Sunday, May 2, 2010

From the Garden

Despite my overwhelming love of things dark and dank, I do have a certain passion for beautiful flowers.  The theme of the garden is magic, I try to have plants in there that have some sort of wondrous or spiritual significance to them (I have a ton of marigolds in there for the Day of the Dead but I figured you know what a marigold looks like). These are some that are currently on stage in the garden right now.  Above we have lantana, a scrubby bush with flowerheads that change color as they bloom outward, like magic. I think this one is called Candy.
Next we have the French Poodles of the plant world...roses.  They're temperamental, fussy, and takes a lot of TLC but if everything is right, they're breathtakingly beautiful.
The bottom newest one called Cinco de Mayo.
And if roses are the French poodles of the plant world, peonies are the drag queens...showy, over the top, and absolutely stunning...
By the way, can someone tell me what kind of tree this is that popped up on the edge of the garden?
I thought it might be some kind of maple but the leaves are really large. Whatever it is, please tell me it has beautiful fall color, please?

17 comments:

Nerites said...

I may be wrong, but that seems like a.... PAPAYA TREE!

Diane said...

pretty! i love the first ones! they really are magical!

and i like your descriptions of the roses and peonies lol.

can't help ya on the plant thing, but it does look like a maple leaf, doesn't it?

Mr. Macabre said...

Wow, it does look like a papaya tree now that you mention it but I'm 99.99% certain it isn't since our climate isn't suited for them at all and it did survive our bad winter last year.
Thanks though, I appreciate it!

I know it isn't a sweetgum (liquid amber as some say). It has a home here regardless.

Auburn~haired~artist said...

It sure looks like a maple tree to me. The leaves can be fairly large. The maples here in KS. turn beautiful reds, oranges and gold in the fall - they're lovely, one of my favorites.

cindy said...

beautiful flowers! i don't know what a papaya tree looks like, but we have maple trees and they look like that when they are small. and they do have beautiful fall color!

suzanne said...

Beautiful flowers :)

The leaves on the tree look like some variety of maple.

Tristan Robin said...

gorgeous flowers! I love your descriptions of them - spot on target!

Pam Morris said...

beautiful and great photography! the peonies are my favorite--drop dead gorgeous (drag queens and over the top, eh? hmmm...) what did you use to photograph--telephoto, macro lens? just curious (as I am one of the world's worst photographers)

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

I too have a garden as a yin to my dark side yang :)

These are lovely pictures and those peonies are just beautiful. I have to get some....I cannot believe I just said that about something pink...but with me all bets are off when it comes to flowers! :)

Thanks for sharing with us. Always love garden pictures.

Cheers!

Mr. Macabre said...

Pam--I use a Fuji digital point and shoot. I push the little flower button on it so that I can get very very close on the subject/flower. I just look at the screen until I see what I want and then push the button.

gretchen said...

really lovely photos ...

Peter Varvel said...

Poison oak?
Ha ha! "French Poodles of the plant world," "drag queens."
Great post, beautiful photos!

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photos!

Pam Morris said...

okaaay...so I just need to find some little flower button on my camera, eh? let me scramble about and look for it...hehe

Mr. Macabre said...

All the cameras that I've had has a little flower icon on it (kinda looks like a tulip). That's the close-up setting that lets you get, well, real close up on stuff. Some of these were taken 2 inches from the flower.

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Howdy Mr. M...
I just have to tell you how much I am coveting your Peonies! WOW and WOW! Those are so gorgeous...I'd love to have those in my yard. I'm not sure I've ever seen those in person now that I see a photo of them. I don't recall seeing them at our local garden centers here in FL either. I will have to go on a search. Thanks for posting your lovely photos....flowers make me happy too! :o)

Shannon said...

Hi there! First time to your blog. I love the top flower, Candy, and I think your tree might be a Silver Maple. I'm not sure where you're located, but I found it in my WV Trees and Wildflowers book. :-) It says the leaves are silvery on the underside.

Have a great day!
Shannon