Flowers!

I cannot believe the progress the garden has made in the past few weeks. It seemed like nothing was moving for so long; everything was chopped back from the frost or everything was really small (or still a seed) because I am too unemployed to purchase anything in a 3 gallon container.

I was just lamenting that "all I have are shrubs" and therefore bloomless the other day. And then I went outside to check on the seeds. And I saw it.

The house is absolutely lit with flowers. Granted, they are mostly on shrubs. But when you look at the place, you don't say "my, she needs some annuals" like I was in March. Now you'd see the texas sage, the african iris, the hibiscus and the confederate jasmine showing off. Not to mention the popcorn plant, the porter's weed, the bottle brush...

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Something else noticed today. It was drippy and overcast today (a welcome sight, believe me, we are in drought). I noticed the african iris - which is currently blooming like crazy - closes all its flowers till the sun comes out. Since the sun never made an appearance today, they all stayed in. Just something I saw that I thought was pretty cool, see below. How do they know? Does it have to do with the sun's heat? Or maybe how much the leaves are working? Or, or or...?