Beautiful Flowers Delighted and Excited Us — Sensational Friendship

Fascinating Genuine Love Expressed Grateful Opportunities

Dear Reader,

Article writers on Reciprocal just received this week’s writing prompt provided by Dr. Preeti Singh. Her prompt is “In Joy and Sadness, Flowers are our Friends”.

I read her article and she provided her experience of attending a beautiful flower show. She provided pictures of the beautiful flowers that she was able to view and learn about.

Her articles are always so refreshing and reflective of what a gem we have in her. She is so kind and considerate of everyone. I love writing articles for a magazine where she is one of the friendly editors.

She has two other editors on her team, and I am sure they are equally talented. So, without further ado let me get started with this week’s prompt.

Introduction

Let’s begin with a basic discussion of the flower. A flower is a seed-bearing part of a plant, consisting of reproductive organs (stamens and carpels) that are surrounded by a brightly colored corolla (petals) and a green calyx (sepals).

A flowering plant (also called angiosperm) is any of about 300,000 species of flowering plants, the largest and most diverse group within the kingdom of Plantae. Angiosperms represent about 80 percent of all the known green plants now living.

Angiosperms are vascular seed plants in which the ovule (egg) is fertilized and develops into a seed in an enclosed hollow ovary. The ovary is contained in a flower, the part of the angiospermous plant that contains the male or female reproductive organs or both.

Angiosperms dominate Earth’s surface and vegetation in more environments, particularly terrestrial habitats, than any other group of plants. Angiosperms are the most important ultimate food for birds and mammals, including humans.

Flowering plants are the most economically important group of green plants, serving as a source for pharmaceutical, fiber products, timber, ornamentals, and other commercial products.

The variety of forms found among angiosperms is greater than that of any other plant group. They come in almost all shapes and sizes from the tiny watermeal (0.08 inch) to one of the tallest, the Australian mountain ash tree at about 330 feet. Angiosperm | Definition, Reproduction, Examples, Characteristics, Life Cycle, Taxonomy, & Facts | Britannica

This is a topic that many pages of information could be written about. I have elected not to do so because I want you to know what flowers mean to my wife and me. I will spend the bulk of the rest of this article with that information instead.

My wife and I have enjoyed planting and viewing flowers and flower gardens in every location (Guam, North Dakota, Hawaii, Alaska, Portugal, and Florida) we have lived. One of our favorites is the double knockout rose.

They bloom from early summer to late fall. The reason we like the double knockout rose is that it has more petals than the knockout rose and has better disease resistance as well.

Double Knock-Out Roses

These roses seem to bloom with very little work. We fertilize them a couple of times a year and prune them when necessary (late fall and early spring). We live in a temperate climate where flowers can and do often bloom most of the year. We have little cold weather here except for maybe a few days to a few weeks in the dead of winter. We have never seen snow here.

We have other flowers as well. Camelia’s are all over our yard both in the front and back. They are beautiful but when the flowers die back there is some raking to be done. There are times during the year when there are so many flowers that we must try to go and see them all.

We also have 10 crepe myrtle trees and 1 magnolia tree that have flowers for many months of the year. We have hydrangea flowers in the spring of the year that generally last through the summer.

Camelia

Camelia’s have blooms that burst with color in fall and winter. They have huge flowers that stand out against the green foliage of the leaves of the bush. They bring bright colors when other flowers have become dull and dormant.

Hydrangea

The hydrangea is a genus of over 75 species of flowering plants native to Asia and the Americas. The flowers of the hydrangea act as natural pH indicators, sporting blue flowers when the soil is acidic and pink when the soil is alkaline.

The flowers resemble pom-poms or the head of a mop. Lacecap flowers bear round, flat flowerheads with a center core of subdued, small flowers surrounded by outer rings of larger flowers having showy sepals or tepals. Cut hydrangea flowers dehydrate fast because of the large surface area of the petals.

Crepe Myrtle

The crepe myrtle trees are a genus of around 50 species of trees and shrubs that are native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia, and other parts of Oceania. They are cultivated in warmer climates around the world.

These flowering trees are beautifully colored and can be planted either privately or commercially as ornamentals. The leaves of temperate species provide autumn color. Colors vary from deep purple to red to white with many shades in between.

We have Mexican Petunia and Society Garlic plants that bloom also. The Mexican Petunia needs to be cut back in the fall of the year while the Society Garlic never has to be messed with.

Mexican Petunia and Society Garlic

The Mexican Petunia is a fast-growing perennial with green to purple stems and green leaves. They are banned in some states because of their invasive nature. In Florida, they are on a watch list of highly invasive plants. They are native to Mexico and South America.

They can tolerate a wide range of growing conditions but prefer wet or marshy soils such as woodlands or the edges of ponds and lakes. The plant's showy flowers are short-lived. Ours bloom in the morning and lose their flowers in the afternoon.

This happens nearly every day or so it seems. One caution here is that you must keep an eye on them, or they will take over areas you intended for other plants to live in.

Society Garlic

Society Garlic is a clump-forming herbaceous perennial. Delicate, tubular star-shaped flowers at the tops of tall grassy foliage. This ground cover with flowers can reach a height of two feet.

Blooms are small and lilac-lavender. The blooms last from early summer to autumn. They have a strong garlic scent that overpowers the sweet scent of the flowers.

I am writing this article in January, and we are currently experiencing colder weather. There are no blooms this time of year because it is colder than the trees or plants and bushes need to produce flowers. It makes a person look forward to warmer weather when the flowering will happen all over again.

Flowers seem to be everywhere here in Florida. We love it here for the warmer weather and the flowers. Of course, being next to the Gulf of Mexico and its beauty is also very good for us. I can look out the windows from my home office and see the flowers while I write.

Flowers have been important beyond simply having them in our yard. We have had people drive past our home to enjoy the flowers. We have been told by people walking along the sidewalk how much they appreciated seeing these plants and trees as well.

We have used professional florists and have celebrated birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and other important events in the past with flowers decorating the locations where the events were held.

We have also sent flowers for funeral services for friends and family whether we can attend the loved one’s funeral or not. We know that somehow the beauty of the flowers helps to ease folk’s minds when they are experiencing one of the most stressful times.

We are happy to be able to let them know that their friend or loved one was part of our lives as well. We show we truly cared for them as well as for those that have been left behind.

We consistently enjoy walking and working in our yard and seeing the new buds before they turn to flowers and then of course enjoy the flowers while they last too. We can’t imagine not having these things available to us to enjoy.

We hope that writers and readers alike enjoy this article and a small peek behind the curtain at what keeps our spirits up through good times and other times as well.

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I would like to thank Dr. Preeti Singh from Reciprocal for this writing prompt for the third week of January 2023.

I would like to give a big shout-out to Divya Goswamifor for her article whispered embrace

This is an article about snow and her personal experience with it in a place where it should not snow but it did.

Another big shout-out goes to Gauri Sirur Freaky ice, Snow, And a Puppy in Texas.