A long awaited bloom

The other day, late in the afternoon, the little P.neli finally opened up her little bud- at least half-way. It was a lucky thing I even caught the show, as it was brief, and she closed it right up as the sun went down. That was two days ago, and I haven't seen it happen since. The bud started to open up yesterday a little, but never even made it half-way. The third picture is the current state of affairs. I suppose maybe the colder weather we have been having is keeping it closed. But even half-opened the flower was wonderful! I never expected orange at all, as the only ones I have seen pictures of were yellow and white, with maybe some pink. So orange is unexpected, but oh so beautiful!

My son started me some pansies from seed last fall, and the first of them have finally started to bloom. I've been enjoying Pansie blooms regularly from the small plants I purchased, but these are the first from the seed started plants. I fell in love with this color combination- it is the prettiest Pansie in my yard so far.




I had so many comments on my little reindeer dude so here is a picture of all of him. He stands guard in the bird area, and the passion vine tangles through him. I bought him down in Mexico and I adore him too! I think there is a better picture of him at the end of this post I made last September.

Happy Green Thumb Sunday everyone! For more wonderful GTS posts please visit "As The Garden Grows" and join in yourself!

Pansies are the perfect winter flower

Most of the plants in my desert garden are not doing much of anything. Some look pretty bleak, with frozen leaves and others though still green, are certainly not growing. However there are spots of color here and there, especially in the pots of pansies I planted early in the fall. They are amazingly hardy despite the cold and even freezing nights we have had here. The flowers freeze with icy crusts but as the sun comes out they warm right up and are as beautiful as ever. I am really loving these plants that give me so much color with so little care. While I continually lug all my potted cactus back and forth from the sunny area in the afternoon, to the protected patio area at night, the pots of pansies stay out in the open day and night and it seems they only bloom more with the cold nights. My Mom dries the blooms and makes pictures, book marks and other crafty items with them- so I've taken to drying some of the blooms in an old phone book. If I end up doing something with them I will post pictures.