Calendula or Pot Marigold

I have a lot of calendola in  my garden.  I like how bright they are when in bloom and I don't even have to plant them, they come back every year.  I got this info from WebMD:

Calendula is a plant. The flower is used to make medicine. 

Calendula flower is used to prevent muscle spasms, start menstrual periods, and reduce fever. It is also used for treating sore throat and mouth, menstrual cramps,cancer, and stomach and duodenal ulcers. 

Calendula is applied to the skin to reduce pain and swelling (inflammation) and to treat poorly healing wounds and leg ulcers. It is also applied to the skin (used topically) for nosebleeds, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, inflammation of the rectum (proctitis), and inflammation of the lining of the eyelid (conjunctivitis). 

Don’t confuse calendula with ornamental marigolds of the Tagets genus, which are commonly grown in vegetable gardens.

How does it work?
It is thought that the chemicals in calendula help new tissue grow in wounds and decrease swelling in the mouth and throat.

 It's a great color to add to flower arrangement.  I love summer time because I get tio display fresh flower in my kitchen everytday!

When in bloom, it's flower bring a great color  in my garden.

They multiply each year so I have to thin them out every time they are coming up.
Shadow Shots

Spring Flowers: Lilac, Lily of the Valley, Iris, and More

Our crab apple tree is  beautiful when in bloom.  I am worried that I have been seeing a lot of tent catterpillars crawling on it.  Tent caterpillars  can be easily seen because they build  tents in the nodes and branches of a tree's limbs and at the end of the limbs, you'll see  webworms.  Right now, they are everywhere   where I always go for a walk everyday and they  grosses me out.  I am not fond of worms so I don't like seeing  them marching on the ground, ekkkk.

 

 My sister-in-law, Jill, gave me some of her  creeping phlox a couple of years  and I grew it by our driveway.  I decided to thin it out after a year and spread  each  vine though pout our driveway.  It is beautiful  when it  in blooms during Soring time.  

 The  Lilies  of the valley are now in full bloom.  Lily of the Valley or  Convallaria majalis, is a sweetly scented but highly poisonous woodland flowering plant.  However,  it's interesting to note that although it is poisonous, it has been used as a folk remedy in moderate amounts and used by some herbalist as herbal remedy.  This is native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia, and Europe.

 It has a bell-shaped  white flowers and has a lovely scent.  The reddish seeds  can attract children so be very careful when you have little kids and have this plant in your garden as  the poison in it  can be deadly.

 I bought two of these miniature lilac bush last year and  I was surprised to see them bloom this year.

 This Lilac busgh that we bought online  about  8 years ago, has been very shy in blooming, I only see one branch having flowers for two years now.

 I only have the purple  Iris but I love when all of them  are in full bloom.

 Thesae are easy to take care of and it comes back every year.

 Our strawberries are now  blooming, I can't wait till the flowers  become fruits!

 Our blackberry  is also blooming, yohooo.  I bought two of these but only one survived.

 I love to hang out in our back porch now because everything is green and there are flowers to see.

I can't wait for the  trumpet vine to bloom so I  can see the  humming birds visit us again.

It's amazing how nature works, plants are dead or in dormant during Winter then on Spring time they sprung up and make everything  looks luscious again.

Taking Photos in Different Angles ... Happy Mother's Day!

Photography is something I would pursue professionally if given a chance.  I love taking photos of everything that I see.  Photography is not only an enjoyable  hobby but it can be therapeutic as well.  

 I am not a pro nor have a proper training for it but I sure do love to  explore  in taking different kinds of shots  in different angles.  Sometimes, just changing the angle f how you hold the camera changes the  appearance of the photos.

 I got these candy dish set in a  yard sale , it is not complete but I LOVE it in mykitchen as it add colors .

 My daughter and I used to have a tea party at home when she was still little.  She uses this teapot that we  bought when we were still in KOrea.  I miss those days,  they are gorwing up so fast and they are changing everyday!

 The last  three shots are taken from different times when we went for a  long family walk and my kids picked some wild flowers and assembled it at home when we  came back.

 They both said "Happy Mother's Day" when they handed this  so I can't  let it  pass without  documenting it.

 Who needs expensive flowers if you can  get it for free in the  field lol.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all the MOms out there!  May you have a happy  and full of love celebration on this special day!

Black Eyed Susan's Beauty

Black-Eyed Susan is one of the common   plants that I have in my garden.  They are so easy to  maintain and they come back every year.  My husband isn't very fond of these plants but  am the gardener so I decide which goes and which stays lol. I say, the B-E-S stays!     

Here's how it lok on the early stages of  bloom.

Here's the fully bloom ones.   The bes agred with me, black-eyed-susan should stay hehehe.

Isn't it pretty?  When I look at it, I see between  zinias and sunflower.  

iPhone 4S Camera

I take photos everyday and most of the times, I plan on posting them in my blogs but just did not have the time and forget about it. Here are some of the photos that I took some time ago which I told myself to post here but wasn't able to. Now that I am thinking about it, I better do it before I forgot again, sigh.

Those photos were al taken using my   iPhone 4S. I love that it is portable and I can  take photos anywhere I go without having to carry a bulky camera but I don't really like it's resolution.  I mean they are not bad but they are not great either.  

Typhoon Glenda

The recent typhoon that hit the Philippines left me   sleepless for  few nights.  I was worried about my family back home because they live close by the sea.  It always reminds me of the typhoon Sisang that swept away our former home  many years ago.  All we had left then  was the clothes we were wearing.   Glad I talked to my BIL who happened to contact  a person from our place and he told me that Mama and the rest of the family are okay.   He said that the roof of Mama's house got blown away but that can be replaced.  Thanks to God for protecting them!

Leaving you with this beautiful  multi layered poppy from my garden.

Face of a Big Red Hardy Hibiscus

I bought this Big Red Hardy Hibiscus last year.  I always loved it's  giant blooms when I see them from  someone's garden so I said I gotta have one at my garden.  Luckily, I got it  on sale last year at the end of the summer season.  Glad to see it came back this year and with a lot of blooms!

The huge, saucer-shaped blooms atop fine-textured foliage create a poignant presence in the garden. Matching red-purple stems add to the allure.  They are such a great addition to my garden.

Last week was rainy here so this first bloom fell and when I looked, I saw a face.  Creeped me out a little bit because I see a mean face of a bird or something lol.  Still pretty though!

Fresh Daisies

Cut some fresh daisies from our garden this morning.  I have a bad cramp and  somehow I feel like fresh flowers would come it down.  So I got my scissors and cut some of the daisies and put it in the vase and set it in our kitchen table.  I feel a little better looking at it.  Weird but it works.

Here's  the edited  ones using Instaframe App.

Exotic Flower

Here's another exotic beauty that I saw at the zoo during our last visit.  It is gorgeous!  Does anyone know what kind of flower this is?

Beautiful Bloom

I don't know what kind of plant/flower is this but it's beautiful.  I saw this at Pittsburgh Zoo and thought that it is so exotic looking.

Such a beautiful bloom, don't you think?

Black Eyed Susan are Blooming

I have  some  Black Eyed Susan plants in my garden.  This is the plant that  husband doesn't like very much.  I like them, I think they are beautiful.  They are not fully bloom yet but  thought that it's kind of pretty how their leaves are kind of thorny.

I will  post a fully bloomed one  soon.