Sunflowers!!!

Here comes the sun!!
The sunflowers have been blooming for a couple of weeks now, but I have been waiting until I had many of them to take pictures of.
I love the row of them along my driveway, every time I pull in, its such a beautiful, colorful greeting! I cant help but smile.

 This is what greets me every time I pull into my drive way :)

There is not much to say about sunflowers.  They are tall, they are colorful, and they are all over my yard!!

Here is a collection of sunflowers I have, in a range of color.

 I always find it so amazing that these giant things come from such a tiny little seed!! And when the begin, they are so small and delicate, requiring constant protection from slugs and other bugs.

Here is sunflower row back in June

 And here it is last week!

Dahlias!!!

Last week mom and I went to the Dahlia farm in Canby, Swan Island Dahlias, and I wanted to share some of the pictures I took.
It was so gorgeous there, row upon row of Dahlias, of every color imaginable!

Spots of Color 2 of 2

This is the second surprise I had recently.

My mom gave me some passion flower starts, and while they have been eagerly climbing my trellis, the two buds have been taking their sweet time in opening.

Here they are in the beginning, back in June, on the right hand side.

Climbing away.  The ones on the left side were the only who produced buds, and there were only two.

For weeks now I have been watching and waiting, when will they open and what will they look like.

Then, suddenly, Taylor and I were standing in the driveway talking, and I glanced over, and guess who had joined us!!

 It is my favorite variety of Passion flower, and probably the most well-known.  I absolutely love the complexity of it. 

I immediately started snapping pictures, trying to capture it from every angle, noting every detail and petal. 

Here is what we have:

There are so many interesting and captivating details, I took more pictures than I needed to, but its such a fascinating blossom, I coulnt help myself :)

What a beautiful flower!! It almost doesnt look real!!

Spots of Color 1 of 2

The first of two very exciting developments!

These both caught me by surprise, I had been checking and checking for days, not knowing what to expect, and then, all of a sudden, they were there.  And they were so beautiful!! I could not have selected more beautiful flowers if I had tried.

The first who bloomed was a poppy.  I have no idea where this poppy actually came from.  There was a bunch of dirt in a small container that had held my lily bulbs, and it looked like it could have some more flowers in it, so I spread it out in an area and have been lovingly watering it.  Some violas have come up, as well as some gorgeous white flowers with delicate, papery leaves. But the most surprising was this poppy.  

It started small, then just started growing up, not branching out much, just up.  Then a bud appeared.  All nestled in some of the leaves, it looked so cute and cozy.

Then the bud started growing up.  It developed a small stem, then the stem started getting longer and longer.  Then one day I came out, and the stem had tipped over!!

Oh my gosh!! What did I do!!?? Was I supposed to put a stake in it to hold it up? I had no idea what happened. It didnt look like it was breaking, so I left it.

Gradually, the bud started to change color.  It started a pure green, then some color started creeping in from the base, as you can see above.

Then, one day, I walked outside, rounded the corner to check on my bud, and this is what greeted me

So gorgeous!! I cant believe the colors!! I love it!!

And so, of course, I took more pictures.

Oh my!! What could be next????