Lilies Part 2

Guess what I found when I came home for dinner yesterday.

 

The last lily bud had finally opened.  Twenty minutes later when I had to return to work it looked like this.

 

 Amazing!

Lilies

The other day I was sitting watching TV and heard something drop.  When I looked over at my flowers, I noticed the lilies were dropping off and falling to the floor.  Not just a petal or two, but the whole flower.  It was very strange.  But I figured I had them almost a week, so OK.  That's about the life span for flowers.

This morning I noticed something about the buds that were still on the lily stems.

Not all of them were tightly closed anymore.

As the day went on the buds opened more and more.

By this evening I had two new lilies.  Very cool!

 

And they smell so good too!

SPRINGTIME FLOWERS

Joe often buys me flowers.  When we went to the supermarket last week, he told me to pick out what I would like since the flowers from Valentine's Day were gone.  Here's what I got.

 It doesn't show up that well, but the carnations are light yellow.  I think they look good in my blue vase.

Yesterday I took a look at my yard.  I really have to get out there and start cleaning it up after the long winter.  I was really happy with what I saw out there.

The tulips are poking their leaves up through the ground.

 Here's the beginning of the hyacinths.  Can't wait till they bloom.

 The daffodils are the tallest.  You can see a little iris coming up too.

After the long snowy winter we've had this warms my heart.  A few more weeks and my yard will be alive with color.

FLOWERS

I promised I'd give you a picture of the tulips and irises Joe sent me at work, so here it is.

When they first came the irises were just green sticks with a little bit of purple on them and the tulips were drooping and tightly closed.  Just look at them now.

They have really opened up.  I love looking at them each day, but they are coming home with me this afternoon.  I am at the Fishtown Library tomorrow for my regular Friday rotation and then we have a three day weekend for President's Day.  I want to enjoy my flowers.  They would be dead by the time I returned on Tuesday.

Remember my one red rose?  Look how beautifully it has opened up.

I love flowers.  I can't wait until the weather warms up and I can get out in my yard and plant some!

CHRISTMAS CACTUS

I don't know what I did differently this year, but my Christmas cactus must have liked it. When I came home from my sister's house the day after Christmas there were 8 buds on the plant.



At first I thought I must be mistaken, but all of these little knobs became buds and then developed into flowers. One of them got knocked off before it fully bloomed, but the others did great.


This is the only yellow Christmas cactus I have ever seen. Mostly you see the dark pink variety. I have had those in the past. I have also had an Easter Cactus which blooms close to Easter in the spring. That was also a deep pink.



I love my Christmas cactus. I just hope I can get it to repeat its performance next year.

THE GROWTH OF A PAPERWHITE

Paperwhites are strange flowers.  You either love them or hate them.  I love them because they bloom at Christmas when everything else seems dead or dormant.  And they grow so quickly.  I could almost watch them grow throughout the day.  I got three bulbs at the farm in the fall and kept them to plant this year.  It is the first time I have done it since I've been married.  They have a very strong scent.  Joe hates the scent.  He can't wait for them to die.  Guess I won't be doing this next year.