CAOK Week 3
Who doesn’t like flowers in the spring? I have two favorite flowers. I love pots of red geraniums, which I have growing like weeds on my patio until the heat arrives next month. And I love hydrangeas. Check out Joelene’s here. Aren’t they lovely? These grow wild in Nicaragua. I remember seeing them roadside on my first trip to the Central American country and shouting from the back of a crowded bus, “My God! Are those hydrangeas?” The purple and indigo blooms were everywhere. The peasant woman sitting next to me couldn’t wait to get away from the crazy American, who was a bit too excited about the local flora and fauna.
No hydrangeas in Phoenix, but there are lots of other pretty palates to select from. This week’s CAOK surprise was a pot full of sweet-smelling spring color left at the front door.
These were simple to put together, but far more difficult to transport. I need to get my car to the carwash this weekend. That purple on in the center spilled over and I’ve still got fertilizer in my passenger seat, three days later. It smells lovely.
Regardless, isn’t the color fantastic? Maybe I’m so enamored because color is fleeting in the desert. These plants are not olive, nor sage, nor taupe. Nor will they poke you until you bleed if you accidentally touch them. Therefore, I am in love.
What is your favorite flower? What blooms in your area, reminding you spring is right around the corner? [For my Australian friends, this post means nada. They are hot and bothered and dying for fall. ]
~K
This whole idea of yours, CAOK, is inspiring me (as well as others, obviously). Blogging has really made me learn to enjoy giving again, and reading inspiration like this just adds to my newfound feelings about it.
Right now, my favorite is Daphne (although it will change tmr). One little sprig of it in our house and you can smell it everywhere.
In Michigan, the first flowers to come up out of the ground for the spring are tulips. They always mean the start of spring for everyone…
I love love love hydrangeas. But I think Magnolias are my most favorite!
Oh but gardenia are nice too! Oh and cherry blossoms,
ok I can’t chose!
Oh, those colors are so beautiful and the plants look so pretty in their pots w/ribbons! I have MANY favorite flowers but I guess tops would be peonies [hence the 10 lb wedding bouquet].
I like Hydrangea when it’s surrounding a seaside cottage, very Martha Stewart/Cape Cod like.
Oh, and my other favorite is a Clematis, which is actually a vine.
I also love hydrangeas. I discovered they grow all over the place in Japan when I visited last summer…I had a similar reaction to your Nicaragua experience. I also love dahlias and tulips. And magnolia trees. And freesia for their lovely scent…I just love flowers! I also think your calculated acts of kindness project is wonderful!
Those colors are so beautiful! My favorite flower is the daylily, but they aren’t blooming quite yet. I’m hoping that the daylilies that I cross pollinated a few years ago finally bloom (this is their first year in the ground). As far as signs of spring, I’d have to say the azelea down here. They’re absolutely beautiful right now.
So pretty! I’m sure the recipients were very pleased.
It’ll be a while til we have flowers, but my daffodils are starting to make their way through the soil (and snow). I love all flowers and have a very hard time picking a favorite. I have some incredible peonies that grow in the yard (and this year I WILL cage them so they won’t fall when it rains) - pinks, whites and two-tones which are just gorgeous; I always plant lots of petunias because I love them and they grow so nicely here and the fill in all the places that are empty and I get get them in lots of pretty purples & pinks; and I have the most hardy pansies in the world which are making me fall in love with them. I did not plant them and they have come up two years in a row and filled in where the petunias have not! Brilliant white and purple. I didn’t know that pansies were 1) perennials (or that they could be) and 2) so d*mn hardy!! They are the last thing to go in the fall.
Oh and I have a HUGE white hydrangea….bush that is just absolutely gorgeous mid-summer.*sigh* summer……
What a lovely thing to do - those flowers are all gorgeous! My husband and I started a monthly version of CAOK this year (minus the excellent title-well done you!), and it’s so much fun. Your posts have been a real encouragement to me - thanks!
I’m also a big fan of geraniums - can’t wait to add some to our porch! - and hydrangeas. This year, I’m going to try poppies, too…we’ll see if they can actually withstand the scorching heat of summer….
My God Kelli–your blog is looking so Martha Stewartish. Are you sure you don’t write/edit for MSL? Great photography and sooooo colorful. You go girl!