you’d see in NYC! For many of you, this will mean a trip to North America (how exotic!), which in NYC parlance is the Bronx mainland. This monthly gathering at Van Cortlandt Park is a terrific way to start your Saturday. Enter the park at West 246^th Street and Broadway. Call 718-548-0912 for more information.

And while you’re in the Bronx, why not bike straight across to…

HIKING TRAIL VOLUNTEERISM, BRONX, 1PM-4PM

Another National Trails Day site is Riverdale Park, and the Wave Hill folks are working hard to enhance the already great trails there. Join them as a fellow steward and reap the green karma! Meet at the Spaulding Lane parking lot at 675 West 252 Street. For more information, call 718-549-3200.

HIKING, MANHATTAN, 9AM-Noon

Celebrate the High Bridge and the upper Manhattan heights with a hike covering this surprising section of Manhattan, with old growth forests, old lore, and tranquil spots. An artist from Kids Art Network will lead a creative activity at Riverside-Inwood Neighborhood Garden (RING), and hikers will get t-shirts, water, and snacks. Meet at RING (1835 Riverside Drive, where Riverside Drive, Dyckman Avenue, Broadway, and Seaman Avenue meet). For more information call 212-567-8272.

WALK, MANHATTAN, 1PM-3PM

Stroll with the Central Park Conservancy and rediscover a place both familiar and novel. Do you know where to find a hidden bench that tells time? Or a sculpture that celebrates fresh water? Well, neither do I, and I’m a native. Get in the know by meeting inside the park at Fifth Ave. and East 72^nd Street, in front of the Samuel Morse statue.

Or, how about a twofer at Conference House, one of New York City’s secret haunts?

INVASIVE PLANT WALK AND WEED, STATEN ISLAND, 2PM-4PM and…

HORSESHOW CRAB WALK, 7PM-9PM

Conference House Park is at the deepest point of the Deep South of New York, and where Benjamin Franklin and John met with the British for one last chance for peace. The forces of Black Dick would invade the harbor (that being the nickname for Admiral Richard Howe, peace envoy and navy commander, so stop laughing) not long after. It stands today as the last pre-revolutionary manor house remaining in New York City.

After taking a quiet Staten Island Railroad ride or a bike ride through green and blue, grab a great lunch in quaint and charming Tottenville. Then stroll 15 minutes or ride over to Conference House Park. That’s where Hylan Boulevard meets Satterlee Street

STOP THE INVASION! No, not the British. Aggressive, non-native plants threaten the beauty and ecological health of our green spaces. Volunteers are yanking them out under the guidance of park staff. Personally, I suggest that they bring Wildman Steve Brill down to encourage people to eat the vanquished weeds – make a fun feast after the battle! Wear sturdy shoes and sunblock. To RSVP for this rain-or-shine event, or for any questions (such as bus and car pooling directions), please call Cheri Brunault at 718-390-8021, or email cheri.brunault@parks.nyc.gov.

I rolled out of bed

A touch of rouge

Like blooming

I am blooming into poems

Dedicated to a lover.

Not ordinary ones

Like hooker green cargoes

But like something in between

Holding a hand

And a hot cup of coffee that burns

When you kiss it

Blooming slowly into something sweeter

Something that hums a little,

Dances a lot,

And bares a little skin

That says Yes

To a little smile

Unfurling in delicate layers

Always blooming.

What are you like today?

What makes you bloom?

Some new stuffs just arrived and they are in my shop (www.mykonos.etsy.com) now!!  Pop in to have a look!!  They are fabulous and I just love the ledger ovals!!

Larkspurs!

and a hollyhock group with tombstone rose (lady banks rose) behind it.

and a mixed flower party

and red yucca flowers over golden barrel cactus, surrounded by verbena