April Showers Bring May Flowers...

Actually it's not even May yet, but the flowers are out in full force.  Admittedly, I'm not much of a flower gardener.  That is more Tricia's thing.  I like to grow things you can eat.  I took some pictures last week of the yellow, pink and white roses along with some yellow lilies that were blooming.  Here's some more flower power:

This is a peach colored hibiscus.  I've read that you can make tea from the flower petals.  I'm going to search the Internet and see how you make it and try it out.  It sounds interesting.  I see it in the Latin section at the grocery store.

Hibiscus



Pink rosebud

Pink rose in bloom

In the flower department, #1 on my list of fragrant flowers is any citrus bloom.  Here is a close first-runner up: Confederate Jasmine!  This jasmine is blooming right now and provides air freshener for the whole 5 acres.  The scent just wafts through the breeze, providing a lazy, Southern scent.


Confederate Jasmine in bloom

This Confederate Jasmine was grown from a cutting from my grandmother's house.  We affectionately called her "Bumby" and she was something else, I tell you!  After she passed away, I went to her house and took some cuttings that I nurtured and was able to get growing at our house.  It has taken over the fence surrounding the air conditioning units and provides an almost daily reminder of Bumby.  She had this growing on a bird house in her side yard sort of near her clothes line.  When you would go out in the yard by this bird house angry Blue Jays would dive at you.

Here's a close-up were you can see numerous buds in the background about to burst forth with both visual and fragrant niceness.

 This flower is an Amaryllis and comes up year after year from bulbs.
 

Amaryllis

We keep them in a terra cotta pot by the side entrance.  The only problem is that the blooms are so heavy, the stem can't hold them up and they will lay down if you don't lean them on something.  Here they are leaning on the column that contains the honey bees.

Here is a hibiscus that is more of a reddish color.  The hibiscus are much more happy and healthy this year.  We actually planted them in the ground and will dig them up once winter approaches so they don't die off with the freeze since they're tropical.
 

Reddish hibiscus

These were growing in the garden and they are the flowers to a different type clover.  They actually make pinkish-purple flowers as opposed to the white ball-type flowers that White Dutch clover makes.

 The neat thing about these are that they grow wild and need no tending to.
 

Pink Clover in the garden!

These next flowers are some of my favorites.  They are called purple iris, I think.  Back when I was farming, I spotted these growing in a ditch off of a gravel road by an old home place.  I took my shovel out and dug up a couple of them and planted them in a low-lying area on our property.  They have taken off and have multiplied.  I can't explain to you how pretty they are, so I'll just show you.


Purple iris

Here is a close-up of the Purple Iris:

Last, but not least I'll throw in another flower.  Can you guess what kind it is?  (Answer below)

These are blooms on our potato plants.  Once potatoes bloom, the growth shifts to producing potatoes on the roots underground.  I'll keep an eye on them.  Once the vines begin to die back, it is time to dig them up.  Fresh green beans cooked with some new potatoes and some bacon...  Wow.  I can't wait.