More tropical color...

Peach yum-yum!

(Hibiscus are edible, and my cats sometimes think they are grazers...)

Finding color in another crazy winter...

The forsythia bushes were acting oddly this fall: They were blooming here and there throughout November and into December. (So was the ornamental holly, for that matter, and the silver maple buds looked full to bursting. A friend in Ohio also noted late-fall blooming forsythia. What the—?!) I decided to bring in a few branches of the forsythia, recalling from a college horticulture class that they are quite hardy and figuring the flowers would open in the warm house since I could see petals in the buds.

Mid January and I had flowers. Love the way the winter light shines in my windows…

I lost my largest, oldest potted hibiscus bush this summer but as I usually end up buying/rescuing a new one every year I still have four or five. They thrive outside during our hot, humid summers (when I remember to water them) but throw right royal tantrums when I bring them in for the winter… Ah, durance vile! The dry, stagnant indoor air and my even more lax watering cause them to drop all their leaves. In spite of this—or perhaps because of it, maybe they think they’re dying?—they reluctantly send out new leaves, and the one even manages to pull off full-blown flowers.

Couldn’t resist shooting just the bottle. There is just something about glass that makes my heart hum…