Spring has sprung!!

At last!! And everywhere you look there are new buds sprouting out!!

Passionfruit Plant - for Steven

Here is one at a different angle Steven so you can see it is part of the stamen. I hope I am correct in assuming it was the brown form in the previous picture which you were refering to. No, it was DEFINITELY not a dumb question. Thank you for your interest. :)

Sunflowers

Sunflower "whole seed" (fruit) are sold as a snack food after roasting within heated ovens with or without salt added. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative, Sunbutter, especially in China, Russia, the United States, the Middle East and Europe.
In Germany, it is used together with rye flour to make Sonnenblumenkernbrot (literally: sunflower whole seed bread), which is quite popular in German-speaking Europe. It is also sold as food for birds and can be used directly in cooking and salads.
Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds, is used for cooking, as a carrier oil and to produce margarine as well as and biodiesel, for which it is less expensive than the olive product.
A range of sunflower varieties exist with differing fatty acid compositions; some 'high oleic' types contain a higher level of healthy monounsaturated fats in their oil than even olive oil.

Roses 3

Strolling through the nursery

It was still early so I stopped at one of my favorite nurseries only to be greeted by this drunken pair soaking up the sun. LOL!! They are about 3 foot in height and I loved the bottle sticking out from its hiding place.
There was a lovely show of pansies of every color imaginable.
I have never seen such tiny dwarf daffodils and although this is not the best picture I took, I had my finger next to it to give you some perspective.
I cannot believe that there are so many flowers around in the beginning of winter. These Camellia’s looked beautiful.
…and the cyclamen came in many different colors too.

This Azalea looks beautiful with the drops of water on it.
This is a truly beautiful bonsai and is about 18 inches in height. I did not recognize what kind of tree it was but looked like it might be something with flowers. I love the way the stem has been trained.
A late rose.
On the one side of the nursery, they have a pet shop and were selling these lovely koi. They were about 3-4 inches long….still babies.
After this I stopped to pick up something for lunch and headed home. Hope I could should show you something different today!!

Dahlias - Part 2

I am dedicating these to a very special person in my life who would have been 78 today.....my Mother.

Frangipani

They are one of the most beautiful and fragrant trees we have around I love them in the garden as they come in a wide variety of colors.

The following interesting information is courtesy of Wikipedia:

Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.
"Plumeria" species are easily propagated by taking a cutting of leafless stem tips in Spring and allowing them to dry at the base before inserting them into soil. They are also propagated via tissue culture both from cuttings of freshly elongated stems and aseptically germinated seed.
The genus, originally spelled Plumiera, is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name "Frangipani" comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume.
In Mexico, the Nahuatl (Aztec language) name for this plant is "cacalloxochitl" which means "crow flower." It was used for many medicinal purposes such as salves and ointments.
They are now common naturalised plants in southern and southeastern Asia, and in local folk beliefs provide shelter to ghosts and demons. The scent of the Plumeria has been associated with a vampire in Malay folklore, the pontianak. They are associated with temples in both Hindu and Buddhist cultures, though Hindus do not use the flowers in their temple offerings.
In several Pacific islands, such as Tahiti, Fiji, Hawaii, Tonga and the Cook Islands Plumeria is used for making leis. In modern Polynesian culture, it can be worn by women to indicate their relationship status - over the right ear if seeking a relationship, and over the left if taken.