Multi Colored 4 o'clocks

The creation is amazing. I brought seeds back from China in 2005 from 4 o'clocks (native to Peru!) which had multi colors. I had never seen them before like this. In 2006 I had my first "crop" of blooms. Taking the seeds off those and saving them each year has enabled me to continue to plant them for 5 consecutive plantings. They are a delight in the yard. Blooming at 4pm each day, reminding me of family in China and the old gentleman that shook the bushes for me to get the seeds and of course the detail the LORD has put into what is a very common flower in South America lifts the spirit. A side bar- Japanese Beetles find the leaf of them poisonous and it will take care of them very naturally if you plant them once. The seeds of the yellow flowering ones are so strong that they will replant themselves each year.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Several years ago I went across the street to the

state property and made some cuttings off the trumpet vine which was growing there.

I had read up on how to propagate this plant. Take several cuttings, lay them on broken up ground and cover them with soil. They will put down roots and within three years put out blossoms which are pictured here. The more you cut it back in the fall the larger the vine will grow in the spring and with it flowers all summer right into the fall.

Once again nature has many analogies to life. The cutting back, the squeezing, the adversity we experience makes our roots go deeper. We determine whether they will be bitter roots or roots that produce beauty.

It is always pleasant to be around someone who has allowed life's difficulties to make them better not bitter. If this vine could speak I suppose it would have said, when I originally cut it, "What are you doing?! That hurts! Just leave me alone!" When I planted it, "Now you are throwing dirt on me! Don't you know if you had left me alone I would have bloomed?!" When I pruned it, "Ouch! There you go again with those pruning shears! Do you enjoy seeing me suffer?!" Now- "I am so thankful for all the disruptions. I am blooming where I have been planted!"

Hurricane Irene

Our power is back on after 5 days. Having lived through other hurricanes here on Long Island this was not the worst but it did leave a lot of people without electricity. Some are still waiting to be restored.