Sunday 30 December 2012

An afternoon celebration

As we get older, most of us tend to treasure the times we spend with our friends and family more.
Birthdays are given special treatment, and we make an extra effort to celebrate these occasions.
Such it was yesterday afternoon.  A time to celebrate and a time to give thanks for another year lived.
My girlfriend was the honouree, and I went by to share in her joy.
Her garden is an old established garden with a vast variety of trees, shrubs and flowers.


Yes, that is a blue plumbago (auriculata) almost as tall as that Dracaena

 

 Petrea volubilis and Bignonia magnifica living in harmony



  Close up of Bignonia magnifica flowers

 Close up of Petrea volubilis

A well manicured Bay Leaf tree (Pimenta racemosa)
West Indian Bay Leaf is used to make bay rum and wine, and also a liniment for sprains and arthritis (remember I bought Bay Leaf wine at the Farmer's Market a few months ago?)
Thunbergia erecta - this is supposed to be a shrub?????

Plumeria pudica

 
The orchard with all kinds of fruit trees

....including this Carambola tree so heavily laden....

....that it could not hold all
Philodendron

 Kalanchoe bloom amidst the ferns


 Christmas candles (Cassia alata)

 Mandevilla

Beautiful ixoras  in pink and red


 And let's not forget all the beautiful desert roses (Adenium)






 



What a lovely way to spend an evening celebrating life.  Walking in nature and enjoying the last rays of the evening sun as it set for us, and on its way to becoming a beautiful sunrise for others somewhere in the world.
Be thankful for your blessings and always remember to......
Celebrate Life!!!


4 comments:

  1. I'd not heard of Carambola until I discovered we know it as Starfruit. I've never tasted one though. I used to have a Kalanchoe (blosfeldiana) and it was about 8" tall after 5 years (it had to grow indoors, of course).

    Oddly I have just been standing on the deck with 5 hours to go until 2013 and just contemplating the evening celebrations ahead. I wonder what the new year will bring.

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  2. We do refer to the Carambola as starfruit as well. They are citrusy and make a nice drink like lemonade.
    You are already in 2013...Happy New Year!!! May it bring you everything good...

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  3. A gorgeous garden, Virginia. I love the mixed colours of the petrea and the bignonia, and I am very envious of her great Desert Rose collection. I thought the dark red was my favourite until I saw the last one.

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  4. Marisa, there are so many different desert roses now (including yellow), that I'm afraid your collection will be quite HUGE to accommodate them all.
    She has a wide collection, but I only took photos of the ones in bloom.
    Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit a grower soon, and do a post later in the year.

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