Bright and vivid colors

Colorful flowers do make our days shine... When these flowers start to dry out, little thorns come out replacing their petals. Even though I see them around every year in the garden I still don't know their names.These flowers go to Today's Flowers, the virtual flowers blog that displays flowers from around the world.

Marcela - a native plant to South America

Macela, also known as marcela do campo - a medicinal plant native to South America. To see more flowers from around the world, please visit Today's Flowers blog.

Orchids

Orchids can be found in different sizes, shapes, colors and scents... and they are fascinating. With all these qualities they still have a reputation as being finicky and hard to grow. I say it is a myth...To see more flowers, please go Today's Flowers blog.

Red Roses

Roses are beautiful, a favorite flower for many occasions throughout time. When I look at roses I see perfection, beauty and fragrance. Like roses I hope that my heart flows a sweet smelling fragrance to those who approach me. Pease visit Today's Flowers to see more flowers from around the world.

Say it with pink hydrangeas

Flowers speak of love, friendship, gratitude, simpathy, forgiveness, respect, gentleness... Flowers express feelings. When I send flowers, I also send my love, I send a smile on a face, and a gesture of how much I care. To see more flowers, please visit Today's Flowers, there are flowers there from all over the world that will make you smile.

Glorious bushes

The beautiful house dated 1924 and built by Letonians who immigrated to Brazil long time ago has near the front porch this faboulous shrub called Glory bush (manaca-da-serra - Tibouchina mutabilis). The reason we visited the Lethonian colony is that we have friends there, we enjoyed some wonderful traditional food and drinks.This is my contribution to Today's Flowers this week.

Full bloom

The holiday cactus (Schlumbergera truncata) is actually known in Brazil as May flower, because it blooms in May, when it is Fall here. I have had this plant for about 15 years. All you need to do to keep it going is to water once a week and after it blooms, when the flowers dry out, cut the end leaves, this will make the cactus grow stronger and you can use the cut leaves to propagate new

Hydrangeas

Starting with a small blossom they grow into beautiful flowers. Hydrangeas or hortensias have been a part of my life since I was a little girl. My cousins grew them in the garden and their beautiful color, shape and size amazed me every time I came to visit.Please visit Today's Flowers to see what is blooming around the world.

Perfect pansies

Valentine's Day in Brazil is June 12th and for Today's Flowers I am adding these pansies, because the Portuguese word for pansy is literally "perfect love" (amor perfeito).We have different stories, and no matter how simple or elaborate, may love and joy grow more each day in our lives... Please visit Today's Flowers to see more perfect flowers blooming around the world.

Lavender

Tiny and naturally fragrant. Lavender flowers... these are not from my garden, not yet. I have a pot of lavender growing in my balcony and I found out the plant started to look better when I moved the pot under a glass table that has my other plants.Can anyone tell me what type of lavender is pictured here? English, French, Spanish, none of them? Thank you.PLease visit Today's Flowers to see

Sleeping beauty

Another small flower... Sleeping grass, touch-me-not and sensitive are some popular names for this shrinking plant (mimosa pudica L. - known as dormideira in Portuguese). My kids were playing in an open field when they found the sleeping grass... and they had so much fun touching the leaves to see them fold. To see more beautiful flowers, please visit Today's Flowers.

A really small flower

A delicate small flower spotted during a weekend walk with my family. All that grass around it made me think it was a grass floret, not sure though. This is my contribution to Today's Flowers. To see more flowers and visit other blogs, please pay a visit to them.

Mothers and roses

My son picked these flowers for me today... from my folder of photos on my computer! I asked him to help me with this special post. Mother's Day is celebrated today in many countries, including Brazil. Little fingers pointing to my computer screen and saying: "Momma I like these flowers" is priceless... I am the guest today at Today's Flowers! The wonderful team there has this weekly meme to

Bottles with a purpose

A bouquet of freshly picked flowers (gerberas) and reused bottles.... This is how I decorate my place: with clean bottles of wine and olive oil...A late contribution to Earth day... these flowers go to Today's Flowers that display the most gorgeous flowers around the world on a weekly basis. I'll be the guest on May 10th, so watch that space!

Consider the lilies...

How they grow! And how they remind me that they brighten our days with their generous beauty and fragrance. They also tell me that I don't need much to live happily, that what impacts the lives of people who surround us is God's love shining through our lives. Choose... to spread joy and sow generously the seeds God has given to you. Sow generously, reap generously.These lilies go to Today's

Lily, the pink

Pink lilies from my niece's "sweet fifteen" birthday party.To see more flowers from around the world, please visit Today's Flowers.

Morning dew and gentle rain

Early morning glistening dewdrops, always so soft... always a good reason to get out of bed early and take a few shots. Then it comes the rain... Love the gentle rain that makes flowers grow, filling the air with smell of hot ground after a dry spell. When I was a kid it seemed that it rained for days in a row and the humidity was high, I don't miss that but I haven't seen long raining days

Pink Violets and how I grow them

Many people like to have african violets sitting on their kitchen windowsill, maybe because of indirect sunrays and because they are easy to grow indoors. They can make any corner brighter, and I have my violets on a small table in my balcony. I have created many new pots over the years just by leaf cuttings and I have never propagated them by seed! Each leaf I cut and plant in damp soil grows

Spring has sprung

He loves me... he loves me not (in Portuguese: bem me quer, mal me quer). A little girl plucking the petals of a daisy... can you relate to that? I can! I wonder if this is a common rhyme in all countries, well, it is here in Brazil. Daisies are here... and it means Spring is here too!This is my contribution to Today's Flowers hosted by Santilli.

Annatto flowers - Urucum

Annatto or achiotte, (bixa orellana L.) has the scientific name derived from a Spanish explorer in the XVI century. This plant is grown mostly in South America and Brazil is the main producer and exporter. Known here as urucum or colorau, the seeds are used as a natural red food coloring in the food industry, cosmestics (known as the lipstick-tree), to dye textiles and also for cooking, which I