...and I continue with the cleaning of my photo folder:
This past week, my epiphyllum was getting ready to bloom. And of course, it being a night blooming plant, I had to get up at dark o'thirty to get photos of it. I keep saying to myself, I really need to get more of these plants for outdoors! They're so easy to grow. Hardly any upkeep, heat and drought tolerant --in fact they thrive in high temperatures. They're NOT good for outdoor plantings if your area drops below 50 at night [or daytime temps too for those in the colder temperate zones]. My two plants [one blooming as seen below] have only been taken indoors for cold air protection just very few times in the last 8 years. The blossoms are colossal and gorgeous:
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Then, on to more flowering plants in our yard at this time o' year:
King's Mantel
[another drought tolerant plant and a hardy grower -- blooms in late Spring, a deep purple trumpet blossom]
A great Southern bush, the gardenia. Now, I am one of the very few who doesn't really appreciate its fragrance; being too sweet and heady for my taste, but the blossoms, such a pure white and atop all the glossy leaves, it makes a pretty showcase when blooming...
Next in line of blooming color in our yard would be the Blue Plumbago [it's one of my favorites since not too many flowers of blue/bluish color tolerate extreme heat. This is one of them tho]
...and not to add too many at one time to slow up loading time for some, this one image is of a rich ruby red petunia. And
I DID NOT plant it!! It is a 'straggler'...I think perhaps some flying overhead bird helped a bit with nature and adding a bit of color right at the very spot. Earlier this Spring, when I was out pulling weeds in this flower box, I noticed the difference in leaf structure and thought it looked like petunia, so I never pulled it up. And this week, when I returned to weed again, it was blooming!!!----
...last but not least, there is always 'gold' at the end of a rainbow:
Ixora Plant
The artist's latest work of sculpture is entitled "The Wind Dancer". If you know a bit about folklore and the mysteries of the life of a sailor, you probably have heard of the myth of a mermaid, a siren, who lures men to them only to take them deep into the depths of the sea and the sailors never return. For this particular piece of work, I must admit, it's really NOT a mermaid, but the lore came to mind when I first glanced at it. I like it best of all that are here along the area. "The Wind Dancer"...
From what I gathered after reading about it, she is facing to the south. South because of the fact that around here, the prevailing winds come into the city from the South. At least 99% of the time. She is 'dancing' in the wind atop a wave...and just below her body, in the sea, is a dolphin [which you can see in the first photo posted]. It was a beautiful day...we had walked an hour or so, just drinking in the warm subtropical winter afternoon and enjoying the sea breeze in our faces. As we walked, we did a good pastime; people watching. Being a weekend day, balmy, seems a lot of the populace was doing the same...there were skateboarders, bikers, families out with their dogs, people sitting on the seawall benches feeding the seagulls, and lots of passers-by.
But, let me get back to the new sculpture along the way! It took several hours to hoist it up on its cement pedestal by crane...the weight - 1500 pounds. I found its measurement in height - 16 feet. Of course the material is obvious - bronze. And this particular time of day, with the sun near setting made the bronze cast a yellow glow. The artist - H.W. Tatum. As of this visit on Saturday, the area is not complete yet, so it's still cordoned off for now. When the area is finished, there will be landscaping surrounding it, a walkway to be able to stand by it --and perhaps [just guessing here; not knowing for sure yet] there will be a water feature around the base. The reason I say this is that I saw piping along the pedestal about halfway up/down. If my guess is correct, it will add to the ambiance very well. If tastefully done, that is.
Look closely at the previous image...standing behind the fencing, I'm not sure if this is bronze, I think so...a highly polished bronze, but a starfish clings to her ear as if her jewel of the sea. The artist, H.W. Tatum, of course, hails from Corpus Christi and has donated several pieces of his work to the city. One very popular one is that beautiful statuesque Tejano singer/entertainer that was popular, Selena ...life sized that memorializes her untimely death. Very popular, as I stated. We, at times see many many out of state tourists near her life-sized statue near the marina.
