About 8:30 this morning:
Five hours later:
Well. . . aloha.
This is the second bloom I’ve seen on this particular tropical hibiscus. None of my others are this flashy dramatic.
Surrounding it are several Justicia brandegeeana or shrimp plants, which are always in bloom.
This is a small planting bed near the entrance to the front terrace. We removed* all the old clipped shrubs from this area early last summer, but in a combination of fatigue and indecision, I just cut this bush to the ground, thinking it could die (or not) in place.
A couple of months ago, I noticed that it had sent up two stems and that flower buds were developing. I was a little amazed about a week and a half ago when the first one opened.
It goes well with the shrimp plants, so I’ll just leave it here and keep it pruned to about 4′ – 5′ tall. The yellow-flowering plant in front of it is a Missouri primrose (Oenothera missouriensis). It is an American native annual that self-seeds around the garden.
On the opposite end of the showy-ness scale, I discovered last week that our cactus-like Euphorbia (above and below) is blooming.
The flowers are a little over a 1/4″ across.
GBBD — the 15th of every month — is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Click here to see other garden bloggers’ mid-July flowers.
*It was among the bushes on the right in this photo. It was always clipped, so it probably hasn’t bloomed for a long time.
enclos*ure 