Sunday, May 25

Green Thumb Sunday

It's Green Thumb Sunday, hosted by Tricia at As the Garden Grows. If you'd like to participate, just click on the link to find out how.

I made a comment on someone's post the other day about the Balloon Flower I bought. I had never seen these before and thought they were lovely. When I bought it, it had three purple flowers. It seems they don't last very long, but there are more blooms coming.

The reason they are called Balloon Flowers is because the buds puff up before the flowers blossom. Here it is basking in the sunlight.
Later, I moved it to my porch to sit beside my little bluebird. Once the weather warms up, I will plant it. It is a perennial and will propagate itself.

The hanging basket above is a scarveola. Pronounced scar-v-oh-la. The first time I ever saw these was about eight years ago when I received one for Mother's Day from the boys. At that time the lady at the garden center told me they were a new type of plant.

Last year they were very scarce and that was the first time I hadn't had one hanging on my porch since that first one. Michelle tried to find one this year, but no luck. So, when I saw this at a little out-of-the-way store, I snapped it up. They only had two and I wanted to be certain I'd have one this year. I wish they were perennials, but alas, they are annuals. It is one flower that I want to have every year.



In other news, Brandon came for a sleepover Friday night. It is his birthday on Tuesday and the boys are always invited for a birthday sleepover. Brandon got to choose where we ate and he chose McDonald's. He hasn't eaten there in months because we don't encourage it but birthdays are special. I was surprised as Brandon is not a McDonald's fan. I think he wanted to try their cherry milkshake.

Once we had eaten we came home and dropped Grandpa off and then took Jordan the DVDs he had forgotten to take with him to his other Grandma's. Then we headed to Zeller's, which is a department store and we looked around a bit there. We didn't buy anything but had fun looking at things. After that, we came home, had a game of crib and by that time Brandon was ready for bed. He's an early to bed, early to rise kind of kid.

This morning we had breakfast and all he really wanted to do was lounge around in his pajamas and watch TV. I did a few chores and then at noon Jordan was dropped off by his parents and we got ready and headed to Apps Mills Nature Center. On the way, we stopped for gas and I couldn't believe that $30.00 only gave me a little over a half tank. The gas price was $1.27 per liter. Multiply that by 4.5 and you get $5.72 per gallon. I almost died when I got back into the car and saw I only had a half tank. I used to fill my car up for $30 not that long ago.

It was a beautiful day here today. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. It was a glorious day to be out and about in the woods. One day this week I will tell you all about our trip.

Take care and if you are in the US, enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. ~Blessings, Mary

18 comments:

  1. Your flowers are beautiful Mary. You are such a cool grandma!! You seem to have those boys a lot and thats awesome, I wish I had mine more often. Well my friend you have a great holiday weekend and looking forward to hear about your trip:)
    hugs
    Deb

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice flowers. I have some balloon flowers, too, they are fun. Haven't grown the scaveola,b ut it does look tempting at the nursery! thanks for your visit to my blog, I'll work on getting my GTS up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have never seen balloon flowers .... Never even heard of them....... You and those boys are such a blessing to read about.. They will have such memories when they are men..... When they remember the wonderful times with there grandma they will smile................ :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree your flowers are beautiful. You surely have a much greener thumb than me! I hope you have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm familiar with both your flowers, and I think the scaeveola is unique because the blooms look to be only half a blossom!

    Happy birthday to Brandon! ;o)

    Gas is right at $4 a gallon here in NE Arkansas. It's bad enough here, but over $5 a gallon is outrageous! When will the price stop rising and begin falling again?

    Have a blessed Sunday, Mary. :o)

    Love and hugs,

    Diane

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the flowers Mary. That purple hanging basket...mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, mm!! [and the bluebird is darling!]

    Sounds like a fun time for the birthday. I'd go to McDonalds, once in a while...excellent fish fillet sandwiches!

    Oh tell me....it as nearly $75.00 for us to fill the car this last time. I tellya, we're not gonna go much these days. Pooohie on the oil companies.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Fun! Happy Birthday Brandon! I hope you had fun at your sleepover. What was your favorite thing about it?

    Mary, I hope you're having a good weekend and that the weather is cooperating with you. Ah! Summer is on the horizon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mary
    You will enjoy the ballon flower. I planted three around my sundial a few years ago and I lost one but the other two are hardy. I love blue flowers and the scarvela is very pretty. No wonder you like to have one each year. Our gas prices are closing in on yours. Last time I filled up it was 4.03 hi test and 3.99 for mid grade. We buy our at our local grocery Kroger and they give you three cents off if you have one of their cards and if every time you buy $100.00 in groceries they give you ten cents off. A very nice incentive.
    Glad you and Brandon had some one on one time. Looking forward to the trip sharing. Peace

    ReplyDelete
  9. We have balloon flowers too. We have both blue and white. I love them.
    Happy Birthday to Brandon! I love how much you do with them.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love the balloon flowers!
    What a creative God we have!
    I am glad you got to spend some time with your men....I know they must love the time they spend with you.
    Happy birthday to your little man!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The balloon flower is something new to me! I am so loving GTS because I get to know a different flower each time. The hanging scarveola are a lovely addition, if I have my own garden (and not a balcony) I'd surely include them in my ensemble. Happy GTS!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lovely flowers my friend, thanks for sharing. I love reading about your dear grandsons.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've always thought the balloon flowers are neat and also like the pincochin flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The Balloon Flower is fascinating. I love seeing photos of them. The hanging basket is also lovely. I would like to have hanging baskets, but it's so dry here I would have to water twice a day, so it's just not worth the effort.
    Happy GTS,
    Aiyana

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for showing me what it looks like Mary. I have never seen one but would love to get my hands on them!!
    Hugs, Linda

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mary, I love my balloon flowers. They are just starting to break through the ground in my front flower bed. I have both blue and white. If they grow as a perennial here in Saskatchewan, try planting them in your flower beds.

    What fun having your Grandchildren over for a sleep over.

    I have just pulled in all my baskets and pots. We are going down to freezing tonight. Here I thought the weather had smartened up.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Happy Birthday, Brandon! :-)

    Mary,
    The flowers are beautiful. I have not heard of either. The balloon flowers are very unusual - kind of a fun flower!

    Your gas prices are worse than ours. We are approaching $4.00 a gallon. I think we need to start seriously trying to come up with alternatives to gas that don't have a terrible impact on other important parts of the economy!

    I hope you are having a nice weekend.

    Hugs,
    Tina

    ReplyDelete
  18. I remember Zeller's from somewhere we've lived.
    I have never seen either of these flowers.
    Mama Bear

    ReplyDelete