Flower Friday: Mandevilla Sanderi

The Mandevilla Sanderi, new to me this summer, grows in a variety of colors. My step-daughter has a lovely white one on her front steps. I discovered the pink ones at the Book Loft in Columbus. Also called Brazilian jasmine, this vining plant adds a fun flair to summer flowers. 

Flower Friday: Love-in-a-mist

I was introduced to Love-in-a-mist by a dear friend. This gorgeous flower belongs to the buttercup family. Once you sow the seed in spring, expect these beauties to bloom and produce seed pods for the next year. They'd be a lovely addition to a cottage garden.

Flower Friday: Hibiscus

My daughter, her children and I wandered through Smale Park in Cincinnati. 

The park's landscape overflows with flowers. 

On our trek, I noticed some gorgeous hibiscus in an array of vibrant colors. 

Flower Friday: Impatiens

I snapped a photo of this gorgeous impatiens bloom in my neighbor's garden. Drawn to the gorgeous shade of pink, I admired the simple flower's beauty. Impatiens come in a rainbow of colors: pink, red, white, violet, coral and purple. Even though the plants do reseed, most folks plant them annually from nursery grown plants.  

Joy in the Garden

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.

Flowers bring me joy. If you've checked out my Flower Friday posts, you know botanicals have played a part in my life since childhood. From the flower garden my mom nurtured to the row of irises (we called them flags) my dad planted, I've always enjoyed flowers. The whole process from sowing the seed or placing the baby plant in the ground to the photosynthesis in the leaves is nothing short of amazing.

My granddaughter Dilly and I planted zinnias, snapdragons, geraniums and a few other flowers in my tiny flower bed in May. As I walked by them this hot August morning I noticed how they had spread, like they lifted their arms toward the sun and stretched. The beautiful array of colors fills me with joy.

Jesus calls us to be a joyful people. Not just happy but filled with joy. In sadness, disappointment, distress, or frustration the joy of knowing my Savior loves me fills my heart with hope. Each time I look at the flowers in my little garden, I'm reminded of the everlasting joy of life with God.

At camp and vacation Bible school we sang a song:

I have the joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart.
I have the joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where?
Down in my heart to stay.
-George W. Cooke (Public Domain)

As simple as the words are, they speak volumes. That joy that is a product of loving Jesus is in my heart to stay.

Do you know the joy Jesus gives?

Flower Friday: Coneflower

The purple coneflower stands guard over the garden. A member of the echinacea family, "The genus name, Echinacea, comes from the Greek word ‘chinos,’ meaning hedgehog." The center of the flower stands out like a prickly little hedgehog.
Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love the coneflower.
They're easy to grow and add lovely color to the garden.

Grant, Bonnie. “History Of Purple Coneflowers.” Gardening Know How, 5 May 2018, blog.gardeningknowhow.com/tbt/history-of-purple-coneflowers/.

Flower Friday: Hydrangea

The hydrangea bush produces gorgeous blooms in clumps of tiny flowers to create a pom-pom like bouquet. The ones we saw in Maine had huge clusters of almost cloud-like blue blossoms. Did you know hydrangea bloom in pink, blue, white, and purple. 

According to the FTD blog the different colors represent these symbols:

• Pink hydrangeas symbolize heartfelt emotion.
• Blue hydrangeas symbolize frigidity and apology.
• White hydrangeas symbolize boasting or bragging.
• Purple hydrangeas symbolize a desire to deeply understand someone.

Flower Friday: Hollyhock

When I was a little girl, my mom showed me how to refashion the beautiful flowers into dolls who sashayed in the garden. They wore their bright colored blooms as skirts. 

Hollyhocks can grow as tall as ten feet high. 

With their pops of color, they're a lovely addition to any flower garden. 

Pink Hollyhock

Flower Friday: Magic Lily

The delicate pink blossoms stand tall on slender stems. I'd didn't encounter the magic lily until I was in my twenties. A little lady, who lived up the road, told me they were called naked ladies because the leaves had come and gone in the spring. 

These beauties are also referred to as surprise lilies or resurrection lilies. 

These gorgeous flowers bloom in my favorite shade of pink.

Flower Friday: Zinnia

Zinnias bring me joy. 

I fell in love with the colorful heads that sway in the breeze, when I was a child. 

These jewels grace my flower garden. Their bright shades of beauty speak summer!

Flower Friday: Queen Anne's Lace

When I was child, the ditches along my parent's home were filled with Queen Anne's Lace. I was sure these were the flowers the fairies grew. 

Their lacy, delicate heads swayed in the hot summer breeze. 

According to legend these beauties are named after Queen Anne, who sewed her own lace. The tiny purple-red dot in the center is said to represent a drop of her blood when she pricked her finger.

Queen Anne's Lace

“Queen Anne's LaceDaucus Carota.” EdibleWildFood, www.ediblewildfood.com/queen-annes-lace.aspx.

Flower Friday: Black-eyed Susans

Every summer for as long as I can remember, Black-eyed Susans bloomed on my birthday. Seeing the beautiful sunshine-filled flowers reminds me how much God loves me. These lovely posies bloom in gardens and meadows. I remember seeing them in the fields and ditches and feeling blessed to have such lovely birthday bouquets.