Oh those are lovely Diane, as are the pics in the rest of the album. One year I brought back a bulb of a beautiful rosy iris similar to that one but it didn't do too well here. And I love peonies but I have never seen them here for sale. I guess they need a cooler climate. I'm another fan of lobelia and my favourites are either the very dark purple - 'Crystal Palace' - or the sapphire blue with white eye such as you have there. They grow so well in baskets on Vancouver Island but here they dry out so quickly with the hot air that they go to seed after a short time.

SharonCb

Beautiful Diane! I really enjoyed your album.

Sharon, I too love lobelia. I can't grow it in our climate either. I've had to come to the realization that our climate does not support so many flowers that I love. Sweet peas being another... Beautiful hanging basket.

I took these pictures a few days ago. I've always admired Hibiscus, I've just never grown them. This year I planted the patio pots with a few varieties.

{{gwi:1469671}}

{{gwi:1469672}}

Diane I've never met a peony I didn't love and that one is unknown to me.It's beautiful..I do have some Irises in bloom..but my peonies are just full buds right now,like the poppies.
This time of yr is grand!!
I love Lobelia..beause of their colors and trailing romantic habits:) But I am so not great w/ it as the season lingers:)

That's quite an arrangement!
I also love Hibiscus..Mine are in their shock stage of having lost their leaves ..:(

Enjoy this time of yr!!!

Beautiful flowers! Hey, River, don't know where you are getting your hibiscus, but the absolute, BEST, source for them is Hidden Valley Hibiscus. One year I went nuts and did my whole yard with tropicals.. nuts because I had to treat them all like annuals! I'm in zone 5. Anyway, HVH has so many colors....it took me 4 hours to narrow it down to 20 that I bought. Plus, they really are blooming out of the box! Really big, healthy, beautiful plants. Really, I can't say enough about the quality of the plants! I bought the 6 inch pots size, I don't think they had the 8 inch size, back then. The price has gone up...I paid 20 dollars per/plant..but they were so worth it...my yard and gardens were the talk of the neighborhood. Since you live in a warmer climate you would really be getting your moneys worth, I believe. You might want to check out the website.

Silly

Here is a link that might be useful: Gorgeous Hibiscus

I love hibiscus, and they are everywhere in my neighborhood. I only have two - a red one and a yellow one, although I used to have more but needed the space. The red one is now so tall that it blooms all year, although not as profusely in the winter. They get very large here if you don't prune them back a lot. My ex-roommate here grew hibiscus from cuttings, and so ours were essentially free. He has been known to steal cuttings from the grocery store parking lot boulevards, but it really doesn't hurt the plants, since they need to be pruned anyway. He used to grow peonies and giant dahlias. The peonies are gone, but the giant dahlias only bloom in the winter and tend to get top heavy at 10' high. He also had a black iris that he took with him when he moved - yours reminded me of that.

Thanks for sharing the pics!

Lars

Thanks all for the gorgeous flower pictures! My favorites are represented here in this thread :-)

Peonies are gorgeous. Wish I could grow them here. The iris is quite lovely, too.

hey Silly, I'm sorry that I'm just seeing your post;-)

Thanks for the link. I rarely mail order flowers, because we can readily get what we want here locally. Although, I do see a few in your link that would be interesting!

Thanks!