The Waiting Game

I've written recently about how a certain amount of any gardener's time is spent waiting around.  Anticipating results for work already done.

You plan, you plant, you water, you weed, you watch, and eventually, if all the elements cooperate, you get your big payoff.

In this case, what I'd been gleefully anticipating was the emergence of blooms on several volunteer sunflower plants.  I don't think I purposefully seeded in these particular plants but maybe I did - sort of.  I'd been trying to get sunflowers growing in the area around the bird feeder for multiple seasons but it wasn't until after I'd dug everything up to move the pole a few feet out of the way of a projected new path that anything came up.

Whoever gets credit for putting the seeds properly into play, now after waiting for years, I've finally gotten the blooms I so desperately desired.

To my surprise, while nearly all my attention and flowerly longings were directed towards those sunflower buds, a Desert Rose (Adenium obesum) plant I bought during Art Fest in Wimberly two years ago, recently decided it too would become an active contestant in the Waiting Game.

Not long after I first noticed these buds, I was thrilled to see this bloom appear.

These are our first flowers for this specimen, and I'm keeping an eye out to see how long the blooms will each last, what pollinators they'll attract, and if this plant will repeat bloom as long as it is happy with its surroundings.

I kept saying to anyone who would listen (and a couple of family members who would not so much listen) that these blooms sure reminded me of plumeria.  And no wonder, apparently Desert Rose is related to both plumeria and numeria (or oleander, as numeria is more commonly called).

So far the pink and yellow tubular bloom has been stealing the show for three days running, with more blooms hanging around just off stage, waiting their turn to shine.  We might not have any actual fireworks this 4th of July holiday, but it matters not.  These Desert Rose blooms in combination with the sunflowers will sure enough fill the bill.

However you choose to celebrate this Fourth of July, here's warmest wishes sent out from everybody here at Austin Agrodolce to you.  May your dogs be hot and your mustard cold.