Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


Leave a comment

Marvelous Monday Moonflowers

D4D0DE17-227D-496A-953F-22036DF7CCF1

Thanks to seeds from a friend (Hi, friend!), magic unfolded in my night garden last night!

7C5E4FAC-D39D-4A9E-969B-65862A279398

Moonflower seeds. I will admit I was accepting defeat at the beginning of the growth cycle. Never have I seen a plant grow SO SLLOOWWWW. Chances of actual blooms appeared nonexistent. Then came the heat. The smoke. The long summer days.

88AB875C-A414-4947-B963-BFC69ABB24CC

And poof! Cigar-shaped flower pods grew amidst the large leaves. BTW, the stems are out-of-this-world interesting to look at and touch. Once the flowers began to poke from the covering, they transformed into green taquitos.

1E3D42EC-A712-4713-A9CE-5271787BE339

Then came lavender-edged swirls.

E22A7D1E-8EDD-45E7-B63B-0079C7EE1286

which burst open into extravagant balloons!

F49B6B9B-0634-4C7A-A9FB-3ACF3C7892AF

Old-fashioned rose fragrance, glow-in-the-dark coloring, large, inviting. I wanted to stay awake all night to see which nocturnal pollinators took the bait and visited the deep blossoms.

8B71829D-AD9F-411E-9907-A35EAA9CB1F8

Marvelous Monday indeed. What wonderful flowers inspire you? Do you know of any other night flowers? I hear moonflowers are perennials plus they offer abundant seeds. Moonflowers, anyone?

30B543F7-2D79-4A45-AD86-8A2ED853A549


Leave a comment

Happy Hump Day ~ Haiku Challenge

IMG_0127

How does Hump Day come around so quickly?  The older I get, the faster time flies! Here is my Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge. I’d love to read yours!

 

weed?

opportunistic,

sink roots deep ever you land;

weed, no! flower.

 

Bloom where you are planted.

 

 


Leave a comment

Pinksickle

IMG_3578

photos and poem by angie quantrell

 

orange plus pink

sweet hues of sunset

and dessert

taste yummy to my eyes

and gift me

a smile

 

IMG_3560


6 Comments

From Snow to Pansies

IMG_3520

It has ever been such a long, cold, snow-bound winter for us. The first season of surprises in our RV.

Not sticker or culture, but rather seasonal challenges and lack-of-space shock.

Today dawned with swirling and dancing fog. Thick mists block sun rays, and though the weather “suggestions” report zero chance of rain, my eyes tell me the overhead clouds and heaviness may disagree.

Yet spring is here. We have moved from this:

IMG_3216

to this:

IMG_3518

Cheerful pansies rest and smile in rain dampened glory.

Content.


Leave a comment

The Lily ~ Haiku

Lily from my garden

fireworks of flora

speckled bursts of joy

fireworks cool to my touch

enchanting lily

by Angie Quantrell


Leave a comment

National Garden Week – 2nd Week in April

You have no idea how happy I am to see this many blooms on the blueberry bush! The weight of winter snow broke off at least half of the plant.

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

 

Next week is National Garden Week –

the 2nd week of April.

Fading beauty. I’m so sad to see my tulip season conclude.

I am so onboard for this celebration. It’s time to plant my garden!

The strawberries are looking future-tasty.

Actually, I cheated. I’ve already started to plant seeds, since we are expecting highs in the mid to upper 80’s today, it may be past time for new sprouts. But I think that is a freak of too-hot-too-early weather and it should drop back to the 60-70’s.

Half planted beds. Waiting for seeds.

Here are some National Garden Week photos from my yard.

Garlic, parsley, and sage – all repeat visitors from last year. Plus a cat tail of one who wanted to be featured.

Oh, each new bud, flower, and sprout is so exciting.

We even planted a tree trunk for the cats to scratch and climb. It won’t grow…but it is part of our garden.

I’m already dreaming about tasty blueberries, sweet-tart strawberries, exquisite raspberries, and savory herbs and vegetables.

 

Dabbling to pretty-up a very hot corner of the yard.

Join me. Let’s celebrate our gardens.

 

The dogwood is just beginning to burst into bloom.

 I would love to see photos of your garden.

 

 


Leave a comment

Poetic Pink

Photo by Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

Pink puffs perfectly poised to produce

pretty pearls of poetry.

 

warmed by sun’s long days

life-giving nectar drawn up

to the sky; beauty

By Angie Quantrell @AngieQuantrell

Pink’s all the rage. What’s on stage in your area? Let’s have a picture show celebration!