One of my favorite photo subjects is nature , flowers in particular. When I go to nature trips , parks and gardens I never miss taking pictures of these colorful wonders of nature. I feel refreshed when I see the greens and multi-colored blooms all around me. And if the situation permits , I would cut some stems to decorate my home and altar. Many of these flowers , I don’t even know the names , but it doesn’t matter , because their beauty remains in my memory.

Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put a soul into.

- Henry Ward Beecher

Roses, and pinks, and violets, to adorn
  The shrine of Flora in her early May.

- John Keats

Hoya plant with heart shaped leaves grows in my garden. It is actually a vine and the leaves are thick and succulent. The photo above shows a young Hoya plant newly planted in a hanging basket.

This is how a Hoya flower looks like, it grows in clusters , the shape is like a half moon . My Hoya plant bears white flowers  as shown in the above photo.

When these dry weather plants start bearing flowers, it signals the onset of drier and warmer months ahead.  Our pink Crown of Thorns potted plants in the terrace had buds three days ago and this morning , it has lots of pretty pink flowers in every stem.

This crimson red adenium plant in the garden has fewer flowers , and lots of buds , but when the rains has totally stopped ,  it will continually bear lots of flowers , day to day until the next rainy season.

In the early morning rain ,  I was greeted by the sweet fragrance of a blooming yellow cattleya , which was just a bud yesterday.

Before noon today , the partially opened bud , has blossomed completely , in all it’s golden glory.

A  cattleya plant with multiple blooms filling the air with sweet fragrance.

This weekend our garden is more colorful than ever as orchid plants with gems colors bore flowers at the same time. The nice thing about growing orchids is the flowers stay in the pot without wilting for three to four weeks depending on how you care for them and how the weather is like during the period they are in bloom. The orchid blooms I posted not so long ago are still with us, plus the newly bloomed ones making our garden a haven for butterflies .

This orchid has a bright yellow color like Topaz and a red lip,  similar to the shade of Ruby. Truly beautiful , but sadly is unnamed. Let me think  . . . . . Topaz would be an appropriate name for this one.

Yes, we have a chocolate colored orchids with yellow lip and middle. It is unique not only in terms of its color, but also the shape of its petals . Like the orchid posted above , this one is also unnamed. Choco Delight would be a fitting name for this one, right ?

Here is my Lipstick plant in its hanging pot, looking so fresh and healthy after the afternoon rain. The red orange blooms are inching its way out of the plum colored sepal. Bees love this one !

Guess what I found today in my garden. Another late blooming orchid plant ! This is the second one I found since that yellow cattleya plant bore a flower a few weeks back after two years of “dormant” existance.  I never thought I have this dendrobium plant and I cannot even remember when I bought it. Must be ages ago ! The beauty of it is that the orchid flower is a sight to behold, with big blooms which makes it different from other dendrobiums.  It doesn’t even have a name, most probably because it is a new hybrid.

Because of its immaculate white petals and pink blush all over, I decided to give it the name dendrobium Angel. A fitting name for a beautiful orchid flower, right ?

During these months of gray and gloomy skies and continous rains, every corner of the garden has gone slippery because of the growth of moss. Bricks, pots including the fish ponds have turned green and slimy. I did some cleaning up lately or we might end up slipping in these slimy , green growth which are all around us.

These moss plants do not spare anything, as long as they can grow on it. Even around a handful of pebbles.

To all you garden lovers out there, I would like to recommend  this cool British gardening website  which I visit regularly for products update and garden care. It has  got everything from a selection of plants , garden supplies, accessories and furnitures .  Services like garden design , maintenance  and plant care  are available online and seasonal garden tips are sent by email to subscribers on a regular basis. Cut flowers , bouquets , plants and useful gift items are also available for online ordering.

We are really enjoying the benefits of a good weather, cooler days and nights and plants everywhere are showing a spectacular array of blooms. Here are some of the nice things we found  in the garden this morning:

Hot pink dendrobiums with two blooms. Forgive the slightly blurred photo. I guess my hands must have shook during the photo taking session.

This one is also hot pink but with stripes, and the blooms are really a lot.

These potted herbs we planted a month ago are also teeming with tiny white flowers.

Evergreen potted herbs are now ready for home use.

We love how the garden looks at this time and wish that these blooms are with us throughout the year.

Have a wonderful weekend !

This warm afternoon , I found four newly blossomed Lipstick flowers in luscious plum color. The weather must be doing great work as my plants are all bearing flowers.

And a pretty , yellow Cattleya with red lip was found inching its way out of huge, thick and waxy orchid leaves. The last time it bore flowers was two years ago, and I was thinking of “disposing” it today even though the plant which bore it looks healthy. I thought it would be better off with someone who knows more about care of orchid plants than me. The sight of the bloom changed my mind, maybe it needs more care than the other orchid plants in my garden.

During our trip to the Nature Preservation Park today, I took the opportunity to search for some wildflowers  on the way to  the woods and the deep forested area of the park. Have a look at some of the photos below :

Ball Wildflower

Blue Wildlfower

Butterfly and Yellow Wildflower

Orange Heliconia

Pink Acacia Blossoms

Pink and White Blossoms

Yellow Heliconia

Yellow Mini Daisy

Violets

Pink Foliages

Buttercup