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Bloomed Incorrectly?

| Flower Roberts

Last month I posted photos of an Amaryllis blooming.

I expected it to be a peach color. I have many reds and whites.

I wrote to the supplier and told them that the bulb I ordered,

Amaryllis Exotica, had turned out to be a double red/white.

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Their emailed reply stated that they were sorry

that the bulb BLOOMED INCORRECTLY and that they would ship another.

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I just received an email that a new bulb was being shipped at no cost to me.

Now folks, really?

Why not admit that a person packed and shipped the wrong bulb?

Why blame the poor bulb?

What is this world coming to, when we blame a plant instead of a person?

Let’s admit that a mistake was made.

I will let you know if the new bulb BLOOMS CORRECTLY in a few months.

FLOWER

 

 

Pseudo Spring

| Flower Roberts

Don’t get me wrong northern friends,

I am enjoying these days of 70 and even 80 degrees here in North Carolina.

My bunnies are very happy to get out in their yard almost every day.

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Barley
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Charlotte

But I am a biologist and a plant mama.

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Fritillaria

I have been keeping garden journals of this same garden since 1996.

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It’s too early for all the growth I am seeing.

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Maple blossoms

I fear a freeze will kill much of this growth back.

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Hydrangea

Some plants have “back-up buds”, but many don’t.

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Peony

I am glad that I brought in more plants than usual this year.

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Clematis

I always fear a hard winter.

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Scilla

How ironic that I have saved these stowaways from a pseudo spring instead.

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Tete a Tete

FLOWER

Mona Lavender

| Flower Roberts

My dear Plectranthus friend seems to be mealy-bug free after the musical cleansing.

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All the attention lead to a growth spurt, then a potting up and a pruning.  Now it is almost as tall as the Exotica Amaryllis.

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I love purple. Not only are its tiny blooms lavender and purple,

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but the leaves have a dark purple underside.

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This plant has spent the winter indoors by a sunny window.

It is a Zone 10 from South Africa. I am in Zone 7.

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FLOWER

 

| Flower Roberts

By the time he returned home that night from his job at a healthcare company, he had resolved to flee Syria. He talked it over with his wife, informed his mother, and then reached out online to an underground group known for smuggling Syrians into Jordan. Again he was fortunate: the smugglers had space in […]

via An Abrupt Leave – Syrian Refugee Crisis — Yert’s Corner

| Flower Roberts

“This was not quickly snapping a photo of a stranger on the street; it was gaining access to people’s most intimate spaces.” At Leica Camera Blog, Andrew Reed Weller captures the homes and lives of Syrian refugees in Turkey.

via A Look Inside Syrian Refugee Homes — Discover

Hearing Voices

| Flower Roberts

Are you talking too loudly to hear the voices of others?

Are you yelling so that others quit talking to you and around you?

Are your own opinions monopolizing your airwaves and brainwaves?

Be still.   Be silent.  Listen.

You will hear millions of voices.

Their words may be a different language , a different dialect or with a different accent.

Some are whispering, some are pleading and some are crying.

They may be different from yours.  You may not understand them.

Still listen.

They are your brothers and sisters.

They matter, too.

It’s not all about you.

 

FLOWER

 

 

Following the Sun

| Flower Roberts

Sunflowers follow the sun with their faces.

Keeping their flowers tilted up makes their faces brighter and warmer.

A bright, cozy flower attracts more bees and encourages them to stay longer.

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Sunflower and friends

More lingering means more pollination.

More pollen makes more seeds,

Which is the whole point of a flower.

The energy from the sun so far away,

in the form of light and heat,

helps both the bees and the flowers

in getting and giving pollen.

The sun gives life.

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FLOWER